Union leaders back coordinated action on wages as cost of living crisis deepens

Labour leaders supported coordinated action on wages as the UK's cost of living crisis deepens.
Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said: "It always makes sense that workers work together".
The two largest unions in the UK are seeking to coordinate industrial action as they step up wage demands this winter.
Next month's TUC meeting is expected to see a series of motions calling on unions to work together to raise wages in the face of soaring inflation. This decision would stop before a "general strike".
A motion by the Unite union calls for help to "facilitate and encourage industrial coordination between unions so that workers in conflict can exploit more effectively their union the power to win."
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It also reads: "Congress recognizes the need for unions to focus on collective action and industrial power to better represent and advance the interests of workers. The collective is the real power of the trade union movement."
It comes after weeks of soured relations between the government and the unions.
The Governor of the Bank of England has called for wage moderation to avoid deepening the inflation crisis in the country.
But that call was dismissed by Ms O'Grady, who said energy prices, not wages, are fueling runaway inflation.
She also warned ministers that there was "real public sympathy" for industrial action.
People "just want their pay to keep up with the cost of life," she told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
Paying workers more would be good for the economy, she suggested. Businesses fear that if wages are cut people won't have money to spend locally, she said.
She also said her organization has not met the Chancellor, despite the crisis, as she said she was surprised that he was visiting the US in what should be his last week in the job.
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Politics Aug 30, 2022 0 71 Add to Reading List

Union leaders back coordinated action on wages as cost of living crisis deepens

Labour leaders supported coordinated action on wages as the UK's cost of living crisis deepens.

Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), said: "It always makes sense that workers work together".

The two largest unions in the UK are seeking to coordinate industrial action as they step up wage demands this winter.

Next month's TUC meeting is expected to see a series of motions calling on unions to work together to raise wages in the face of soaring inflation. This decision would stop before a "general strike".

A motion by the Unite union calls for help to "facilitate and encourage industrial coordination between unions so that workers in conflict can exploit more effectively their union the power to win."

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It also reads: "Congress recognizes the need for unions to focus on collective action and industrial power to better represent and advance the interests of workers. The collective is the real power of the trade union movement."

It comes after weeks of soured relations between the government and the unions.

The Governor of the Bank of England has called for wage moderation to avoid deepening the inflation crisis in the country.

But that call was dismissed by Ms O'Grady, who said energy prices, not wages, are fueling runaway inflation.

She also warned ministers that there was "real public sympathy" for industrial action.

People "just want their pay to keep up with the cost of life," she told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

Paying workers more would be good for the economy, she suggested. Businesses fear that if wages are cut people won't have money to spend locally, she said.

She also said her organization has not met the Chancellor, despite the crisis, as she said she was surprised that he was visiting the US in what should be his last week in the job.

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