{"id":15372,"date":"2018-06-13T17:50:37","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T16:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15372"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:42","slug":"insecure-work-low-pay-pain-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15372","title":{"rendered":"Insecure work and low pay pain continue"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

British workers are set for more wage pain as figures published on Tuesday (June 12) showed earnings growth slowed in the three months to April.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported that average total wages grew by only 2.5 per cent year-on-year in the three months to April, a slowdown from the 2.6 per cent rate in March. Wage growth excluding bonuses dipped to 2.8 per cent from 2.9 per cent the previous month.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The latest figures were lower than expected by City analysts, who anticipated wage growth to stay steady.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite wage growth being only slightly higher than the current rate of inflation \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which is now at 2.4 per cent \u00e2\u20ac\u201d it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough to end the persistent squeeze on living standards after workers faced an inflation high watermark in November of 3.1 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The figures prompted TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady to say that wage growth was<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bstuck in the slow lane.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt this rate pay packets won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recover to their pre-recession levels for years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe need to speed things up. Extending collective bargaining would boost living standards and help workers get a fairer share of the wealth they create.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMinisters must allow unions the right to go into every workplace.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady pointed out that real wages increased by 27 per cent in the decade before the financial crisis, but in the decade since, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve plummet by 4 per cent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In May, the TUC conducted a long-term analysis<\/a> that showed the bigger picture \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and the results showed that Britain is in the midst of the worst period of wage stagnation in 200 years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A decade after the financial crisis, real wages are still worth \u00c2\u014124 a week less than they were in 2008. Predictions show that wages won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recover to pre-crash levels until 2025 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 17 years of wage decline.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The TUC analysis found that there hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been a wage slump in the UK this sustained since 1798. Even during the Great Depression and the Second World War, wages recovered more quickly than they are predicted to recover now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner highlighted the problem of record-low unemployment that has failed to boost wages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Simply not enough to get by on\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner highlighted the problem of record-low unemployment that has failed to boost wages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat wages continue to stagnate even as unemployment drops shows that these thousands of new jobs added to the labour market that the government constantly crows about are simply not enough to get by on,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are creating an economy that is built on insecurity \u00e2\u20ac\u201c gig work, bogus self-employment, and zero- and short-hours contracts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMuch of this period of wage stagnation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the worst seen since Victorian times \u00e2\u20ac\u201c comes down to failed economic policies by this and the previous Tory government. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve failed to invest in our key industries, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve imposed an ideological austerity agenda which leading economists have said time and again just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve legislated against unions which are instrumental in winning workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay rises.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe cannot simply wait for wages to magically improve \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s anything we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned from our post-financial crisis reality is that if we leave things to the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must take action now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to organise ourselves more effectively and build a strong, powerful and confident trade union movement winning industrially and politically for working people, our families and communities and introduce an immediate hike to the minimum wage to \u00c2\u014110 an hour would be a start.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut beyond this, a return of sector-level collective bargaining, an end to the public sector pay squeeze and sustained government investment can all work towards getting the UK out of our decades-long wage rut.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Record numbers of women over 65 working<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Separate figures published by the ONS this week showed that a record number of women aged 65 and over are working \u00e2\u20ac\u201d nearly half a million women that age are in work in the three months to April, up 6.4 per cent the previous quarter. It was the biggest increase of any group.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like Turner, Unite national officer for equalities Siobhan Endean said that more and more people in work is cold comfort for the millions of workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201d mostly women \u00e2\u20ac\u201d who are stuck in low-paid work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo many of the problems caused by failed economic policies are hitting women hardest,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bResearch has shown that women have shouldered 86 per cent of the burden of austerity since 2010. Recent cuts to tax credits and Universal Credit are some of the latest examples of austerity measures predominantly affecting women. Women are also disproportionately affected by pay freezes in the public sector, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re much more likely to be in insecure work such as zero hours contracts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Endean highlighted too the persistent gender pay gap that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dragging down women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bCompanies will try to say that the gender pay gap is due to women choosing to work part-time and wanting to work in low paid jobs, while justifying sky-high executive pay for their predominantly male senior employees,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut gender occupational segregation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the disproportionate employment of men in some occupations and women in others \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is not simply a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bchoice\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 made by women, but the result of a glass ceiling and a sticky floor. Companies should recognise this as a key driver of the gender pay gap, rather than using occupational segregation to justify pay inequality within their organisations.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turner laid the blame for the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s longest period of wage stagnation in two centuries squarely on the shoulders of this and the previous Tory governments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve failed to invest in our key industries, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve imposed an ideological austerity agenda which leading economists have said time and again just doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve legislated against unions which are instrumental in winning workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pay rises,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

British workers are set for more wage pain as figures published on Tuesday (June 12) showed earnings growth slowed in the three months to April.   The data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) reported that average total wages grew by only 2.5 per cent year-on-year in the three months to April, a slowdown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[937,613,729,96,266],"wps_subtitle":"Strong unions are key as wage growth \u00e2\u20ac\u0098stuck in slow lane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15372"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15372"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26140,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15372\/revisions\/26140"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}