The UK Government has been called to raise the minimum wage to £15 an hour as the inflation rate soars.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed last week that the CPI rate in the UK hit 10.1 per cent in July, the highest it's been in 40 years. It comes amid of weeks months of significant industrial strikes throughout a range of sectors as unions argue for better pay.
Currently Edinburgh's streets have been strewn with rubbish as the waste workers protest a 3.5 per cent pay rise. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is calling for the the minimum wage to increase to £15 an hour “as soon as possible”.
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Regular pay, excluding bonuses, increased by 4.7 per cent over the quarter but failed to keep up with rampant inflation, which struck 9.4 per cent in June and accelerated to another 40-year high last month. Currently, minimum wage for workers aged 23 and over is £9.50 – with lower rates for younger employees.
The TUC said the Government must deliver a “plan to strengthen and extend collective bargaining across the economy” to help boost pay for workers. Designed to address labour shortages, the union have included proposals to corporate governance reforms and a “life-long learning and skills strategy”.
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said: “Every worker should be able to afford a decent standard of living. But millions of low-paid workers live wage packet to wage packet, struggling to get by – and they are now being pushed to the brink by eye-watering bills and soaring prices.
“We can’t keep lurching from crisis to crisis. Working families need long-term financial security – that means reversing the destructive trend of standstill wages. Ministers should introduce fair pay agreements to get pay and productivity rising in low-paid sectors.”
Port workers at Felixstowe have already been on strike this week, as has staff for Network Rail and 14 train operators, bringing trains across the country to a halt.
Postal deliveries are also set to be disrupted due to strikes by Royal Mail workers who are members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) while journalists at Daily Mirror owner Reach will also strike on Friday.
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