It is a step forward that this October’s TUC national demo will have a single concrete demand: Britain Needs a Pay Rise. This is in sharp contrast to vague calls such as the March for the Alternative or the March against Austerity.
In January 2014 an Office for National Statistics report demonstrated that real wages have been dropping consistently since 2010 by 0.2.2 per cent. This is the longest period of falls since at least 1964.
“Real wages” calculate earnings when the rising cost of living, or inflation, is taken into account. In August the Office for National Statistics reported a drop of 0.2 per cent in actual wages for the quarter to June. The time is right for the TUC’s call.