{"id":12401,"date":"2017-05-18T17:50:32","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T16:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12401"},"modified":"2017-05-18T17:50:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T16:50:32","slug":"squeezed-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12401","title":{"rendered":"Squeezed \u00e2\u20ac\u201c again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Labour and the unions attacked the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 economic record after new figures showed that workers have been hit with a renewed wage squeeze.<\/p>\n

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Pay growth in early 2017 fell below inflation for the first time in two-and-a-half-years, according to official figures released yesterday (May 17).<\/p>\n

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ONS figures<\/a> showed that average wages increased by 2.1 per cent during the first three months of 2017, the weakest rise since July 2016.<\/p>\n

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But because of an inflation rate of 2.3 per cent during the same period, wages shrank by 0.2 per cent in real terms \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the first decrease since autumn 2014.<\/p>\n

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The statistics showed that despite the level of unemployment falling to 4.6 per cent in the first three months of 2017, life is tougher under the Tories, as working people struggle in a low wage economy where zero hour contracts<\/a> and food bank<\/a> use are both at record levels.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reiterating the fact that the economy is increasingly unlikely to make work pay, new Resolution Foundation<\/a> analysis also found that average weekly pay is still \u00c2\u014116 lower than it was 2008 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with the current wage squeeze the longest in more than 200 years.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorking people and their communities are in the grip of the longest pay squeeze since Queen Victoria was on the throne. With no sign of letting up and inflation rising more and more, workers are under constant pressure to make ends meet,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Empty promises\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEmpty promises from the Tories and backsliding on minimum wage rates will do nothing to cease this income misery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorking people need a Labour government. Only Labour will boost the minimum wage to \u00c2\u014110 an hour and ensure working people can stand tall again by building an economy based on secure, decent jobs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Labour has promised that tackling low wage growth would be a priority if they came to power. This includes increasing the minimum wage<\/a> to \u00c2\u014110 an hour by 2020 and ending the public sector pay freeze.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While the Tories had promised to increase the minimum wage to \u00c2\u01419 an hour by 2020, their current manifesto pledge says it will only rise \u00e2\u20ac\u015bin line with median earnings<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c resulting in an estimated hourly rate of \u00c2\u01418.20 by 2020.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady said the fall in wages \u00e2\u20ac\u015brisks tipping working people into another living standards crisis<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat poses a major challenge for whoever forms the next government. Any party that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s serious about giving Britain a pay rise will have a plan to create well-paid jobs in the towns that need them most.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey will have a plan to raise the minimum wage to \u00c2\u014110 as soon as possible. And they will have a plan to stop the unfair pay cuts that are making hard-working midwives, firefighters and nurses thousands of pounds worse off.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said latest figures showed \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 total failure to improve the living standards of working families\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bReal wages are lower than they were in 2010, and, after seven years of the Tories, they are now falling again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe choice at this election couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be clearer: either a Tory party presiding over a crisis in living standards or a Labour government that will build a Britain for the many, not the few.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labour and the unions attacked the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 economic record after new figures showed that workers have been hit with a renewed wage squeeze.   Pay growth in early 2017 fell below inflation for the first time in two-and-a-half-years, according to official figures released yesterday (May 17).   ONS figures showed that average wages increased by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[215,355,135],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12401"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12402,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12401\/revisions\/12402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}