Britain needs a pay rise, Europe needs a pay rise, too!

Years into the crisis a lie is stalking Europe. European leaders and institutions prefer to blame excessive public debt to justify austerity policies... We trade unions remember all too well that this crisis stemmed first and foremost from the excesses of the financial sector, which was then bailed with public money on the back of workers and taxpayers....

Exports are weak due to the strength of our currency, growth seems to be driven by household debt and house prices are rocketing. We should remember what happened the last time private debt reached unsustainable levels...

The pay squeeze continues: wages have trailed behind inflation for the longest period on record – certainly since well before the 1870s... Wages are in real terms 7% below pre-crisis levels...

Weak earnings growth has become a problem not just for hard-pressed working families – the working poor whose low wages are being subsidised by state benefits: in reality an enormous state subsidy for mean employers - but for the wider economy because of lower income tax receipts, and reduced demand.
These are all elements that in our analysis make our growth unsustainable.

We support the European Trade Union Confederation’s investment plan, the New Path 4 Europe, that offers the possibility of 11 million new, skilled, sustainable, well paid jobs...

We want to see governments across Europe, and the European Parliament and Commission, respond to the challenge we have set down for them...

While our Prime Minister promises yet more tax cuts for the rich, we will be taking to the streets of London on 18 October demanding a pay rise for Britain, so that the recovery is real and the benefits are shared more fairly.

We need a pay rise. Europe needs a pay rise. And we need to put people back at the centre of Europe.