rayf wrote: ↑Tue Jun 21 2022 11:33am
What more do people want? Millions of jobs have been paid/saved for the best part of two years and now they want an immediate pay rise. I agree that a pay rise would always be welcome but if everyone gets a pay rise, inflation will increase even more. This makes it harder for pensioners and others on a very limited or no income. It also leads to a devaluation of the pound which further increases inflation and so the cycle continues.
Pay rises are not the solution. This is just for the selfish. We've had a couple of very hard years, not just for individuals but for the country as a whole - it doesn't hurt for people to cut back a little until things settle down. Its strange that those going on strike are in one of the better paid industries - I'm sure there are millions of people who would welcome their salaries.
This should not be a matter of politics but common sense.
I know many of you are going to slam this but i've not heard of any sensible solutions....
Perhaps what people want is a little honesty and transparency. Those striking have not had a pay rise for a couple of years - and, as said above, they are not the well-paid drivers, etc. - but all this is ignored by a government keen to set worker against worker and to drive down the terms and conditions of people and make their employment unstable. This is a government that likes the idea of agency staff and casual workers and those on zero-hours contracts because they have no rights, whilst voting for pay increases for themselves and their cronies.
Much of what was done in the pandemic was a calculated cost, not altruism ...... because the thought of millions on the dole queue and then having to restart commerce post-pandemic was unacceptable - and let's be honest, it helped the owners and shareholders of companies as much as the workers. We will all pay for that handout..... just as we are all paying for the failure to regulate the energy sector and the short-termism of energy policy. However, all this has not stopped the gap between CEO pay and worker's pay increasing.... so, like after the banking crisis, it is not those that profited that are asked to pay, but those whose earnings can be controlled.
Until yesterday, a pay settlement had not even been suggested by the rail companies.... who insisted that the unions agree to "economies" before even giving a figure. There may be economies to be made in the Railways, but not by cleaners and booking-office people.... except by losing their jobs. Meanwhile the rail companies continue to fill their pockets from the public purse.... and expect subsidies to do what they are contracted to do.
What is crippling the country are the chancers in charge who come up with wonderful reasons for pay constraint year after year, such that people are earning 20% less in real terms than they did before.... and then claim that a rise to stop the slide is "greedy".
