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Richard Lynch, 70 Dewsbury Road, London NW10 1EP richardlynch@btinternet.com
L
iving standards are continuing to fall for the large ma-
jority of people in Britain but the wealth of the ultra-
rich minority is continuing to grow as if the recession had
never happened. Yet the politicians remain wedded to aus-
terity policies which are driving millions into poverty and
undermining vital public services, while income inequality is
allowed to grow to levels not seen since before the First
World War.
The contrast between the way the increasingly impoverished
majority and the millionaire and billionaire minority are be-
ing affected by these policies could hardly be clearer:
Average incomes for the majority have fallen by 10%
since the start of the recession, according to the Office
for National Statistics, and the situation is worse when real,
after- inflation incomes are taken into account.
The number of adults in absolute poverty has risen to
8.7 million, also according to the ONS, and the number
of children in such poverty has risen to 4.1 million and
those figures are continuing to increase.
The number of households living below the breadline
now make up around 33% of all households, according
to research by the University of Bristol, and 80% of ten-
ants affected by the bedroom tax are finding it difficult
or very difficult to make ends meet and are having to cut
back on food, energy and other necessities to survive.
And the poorest fifth of households in Britain are
amongst the most economically deprived in Western
Europe, according to the OECD, and suffer deprivation
on a par with Romania, Bulgaria and other former east-
ern bloc countries.
Yet Britain is still one of the richest countries in the world
and life for the ultra-rich has never been better:
We now have more billionaires per capita than any other
country, and London has more billionaires than any
other city on earth, according to the Sunday Times Su-
per Rich List.
The wealth of the 1,000 richest people in the country has
doubled since the start of the recession, according to the
Sunday Times Rich List, and increased by 13% to 518
billion in the past year alone. This figure is equal to one
third of Britains GDP and is the same as the annual
earnings of two thirds (20 million) of the British work-
force.
Remuneration for FTSE 100 Chief Executives has risen
to an average of 4.7 million a year, (almost 13,000 a
day), according to the High Pay Centre, and they now
take home 180 times as much as the average employee
each year.
And the richest five families in the country have as
much income and wealth as the poorest 20% of the
population, according to Oxfam.
What these figures show is that Britain has more than
enough wealth to provide everybody with a reasonable stan-
dard of living and decent social provision if it was shared
out more equally and the ultra-rich and companies paid their
fair share of tax. Yet millions of ordinary people are still
falling for the lie that Britain is broke and that there is no
alternative to austerity and to cutting pay and benefits for
the poorest and most vulnerable.
But millions are also realising that they are being lied to and
are increasingly fighting back to get their fair share and to
defend their rights and entitlements at work and in society.
These rebels include people in local community and cam-
paign organisations, in unions, charities and faith bodies,
and in national campaigns like the Peoples Assembly
Against Austerity.
These organisations and their activities do not always get
headlines in the national media, but by involving people in
fighting against cutbacks and for fair pay, good working
conditions, affordable housing and decent health, education
and social services, they are doing something which is ex-
tremely valuable.
They are showing that we dont have to accept a situation
where what is best in Britain is being progressively de-
stroyed, while the ultra-rich minority have more wealth than
they know what to do with and are continuing to get even
richer. They are also showing that we dont have to wait for
others to fight our battles for us and that we can make a real
difference if we take up the cudgels for ourselves.
You may well be amongst that group but if you are not, isnt
it time you joined the fightback? Remember, every act of
resistance counts and, together, we can rebuild our country
in the interests of its people, rather than in the interests of
the millionaires and billionaires which the current Coalition
represents.
How much do you know about the Peoples
Assembly Against Austerity?
The Peoples Assembly was launched on 22 June 2013 to
promote the fight against austerity, to encourage large num-
bers of ordinary people to join that fight and to mobilise for
co-ordinated action against the government policies which
are increasingly impoverishing working people and those
unable to work. It was initiated by the late Tony Benn (who
became its first President) and by a range of union general
secretaries, MPs, writers, journalists and academics, and by a
large number of charities and campaign organisations. Its
launch conference, in Westminsters Central Hall, was at-
tended by thousands of supporters from all parts of the
country.
The Assembly organised a major demonstration in London
on 21 June 2014 which saw 50,000 people from all over the
country march to demand No More Austerity and at which
Russell Brand was amongst the speakers. (See Youtube for
coverage of this demo and its speakers.) The Assembly was
also well represented on the 10 July 2014 demonstrations by
striking public sector workers who were demanding real pay
Its time to tackle austerity and inequality!
May/June 2014 By Richard Lynch (an activist's guide)
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Richard Lynch, 70 Dewsbury Road, London NW10 1EP richardlynch@btinternet.com
increases after years of frozen pay and below-inflation in-
creases.
