Nurses have taken strike action – but should you believe media propaganda about it?
Nurses across the UK went on strike yesterday (December 15) after the government refused to reopen pay talks, saying the demand for a 19 per cent pay rise was “unaffordable”.
Here’s a BBC report:
Is a 19 per cent pay increase unrealistic?
It would only bring nurses’ remuneration back up to the level it was at in 2010, after all. Why was it affordable then, and not now? The economy has grown since then, so where has all the money gone?
Note the claim by the Tory minister Caulfield, who said she feared nurses’ industrial action would put lives at risk. That’s clearly untrue because the BBC had already reported that nurses had agreed to go back if a life-threatening situation required them.
Here’s Labour’s Dawn Butler, who came out to support nurses on the picket lines:
Ms Butler’s comments about the way the Tories behaved during the Covid pandemic are highly pertinent. Think of all the billions they wasted on useless equipment, just to funnel money to their friends and party colleagues – and now they’re saying they can’t afford a pay rise for nurses.
Clearly, Tory priorities are wrong. They would rather enrich fraudsters than give life-savers proper remuneration.
Ms Butler’s claim about food bank use is accurate too:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmL4w4OsRCs/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Still not convinced? Let’s have an economist’s view. I’m excerpting from a longer Twitter thread, coming in at the point where he discusses pay increases:
That’s partly because the catching-up process almost never seems to be inflationary in itself, as the IMF has shown, and it’s also because unless pay does catch up inflation of the type we are now suffering can cause a recession because people can’t afford new, higher, prices.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 15, 2022
Third, this is completely affordable. The reason is staring us in the face. Inflation does, by itself, pay for these pay rises. The simple fact is that if there is 10% price inflation and 10% wage inflation then the revenues from the three big taxes go up by at least 10% as well.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 15, 2022
Now of course I know there are other cost increases to consider as well. But the big one is interest – and cutting interest rates, which the government could do, could solve that and save more than £30 billion a year at the same time.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 15, 2022
Well, they could be trying to crush public services as a matter of policy. After a decade or more of austerity that is hard to rule out.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 15, 2022
What is impossible is that they can claim what they are doing is credible economic policy when it is not. Refusing to pay affordable inflation-matching pay rises when doing so would prevent recession makes no sense at all. So the other options have to be taken seriously.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 15, 2022
If we had an honest, fair, open and competent government in this country they would be offering inflation-matching pay rises to their staff now. Instead we have a government intent on crushing the public services and the people who work for them.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 15, 2022
Their battle is ours too if we want to live in a decent, prosperous society where all have a chance. The government does not want that. But we can and should have it. That’s enough to require support for the nurses and others pursuing their claims. Right is on their side.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) December 15, 2022
So now you know.
The strikes are not a result of greed by trade unionists.
They are part of a class war being waged on working people – on you – by your Conservative government.
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
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