Them & Us

Victorian pay

Real earnings for workers have slumped by a massive 8% between 2007 and 2014 according to the TUC, ahead of its Britain Needs A Pay Rise demo on 18 October. The pay squeeze represents the worst earnings slump since the financial crisis of 1865-67.

Up and away

Meanwhile bosses' pay continues rocketing skywards with a 21% increase last year. Income Data Services says the average total earnings for a top company executive is £2.4 million, while the figure for a chief executive is £3.3 million. Their pay has increased 278% since 2000.

Vested interests

The Unite union says that private healthcare companies linked to Tory politicians have been awarded NHS contracts worth £1.5 billion over the last two years.

Unite reckons that 24 Tory MPs and peers who voted through the government's Health Act, which opens up 80% of the NHS budget to outside tenders, have links with private companies awarded contracts.

Young scapegoats

'Beating up on the poor' - while dispensing more tax breaks to the super-rich - is a favourite pastime of millionaire Tory MPs like Chancellor George Osborne.

Osborne argues that the working age benefits bill is spiralling out of control because "too many young people... have fallen into a culture of welfare dependency."

True, the welfare bill has increased from 4.5% of GDP (total output) in 1997 to 5.7% today, but the biggest recipients of this £100 billion pot are rip-off private landlords (£17 billion in housing benefit), and low-paying employers (£29 billion in tax credits). Jobseeker's Allowance accounts for less than 5% of the total.

Budget deficit

The government could easily reduce the welfare bill through rent caps and substantially raising the minimum wage. Instead, the Con-Dems are aiming to axe another £25 billion (likely to be nearer £38 billion) from public spending to generate a budget surplus by 2018-19.

Carjacking

Hard pressed disability benefit claimants will be demanding to know why the chief executive of not for profit Motability Operations was paid more than £1 million in bonuses and pension benefits alone last year. The company which operates car fleets for disabled people through the Motability charity is owned by the major UK banks.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.