The Peoples Assembly is campaigning for an alternative to
austerity and its demands include:
Reverse the cuts, re-nationalise our utilities and pub-
lic services. Private profit is not for health, education
and social services
A statutory living wage, abolish zero hour contracts,
end the wage freeze
Invest in building social housing, abolish the bed-
room tax and place a cap on private rents
A higher tax on the rich and a clamp down on tax
avoidance
Invest in creating green jobs
Increases to welfare and pensions should be tied to
average earnings or inflation, whichever is highest
Stop scapegoating immigrants and those relying on
social security
A publicly owned democratic banking system
End the cost of war in blood and money: No mili-
tary interventions, no Trident replacement
Hands off our unions: support the right to strike,
remove the anti-union laws and promote strong, effec-
tive collective bargaining
Despite its short period of existence, Peoples Assembly
organisations are being established all over the country and
are helping to promote mass resistance to the austerity poli-
cies which are doing so much damage.
It deserves even more support and anybody who backs the
demands outlined above is urged to look up the Peoples
Assembly on www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk and get in-
volved in supporting the organisation financially and in your
local area. Alternatively keep abreast of what the Peoples
Assembly is doing by checking out facebook.com/
thepeoplesassembly or twitter: @pplsassembly, or call the
Assemblys London Office on 020 8525 6988.
The Peoples Assembly is a non-sectarian organisation
which aims to bring together people of all beliefs and politi-
cal persuasions to oppose austerity and cutbacks and to fight
for a more equal and pro-people society in Britain.
It deserves your support and, if you give it that support, we
can change for the better the way our country is being run.
Join the fight now!
Employment and unemployment figures are
continuing to improve
The Labour Market Statistics bulletins published in May and
June showed employment increasing and unemployment
falling in the quarters to end March and end April 2014.
This is welcome but unemployment is still far too high and
the average earnings details published in the same bulletins
provided nothing but bad news.
Employment increased from 30.39 million at the end of
February to 30.43 million at the end of March, and to 30.54
million at the end of April. The last of these figures showed
that 72.9% of people aged 16-64 are now in work and the
employment rate is very close to matching the rate which
applied before the economic downturn in 2008.
Unemployment fell from 2.24 million at the end of Febru-
ary to 2.21 million at the end of March, and to 2.16 million
at the end of April. This meant that the unemployment rate
fell from the end-February figure of 6.9% to 6.6% at the
end of April.
Long-term unemployment remained a problem, however,
with even the best of the above figures showing 791,000
people unemployed for over a year and 430,000 unemployed
for over two years. In addition to this, the most recent fig-
ures showed unemployment amongst 16-24 year olds at
853,000, giving a youth unemployment rate of 18.5%. And
8.82 million people, aged 16-64, were classed as
economically inactive and out of work (but not counted in
the unemployment statistics).
JSA claimant numbers also fell, from 1.14 million at the
end of March to 1.12 million at the end of April and 1.09
million at the end of June. (Figures for claimants are a
month more up to date than overall unemployment figures.)
Welcome as these figures are, even the best of them are
substantially above the 778,400 who were claimants prior to
the economic downturn in early 2008.
It is also worth noting that the increased use of sanctions
against claimants, who miss meetings with advisers or who
fail to apply for enough jobs every day, is driving a lot of
unemployed people off the claimant list. And Coalition
plans to make future claimants wait five weeks, rather than
two, for JSA payments, is likely to reduce claimant numbers
as well.
Job vacancies have been increasing of late, totalling
611,000 in March, 628,000 in April and 637,000 in May.
However, this means that there are still around three and a
half people on average chasing every vacancy.
#Update: The Labour Market Statistics published on 16 July
2014, after the above article was written, showed unemployment down
to 2.12 million (6.5%). Full details are available from the Office for
National Statistics website (www.statistics.gov.uk).
The situation on pay is getting worse
Unemployment may have been falling steadily of late, but
there is no sign of this doing anything to drive up pay. In
fact, if anything, the situation on pay is getting worse for the
large majority of British workers.
This was highlighted by the June Labour Market Statistics,
which showed that total pay (including bonuses) increased
by only 0.7% in the year to April 2014, while regular pay
(excluding bonuses) increased by only 0.9% over the same
period. Both of these figures represented a reduction in real
pay at a time when CPI inflation stood at 1.8% and RPI
inflation at 2.5%.
According to the Office for National Statistics, this left av-
erage total pay at 478 a week and average regular pay at
449 a week both around 10% lower than the pre-
recession level.
