Britain ‘needs a pay rise’, says union, as cost of living crisis looms

Britain needs a “pay rise” as families brace for a “cost-of-living storm” next year, Trade Union Congress (TUC) has warned, citing their analysis which shows that salaries are expected to barely grow over the next five years.

Calling on the government to “give Britain a pay rise in 2022”,  TUC’s general secretary Frances O’Grady has criticised Conservative government, saying it has “failed over and over again” over the last 11 years to get wages rising above the rate of inflation.

“Our economy will only recover when working people can afford to spend in local shops and businesses. That’s the way to boost demand, grow the economy and protect jobs,” she said in an open letter to the government.

“We are still in the longest period of pay stagnation since the Napoleonic wars. Real wages for millions are less than they were before the bankers’ crisis in 2008.

“And, unless ministers act now, the future looks bleak. Real wages are set to barely move between now and 2026. They will go up by a miserable £760 in total – about £150 a year.

“So, in 2022, we need a long-term economic plan to get wages rising across the economy. If we could get real wage growth to mirror the average growth in the ten years before the global financial crash, real wages would grow by £500 per year – leaving workers £2500 per year better off by 2026.

TUC’s call comes a week after the think tank Resolution Foundation branded 2022 as the “year of the squeeze” highlighting the combination of inflation, increases to National Insurance and higher energy bills.

With record high inflation rates in over a decade coupled with a cost-of-living crisis, retail workers are facing financial hardships with little support. 

One in three Sainsbury’s workers are regularly worried about putting food and drink on the table, revealed Organise recently while International Food Aid Network reported an increase in supermarket workers using food banks. 

Last month, Living Wage Foundation also revealed that over 42 per cent of all supermarket workers in the UK earn below the real living wage while claiming that it also emerged from a study that workers from Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are more likely to earn below the real Living Wage than their white counterparts.