Anger of pay rebels is growing
AN ALTERNATIVE LOOK AT LIFE IN MACC
LEARNING their CEO was awarded a 32% pay increase after members of the Communication Workers Union were offered a paltry 3%, they demonstrated their anger on the streets of Macclesfield.
I was there and the mood was not conciliatory. How could it be, given the desperate plight of workers and the massive increase dealt out to their leader?
Nine water industry fatcats received more than £15million in pay and bonuses last year as the number of times their firms pumped sewage into our seas and rivers rose 37%.
The average wage for bosses at the water and sewage companies in England was nearly £1.7m as their standard salary rose by 27%. If this isn’t reward for failure what is?
If you did not experience Britain’s Winter of Discontent in 1978/9 when industrial action closed down hospitals for all but emergency cases, thousands of tons of refuse lay on the streets and grave diggers refused to bury the dead, hold onto your seat because it’s coming round again.
How could workers not rebel when they see their energy bills doubling in six months with another whopping increase to follow in the winter?
Meanwhile Shell doubled their earnings, posting $11.4bn (nearly £10bn) for the three-month period from April to June. Shell’s chief executive, Ben van Beurden, said the company could not “perform miracles” to bring oil and gas prices down, adding: “It is what it is.” Isn’t that just the kind of dismissive arrogance likely to encourage a rebellion?
When the average cost of energy reaches the predicted £3,600 it will leave thousands of hard-working families simply unable to pay their bills - and yet the Government does nothing.
This inequality is stoking flames of national discontent and the clock is ticking.
Food prices are rocketing whilst directors and senior managers give themselves record pay deals.
You simply cannot award an extra 32% to your CEO and expect those below him to settle for 3%, and any union that allowed it would be failing in their duty.
Britain is ripe for a repeat of 1978/9 which saw militants take over the country and where did that lead us?
Huge car manufacturers lost thousands of jobs.
Major companies relocated abroad, leaving workers and managers queuing at the Job Centre.
As of now I see no understanding of this disregard for the plight of workers. If and when rebellion comes, Shell boss Ben van Beurden may discover the price of his arrogance.
I have a suggested compromise:
Why not set a fixed % pay increase for all workers, managers and directors in both the public and private sectors - to which all must conform? No haggling, no exemptions. Maybe then we may just get through this winter without a rebellion.