People take part in the Scotland Demands a Pay Rise march and rally organised by the Scottish Trades Union Congress in Edinburgh. Picture date: Thursday September 8, 2022.
UNIONS demanded today that working people need more money in their pockets as wages continue to plummet in value as unemployment figures fall.
The government’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) latest employment figures showed real pay down 5.1 per cent compared to RPI.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “Working people have had enough.
“Wages are still not keeping up with inflation and family budgets can’t take any more pressure.
“It’s no wonder workers are reluctantly taking strike action to defend their living standards. They’ve been backed into a corner and pushed to breaking point.”
The TUC leader called on ministers to get around the negotiating table and resolve all the current pay disputes.
“The government must give public-sector workers a real pay rise, boost the minimum wage to £15 per hour, and end their draconian attack on the right to strike in the strikes Bill,” Mr Nowak said.
The ONS report showed that for the three months ending April 2023, the highest employment rate estimate in the UK was in south-east England at 78.6 per cent, with the lowest in Wales at 71.8 per cent.
North-east England saw the largest increase in the employment rate compared with the same period last year, increasing by 3.1 per cent, with Wales seeing the largest decrease of 2.2 per cent.
For the three months ending April 2023, the highest unemployment rate estimates in the UK were in both the West Midlands and Wales at 4.8 per cent.
Union-backed campaign Organise Now! called the figures “shocking” with pay down, hours worked up and sickness levels up.
It highlighted how workers had been working 15.8m more hours a week this quarter and more than 2.6m people are not in work due to long-term health problems.
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves attacked the government for failing to create decent jobs in the green sector of the economy.
She said: “We should be leading in the industries of the future and creating good jobs across Britain, but the Tories continue to hold us back.”
Ms Reeves also said that families were being squeezed by the cost-of-living crisis but failed to back higher wages.
“Thirteen years of the Tories and all we have is a gaping hole where their plan for growth should be and a Tory mortgage penalty damaging family finances for years to come,” Ms Reeves said.
