VIDEO: Thousands (upon thousands) converge on London to demand a new deal for workers

The TUC march gets underway.

Trade unionists and workers from across the UK have converged on London in their thousands to demand a “new deal” for working people.

The TUC (Trade Union Congress) says real wages are still lower than before the crash in 2008; three million workers are stuck on zero hour contracts, in agency work and in low paid self-employment; hard-working public servants haven’t had a proper pay rise for eight years; our NHS is at breaking point; and years of cuts have led to poverty, homelessness and despair for too many.

This Writer agrees with every word.

And so, it seems, do the masses.

News coverage hasn’t been that wonderful, though. As I write this, the BBC News channel is broadcasting something called Royal Wedding Singalong so you can see what the priorities are there!

But there has been some coverage. Here’s Sky News:

Not sure about the link between Brexit and racism that the anchor was discussing? It has to do with an intervention by the UN’s special rapporteur on racism. See:

Back at the march, the BBC has broadcast a few interviews:

The participants certainly know how to make some noise – here’s the PCS Samba Band:

https://twitter.com/StuartBonar/status/995271242604273666

Here’s the GMB’s Paul Maloney on the reasons for the march:

And the TUC itself put out video information on the reasons for the march earlier:

The Conservative government is apparently trying to tell us we’ve never had it so good. Wages are up by £2,000 (a year?), according to people like Iain Duncan Smith. Unfortunately, experts are telling us real-terms wages won’t reach parity with 2008 levels until 2025.

The Tories are also telling us employment is at its highest in 40 years – a meaningless statistic if the amount those people are paid is negligible – and it is.

Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies appeared on BBC News to say that wages are stagnant because productivity is stagnant – we aren’t producing enough to be paid more. Until this changes, the situation is unlikely to improve.

That’s as may be, but executive pay has skyrocketed under corrupt Conservative rule while workers’ pay has stagnated.

Perhaps people might feel less inclined to take part in huge marches against austerity if of these greedy fatcats stopped taking all the cash.


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No Comments

  1. MerryMichaelW May 12, 2018 at 1:24 pm - Reply

    Great work, Mike! :-)

  2. Jenny May 12, 2018 at 2:05 pm - Reply

    Employment up? Where do they get these figures from? Drop in number of benefit claimants because of sanctions and hostile environment,doesn’t mean more people are working. More zero hour contracts ie not real jobs.?

    • Simon Cohen May 12, 2018 at 2:55 pm - Reply

      indeed here are massive levels of underemployment and large numbers of people who have simply given up and don’t register for benefits due to the continuous harassment..So these people level the labour market entirely.

      Of those in work, many are underemployed and in insecure work. If there was true high employment rates then this would force the wages upwards due to shortages of Labour-this hasn’t happened so it is hidden unemployment rather than ‘high unemplyment’ -a complete scam in other words.

    • groovmistress May 12, 2018 at 3:03 pm - Reply

      Yes. I know of many young people in their 20s who cannot find regular employment BUT they don’t appear as “unemployed” because there is absolutely no way they would suffer the shame (as they see it) of signing on. And, because many of them are still living at home (again due to govt policies) they are in some ways shielded from the consequences.

  3. groovmistress May 12, 2018 at 3:11 pm - Reply

    So, according to Paul Johnson, we aren’t producing enough to warrant higher wages. I’d like to know how this productivity (or lack of it) is measured. Considering that we are living in a country where employment in the service industry is overtaking that in the manufacturing sector it would seem then that we are never going to “produce enough” are we? But whether it be in manufacturing, public service or leisure, everyone needs a good enough wage for the country to thrive.

    • Mike Sivier May 12, 2018 at 3:24 pm - Reply

      Service industry employment overtook manufacturing long, long ago. It’s not about how much product you make, though – it’s about economic activity generally.
      The whole point of zero-hours jobs is to get people off the unemployment books, even though they’re not making enough money. That’s all – it’s to produce a fake statistic for the Conservative government.

  4. JohnDee May 12, 2018 at 6:14 pm - Reply

    ” … The Tories are also telling us unemployment is at its highest in 40 years … ” Huh?

    • Mike Sivier May 13, 2018 at 3:42 pm - Reply

      Employment, not unemployment.
      Corrected. Thanks for the heads-up.

  5. Pat Sheehan May 12, 2018 at 10:57 pm - Reply

    And I’m sure at the next general election there will be at least thirty thousand individuals crawling down the street over broken glass to make sure that ‘Nothing is changed’! ‘Nothing is changed’! Could be wrong though!

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