Nearly 80% of Britons feel they are not benefiting from economic recovery – it's time to change tack
Submitted by sglenister on Fri, 01/11/2013 - 17:29
01 November 2013
By Sarah Glenister, IER staff
A new study has shown that almost 80% of Britons do not feel they have personally benefitted from recovery the economy is currently experiencing.
The poll, commissioned by the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) and conducted by YouGov, found that the majority of UK citizens are opposed to the Coalition’s privatisation strategies, with 67% in favour of the Royal Mail being reabsorbed into the public sector, 66% backing the nationalisation of railway companies, 68% in support of energy firms being run by the state, and a huge 12 people to one against the privatisation of the NHS.
Furthermore, the Coalition’s austerity measures and economic strategies have not only failed to benefit those who would normally vote for a left-wing party, but even their own core voters.
Around seven out of ten Conservative voters said they did not feel they had benefited from the recent upturn in the economy, and eight of ten Liberal Democrat voters agreed.
In fact, 65% of respondents said they had no confidence the country is safe from a repeat of the 2008 financial crash – and neither is the IER.
With this much public opposition to failed neo-liberal policy, it is time for a change in tack that will ensure recoveries in the economy are felt by everybody rather than the few, and the country’s finances remain strong and resilient in the future.
The IER – and the 15 trade unions that back our Manifesto for Collective Bargaining – believes that the only way to achieve these goals is to encourage further negotiation between workers and employers on wages and conditions, particularly on a sector-by-sector basis.
By cementing the presence of workers’ representatives in workplaces, employees will be given a voice to negotiate for better contracts, fairer wages and more training.
The UK workforce will become more highly-skilled, more productive, and wealthier. With more money in their pockets, workers will spend more on the products and services of British businesses, resulting in economic demand to fuel the creation of jobs.
This process is known as collective bargaining and has proven successful as a response to economic depression, and as a preventative measure against future recessions. It reduces income inequality, improves on public services, and even saves the Treasury money as the need to subsidise the wages of the lowest-paid falls away.
“There will be no long-term solution to current economic gloom without raising wages and equalising incomes,” Professor Keith Ewing, co-author of new publication Reconstruction after the crisis: a manifesto for collective bargaining and IER President, said.
“Only by doing so will we stimulate demand, increase spending, and create real and fully productive jobs that do not need to be subsidised by the State,” he added.
Chair of the IER, John Hendy QC, who authored the book with Professor Ewing, agreed.
“A fundamental problem with the British economy is the dramatic drop in the value of wages. As well as painfully diminishing the standard of living for most people (while the rich enjoy ever increasing wealth) this has depressed demand causing the loss of jobs, loss of tax revenue and one of the worst performing economies in Europe.
“A vital way to re-establish the value of wages, decrease inequality, and stimulate job creation, is to reinstate sectoral collective bargaining – that is collective bargaining on an industry by industry basis,” he concluded.
Unite, Unison, GMB, NUT, NUJ, POA, PCS, CWU, UCU, AEP, ATL, BECTU, ASLEF, TSSA and RMT have all officially endorsed the IER’s ten-point Manifesto for Collective Bargaining.
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