Sam Ward, Leicester Socialist Party
Millions of workers are set to have a so-called ‘cost of living increase’ in pay this month. But wait before you crack open the champagne. The national living wage for those over the age of 21 is increasing to £12.21 per hour, £10 per hour for 18 to 20-year-olds and a measly £7.55 per hour for 16 to 17-year-olds!
Food, fuel, water, transport, rents, mortgages and other essentials have skyrocketed compared to our pay. How could this paltry increase ever be considered close to what’s needed for a ‘cost of living increase’?
This Labour government is supposed to be delivering ‘a new deal for workers’. Why isn’t it delivering £15 an hour now?!
Government ministers argue there will be a ‘wage-price spiral’ if workers demand pay increases. But apparently it doesn’t cause a wage-price spiral when MPs give themselves a pay increase. This year MPs are set to give themselves a pay rise of 2.8%, making their salary a whopping £93,904. And that’s not counting the expenses and freebies that they claim, along with the second jobs that many of them have.
The ‘magic money tree’ that ministers claim doesn’t exist suddenly appears when it comes to military spending, but disappears when it comes to workers. While many bosses will be bemoaning the increase, they haven’t been sad about bumper profits and burgeoning bonuses.
In 2021, the TUC (Trades Union Congress) adopted the policy for a £15-an-hour minimum wage to be implemented as quickly as possible. It’s now been four years and there has been no national campaign linked to the industrial and political action needed to win this demand. Trade unions are crucial to fighting for and winning a decent living standard for workers. The trade unions have the ability to be able to build a mass campaign that can put pressure on the Labour government to act now. For a £15-an-hour minimum wage for all ages, and decent pay we can live on.
We need real pay rises, our energy bills cut, our transport costs cut, rents capped, our public services nationalised and fully funded. The pro-big business establishment parties won’t give us these demands without a fight. So, alongside industrial action, we need a new mass workers’ party that will fight.