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Richard Lynch, 70 Dewsbury Road, London NW10 1EP richardlynch@btinternet.com
Figures from the private pay research organisations were
better than this, with Income Data Services and the Labour
Research Department quoting 2.5% and XpertHR quoting
2% as the median settlement level over the three months to
end April. These figures only relate to where here have been
increases, however, and do not take into account pay freezes
and pay cuts. These are more common than most people
think, particularly in jobs done by young workers. Recent
research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, for example,
showed that real living standards for under-25s fell by 13%
between 2007-08 and 2012-13.
This collapse in real pay is impoverishing millions of people
and is happening at a time when the High Pay Centre an-
nounced that the average pay of FTSE 100 CEOs is now
4.7 million a year over 90,000 a week and 180 times the
pay of the average worker.
In the light of this, its been hugely encouraging that over a
million public sector workers should have gone on strike for
better pay on 11 July. Most of these workers have had three
years of frozen pay and an increase offer of a mere 1% this
year, and it has been great to see them telling the Coalition
that they are not going to put up with it any longer. These
workers should be an example for all of us, and we need
millions more to tell their employers that unless their pay is
increased, they will be taking action as well.
Remember, most of them can afford to give proper pay
increases and if it is good enough for CEOs its good
enough for ordinary workers too.
What way is inflation going now?
Price rises are slowing down, according to the Office for
National Statistics figures published in mid June, but the
slowdown is not consistent and we still have the highest
inflation in the European Union.
According to the ONS Statistical Bulletin, the Consumer
Prices Index (CPI) fell to 1.5% in the year to end May 2014,
after rising to 1.8% in the year to end April. The Retail
Prices Index (RPI) also fell, to 2.4% from 2.5% in April.
The new indices, the CPIH and RPIJ, fell as well, with the
former down to 1.4% from 1.6% and the latter down to
1.7% from 1.8%.
The main reasons for these falls in inflation were falls in
transport service costs (particularly in air fares) and a slow-
ing down of price increases in the food and clothing sectors.
However, there was upward movement in motor fuels, with
petrol prices up by 0.4p a litre between April and May, and
diesel prices up by 0.3p a litre during the same period.
Amongst the increases which stood out from the annual
average were increases in the price of fish (4.2%), tobacco
(7.1%), electricity (6%), gas (5.1%), tools and equipment for
house and garden (3.3%), hospital services (4.8%), rail trans-
port (2.8%), postal services (4.8%), newspapers and periodi-
cals (6.1%), education (10.3%) and insurance (3%).
Our CPI rate of 1.5% was also the highest in the EU (jointly
with Austria) in the year to the end of May 2014. It was well
above the Euro area average of 0.5% and the EU average of
0.6%, not to mention inflation in Spain (0.2%), Italy (0.4%),
Germany (0.6%) and France (0.8%).
Our CPI is still higher than that in Japan (1.4%) but we are
currently doing better than the US (2.1%) and China (2.5%).
# Update: The Consumer Price Inflation bulletin published by the
Office for National Statistics on 15 July 2014 has shown prices up
from 1.5% to 1.9% under the CPI measure and from 2.4% to 2.6%
under the RPI measure. Full details are available from the ONS
website (www.statistics.gov.uk).
Private sector union membership is increasing
Union membership in the UK was broadly unchanged at 6.5
million last year, according to the latest (May 2014) figures
from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, but
membership in the private sector increased for the third year
in a row.
The overall membership rate across the economy was 25.6%
in 2013 but membership was still far higher in the public
sector than in the private sector. There were 3.8 million
members in the public sector, giving a membership rate of
55.4%, whereas membership in the much larger private sec-
tor was only 2.6 million, giving a very disappointing rate of
14.4%.
Women were more likely to be union members than men,
for the 12
th
year in a row, with 28% of women in unions
compared to 23% of men. Other groups who were more
likely to be union members included disabled workers, those
with higher educational qualifications, workers in full-time
and permanent occupations and middle-income earners.
Older workers were also more likely to be unionised than
younger workers.
The report confirmed that union members are still better
paid than non members, with the Union wage premium
19.8% in the public sector and 7% in the private sector. It
continued:
Trade union members in both the public and private sectors saw a rise
in their average hourly earnings between 2012 and 2013. Private
sector non members saw a broad stagnation in their average hourly
earnings over the same period, while public sector non members experi-
enced a reduction. Subsequently the overall gap between member and
non member average hourly earnings increased between 2012 and
2013.
Much of the BIS report is relatively positive but it is worth
pointing out that union membership was around 13 million
in 1979 and fell steadily up to the early 1990s, after which it
stabilised rather than increased. It is also worth pointing out
that the period of this fall and stagnation coincided with a
huge increase in inequality between the wages and wealth of
working people relative to the richest in society. In other
words, the decline in union power and influence has been a
major factor in the decline in real wages and in the massive
increase in the wealth of the senior executives, speculators
and other members of the global elite.
