{"id":18007,"date":"2019-05-08T16:45:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T15:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18007"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","slug":"unite-cautious-welcome-for-universal-basic-income-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18007","title":{"rendered":"‘Setting a living standard nobody should fall below’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Workers must be protected if a universal basic income (UBI) is implemented in the future Unite has warned, following a report welcomed by Labour that recommends every UK adult be paid an unconditional weekly sum.<\/p>\n

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The SOAS University report<\/a> said the costs of a UBI \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a baseline income paid to everyone regardless of employment status designed to reduce inequality and poverty \u00e2\u20ac\u201c could be covered by axing more than 1,000 tax reliefs.<\/p>\n

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Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who commissioned the study, welcomed the report and said the Labour Party would consider the the report\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recommendations for their next manifesto.<\/p>\n

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The report\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s author, professor Guy Standing, told the BBC<\/em>, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bA basic income would be paid in cash, a moderate amount, a basic amount unconditionally to each individual man and woman equally, a smaller amount for a child and the good thing is it would be unconditional and it wouldn’t be means tested and it would be a right, an economic right.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Standing explained that the initial amount would total \u00c2\u014148 a week, but would change as funding for the policy was bolstered over time.<\/p>\n

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Standing added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow \u00c2\u014148 is not a lot for most people but for a lot of people out there they have \u00c2\u014120 left at the end of the week after they’ve paid their rent and their food, so this is a significant amount for many people.”<\/p>\n

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Shadow chancellor McDonnell said the report is an \u00e2\u20ac\u015bimportant contribution to the debate around inequality, austerity, poverty and how we establish a fair and just economic system\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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“There have been pilots of ‘basic income’ elsewhere and Guy Standing has looked at them and come forward with proposals,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McDonnell said.<\/p>\n

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“Whatever mechanism we use, whether ‘basic income’ or another, we have to lead in developing a radical mechanism aimed at eradicating poverty, but also means testing.<\/p>\n

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“We will be studying the contents and recommendations of this report carefully as we put together our reform policies for the next Labour government.”<\/p>\n

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Unite executive officer Sharon Graham said the union would support a UBI<\/a> that is used as \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba floor which sets a living standard that nobody should fall below\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, we cannot let some employers attempt to hi-jack the UBI as a way to cut jobs and wash their hands of responsibility as a result of the latest wave of automation known as Industry 4.0,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Graham.<\/p>\n

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“Work must remain a central pillar of society and we need to look at solutions as opposed to just paying a benefit to those out of work. Automation should deliver better jobs. We have got to demand shorter working weeks and better retirements.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers must be protected if a universal basic income (UBI) is implemented in the future Unite has warned, following a report welcomed by Labour that recommends every UK adult be paid an unconditional weekly sum.   The SOAS University report said the costs of a UBI \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a baseline income paid to everyone regardless of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[265,76,455,210,856],"wps_subtitle":"Unite cautious welcome for universal basic income idea ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18007"}],"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=18007"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25297,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18007\/revisions\/25297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}