The Observer (2022-01-09)

The Observer
50 09.01.22 Business

Cost of living squeeze

raises fear of new era

of industrial strife

RIGHT
Members of the
University and
College Union
demonstrating
in London last
month.
Belinda Jiao/Rex

Some experts say a

spate of infl ation-

busting pay deals

will force the Bank

of England to act to

prevent a damaging

wage-price spiral. But

do the UK’s largely

deunionised workers

have t hat much power?

By Phillip Inman

J

ack Saunders m ay hold a PhD

and have lectured undergradu-

ates for 10 years, most recently

at University College London,

yet in all that time job security

and an above-infl ation pay rise

have eluded him.

“I have been on a fi xed-term con-

tract since I started in 2011,” he said.

“And there hasn’t been a pay award

above infl ation since Gordon Brown

was prime minister. ”

Saunders, a rep for the University

and College Union , a trade union rep-

resenting academics, went on strike

along with staff from 57 other insti-

tutions for three days last month. He

is expecting to support further strikes

in a war of attrition with university

employers over three issues – low

pay, cuts to the academic staff pen-

sion scheme and the “casualisation”

of the workforce, where fewer staff

are on permanent contracts. “Higher

education employers have adopted a

form of macho management that just

makes things worse for staff every

year that it goes on,” he added.

The Universities and Colleges

Employers Association has offered a

1.5% rise dated back to April, argu-

ing that in the midst of a pandemic,

and when it is putting increased sums

into academics’ fi nal salary pension

schemes, it cannot afford any more.

At the B&Q warehouse and dis-

tribution centre in Worksop, and at

other workplaces across the country,

the story is much the same. Faced

with the huge squeeze on living costs,

as infl ation erodes wages and house-

hold bills soar, workers are demand-

ing pay rises to keep up.

About 450 staff who work for the

logistics fi rm Wincanton and operate

the B&Q site in Nottinghamshire have

downed tools to protest at a 2% pay

offer , subsequently increased, with-

out resolving the dispute, to 4%.

One worker at the site sa id it was

clear staff were angry about more than

the steeply rising cost of living after

a 96% vote in favour of strike action.

“The site has been in operation for 16

years and this is the fi rst dispute. But

the employer doesn’t recognise that

people are working in a harsh environ-

ment for 40 hours a week, being mon-

itored all the time, and, on top of that,

can’t make ends meet when many are

paid less than £10 an hour,” they said.

The Unite union is supporting

workers with strike pay, though many

were already using a hardship fund

and regularly visiting food banks.

Wincanton said: “We value the

vital work our colleagues carry out

every day and the offer we have put

forward is fair and competitive. We

remain committed to fi nding a reso-

lution that satisfi es all parties.”

Mike Clancy, general secretary

of the Prospect union , said the ris-

ing cost of living was throwing fuel

on a tinder box of grievances built

up before and during the pandemic.

“Pay disputes are usually the result of

a deeper malaise inside the organisa-

tion,” he sa id.

Prospect has grown to represent

150,000 members over a wide range

of industries, mostly in higher, profes-

sional grades. While it has a fraction

of Unite’s million-plus membership,

it too is involved in several pay dis-

putes, most recently at the govern-

ment agency Natural England. Staff

went on a work-to-rule last week after

a succession of wage freezes and low

pay awards the union says go back

more than a decade.

Union negotiator Jane Lancastle

sa id the agency’s management were

exploiting staff who joined on start-

ing salaries of £22,168. “The starting

salary at the Environment Agency is

£24,213, and £27,235 at the Forestry

Commission. When more than half

the staff say in the employer’s own

survey that their job has made them

ill in the past year, it is not surpris-

ing they want to take action,” she said.

A 76% vote in favour of a strike has

been put on the back burner while

talks with management continue.

Until a few weeks ago, incomes

expert Ken Mulkearn was convinced a

spike in infl ation would pass without

much reaction from Britain’s 32 mil-

lion-strong workforce: a decade of

low average pay following the 2008

financial crash seemed to suggest

that workers, fearful of an increas-

ingly insecure jobs market, had lit-

tle appetite for confrontation. “Now

I’m not so sure. There are signs rising

prices are having an impact,” he said.

Behind the Bank of England’s inter-

est rate rise last month was a fear that

runaway prices could spark a succes-

sion of sky-high wage demands.

Over the next couple of months,

• Public sector • Private sector

Source: ONS

Percentage growth in weekly pay

Earnings growth

-2

0

2

4%

2005 2010 2015 2020