It is therefore vital that all of us play our part in rebuilding
union membership and organisation and use that renewed
strength to win a better deal for all working people.
Big fall in employment tribunal claims
The number of claims being sent to employment tribunals is
falling rapidly, according to the latest figures from the Min-
istry of Justice.
The MOJ figures show that only 5,619 single claims were
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Richard Lynch, 70 Dewsbury Road, London NW10 1EP richardlynch@btinternet.com
submitted in the first quarter of this year, compared to 9,801
in the last quarter of 2013 and 13,739 in the first quarter of
2013.
This represents a 59% reduction in the overall number of
claims in the past year, but the figures are even worse for
certain categories of claim. The number of unfair dismissal
claims, for example, fell by 62%, while sex discrimination
claims fell by 80% and claims for unpaid wages fell by 85%.
These figures have been welcomed by the Coalition, which
has worked hard over the past few years to reduce the num-
ber of employee and worker claims. They have succeeded in
doing this by requiring two years service with an employer
before a claim for unfair dismissal can be made, by requiring
payments of between 390 and 1,200 to pursue a claim
and by making the system for claims and remission of fees
so complicated that many would-be claimants give up rather
than fight their way through all the bureaucracy.
Yet for the past 50 years, the tribunal system has helped
large numbers of workers get justice from their employers
and has helped stay the hand of bad employers, some of
whom would deny workers every right in the book if they
thought they could get away with it. It is those bad employ-
ers who will benefit most from knowing that their workers
are now less likely to demand their rights through the tribu-
nal system. And it is the lowest paid and most vulnerable
who will suffer most because of this.
But we cant allow them to destroy the tribunal system and
leave wronged and vulnerable workers to lose their right to
fight for justice through the tribunals. We all need to edu-
cate ourselves about the new regime and rules for tribunals,
and a good place to start is the excellent but concise expla-
nation given in the Labour Research Departments Law at
Work 2014 guide (which has just been published).
We can also help by making sure workers know that their
union may be able to give them free legal support to fight
tribunal cases and may be able to pay the fees involved as
well. We can also direct them towards Citizens Advice Bu-
reaux or local community law centres (look up the Law Cen-
tres Network for details) which can give advice and refer
people to charities like the Free Representation Unit (FRU),
which will often provide free legal support. And even if legal
support is not available, it is still often possible for workers
to fight their own cases, preferably with some support from
colleagues, and to win!
Other information on employment tribunals is available on
line from the Department of Justice and HM Courts & Tri-
bunal Service websites. Information is also available via the
Employment Tribunals Public Enquiry Line (0300 123 1024
in England and Wales, and 0141 354 8575 in Scotland) and
through the ACAS helpline (0300 123 1100). Forms and
explanatory booklets, which you should be able to find on-
line or to get from the ET Public Enquiry Line, include a
booklet on Making a claim to an Employment Tribunal
(T420), an Employment Tribunal claim form (ET1), a book-
let on Employment Tribunal fees (T435) and a remission
booklet and claim form (EX160A).
Details of ACAS early conciliation, which you have to en-
gage with before submitting an employment tribunal claim,
and the form for requesting such conciliation, are available
from the ACAS Helpline or via www.acas.org.uk.
Law at Work: This is a must-have guide
If you need to understand your rights at work, or if you
have to explain those rights to others or to represent col-
leagues at meetings with management, Labour Research
Departments Law at Work 2014 guide, which has just been
published, is for you.
The guide, uniquely, is written for workers and union repre-
sentatives, and is both comprehensive and easy to under-
stand. In almost 400 pages it covers issues such as:
The employment law and employment tribunal sys-
tem
Categories of workers and how they differ
Starting work and employment contracts
Rights to pay and conditions
Union and collective organisation
Discrimination and how to deal with it
Sick pay and sickness absence
Rights to time off for working parents and carers
Industrial action
Dismissal
Redundancy
Business transfers and contracting out TUPE
Sources of further information
The guide is invaluable for union reps and officials in par-
ticular, and will give you an edge in dealing with employers
if you hold one of these roles.
Law at Work 2014 is available from Labour Research De-
partment (LRD), 78 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HF,
which can be contacted on 020 7928 3649 or via
info@lrd.org.uk. The guide can also be purchased on line at
www.lrd.org.uk.
It costs 29.50 and is worth every penny, regardless of
whether it comes out of your pocket or is paid for by your
union. However it can also be purchased as part of LRDs
booklet subscription service, which gives you 11 booklets
on employment rights issies for only 50 a year. Contact
LRD if you wish to know more.
Richard Lynch
30 July 2014
FBRL No 53 20140730