Britain needs a pay rise – TUC mass demonstration

Saturday 18 October 2014  TUC mass demonstration in London under the banner of Britain Needs a Pay Rise.

march through central London, culminating in a rally in Hyde Park.

 

Getting money back into people pockets is essential to securing a strong recovery.

We also need to avoid another debt fuelled spending boom of the sort that caused the recent financial crisis – sustainable economic growth depends on fairer pay for ordinary workers and smaller bonuses for the super rich. That’s why the TUC is campaigning for action that will start to move our economy back in the right direction.

• A properly enforced minimum wage:
  While the national minimum wage safeguards from extreme low pay it’s no use if not properly enforced. We need the Government to publicly name and shame those companies who aren’t paying up. HMRC also need more resources to help them to identify more minimum wage cheats.
• Higher minimum wages for employers who can afford to pay more:
  We know that in many low paid sectors employers could afford to pay more without making job losses. That’s why we need new ways for unions and employers to work together to set higher wages, so that workers and businesses both get a fair deal.   
• Increased commitment to the living wage:
  Companies that can well afford to pay the living wage are not doing so and contractors are winning lucrative public sector contracts are continuing to pay poverty wages. We need more local authorities to make sure that their own staff, and those in their supply chains, get at least the living wage.
• A crackdown on excessive executive pay:
  Pay at the top continues to rocket, fuelling inequality and excessive financial risk taking. We need real action to get top pay under control starting with worker representation on pay committees and far more transparency about how much the super rich are being paid.

This was the fourth march that the TUC has organised since the coalition came to power. The first – the March for the Alternative – in March 2011 saw 500,000 people attending a huge march and rally in London.
With people facing the biggest squeeze on their incomes since Victorian times, and official figures out last month showing that wages have fallen in real terms every year since 2010, the TUC believes that as growth returns to the UK economy, everyone should get to share in the recovery.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Hard-pressed families across the UK must be beginning to wonder when the tough times they are experiencing will ever end. They keep hearing that the economy is growing and learning of yet another bonus extravaganza in the city, yet their own wages never seem to go far enough.
“Worries about money are a big deal for ordinary people. While their household budgets can just about stretch to cover everyday essentials, they are likely to have to load up their credit cards to meet the cost of any unexpected items.
“During the dark days of recession, workers accepted that their pay might have to be frozen or even cut to save jobs, but now the economy is picking up – and many employers can afford to pay their staff more – the time has come for Britain to get a pay rise.”