British rich richer, workers poorer

This video from Britain says about itself:

12 May 2014

The UK is one of the most unequal countries in the developed world. The gap between pay at the top and bottom is huge. Living standards for everyone – apart from those at the very top – remain squeezed. But we argue, it doesn’t have to be like this.

By Marcus Barnett in Britain, Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

British workers are still £14 a week worse off than a decade ago

The TUC has criticised Tory spin on today’s announcement that wages have risen above inflation

WORKERS in Britain are still £14 a week worse off in real terms than they were a decade ago, the TUC said today as inflation figures were published.

Statistics released by the Office for National Statistics show that wages are rising above inflation figures for the first time in a year.

But the TUC has criticised government spin on these statistics, pointing out that wage growth is still incredibly weak.

Workers across the country have £14 on average less to spend in take-home pay than in 2007, the year before the global financial crisis.

And the prospects for a recovery to that level also looks bleak, with economists from the Resolution Foundation predicting that 2018 will be a “standstill year.”

The TUC is calling on the government to improve pay and increase the supply of well-paid work by raising the minimum wage, strengthening collective bargaining rights, boosting public investment to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 3.5 per cent of Britain’s gross domestic product and to adopt Labour’s plans for a national investment bank.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that “unions have negotiated pay rises for workers across the UK, from the counters at McDonald’s to the factory floor at Ford, but wage growth is still weak.

“The government must get the economy working again for working people. Ministers need to increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour, fund a proper pay rise for all public servants and give workers stronger rights to negotiate fair pay deals.”

AT LEAST a third of parents in work are often skipping meals because they struggle to afford enough food for their families, a new study published today reveals. More than one in three working parents cannot afford to have regular meals, according to research by the Living Wage Foundation: here.

OVER a third of low paid workers have had to skip meals, sitting at home in the dark and cold because they have no money for food, electricity and heating, new research released yesterday has revealed: here.

Sunday Times Rich List: Wealth of Britain’s richest grew 10 percent: here.

‘WHAT I am setting out today is a simple democratic demand, it is not taking an opinion one way or the other of what the government did last week, it is asserting the right, the right of Parliament to assert its view over a government. The executive must be the servant of Parliament, not the other way around’, Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday. He was moving an emergency motion after PM May launched missile strikes against Syria last weekend without getting Parliamentary approval first. Moving the motion ‘Parliamentary approval of military action overseas’, Corbyn said: ‘I beg to move that this House is considered Parliament’s rights in relation to the approval of military action by British forces overseas’: here.

BRITAIN: Slashing income tax for the rich has cost public £11 billion, says Unite: here.

SIR JIM RATCLIFFE, a BBC News profile said in May, “champions the unloved.” But fortunately for the Ineos boss — who is now moving to the tax haven of Monaco — few are more unloved than himself. Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man, has amassed a fortune of £21 billion, according to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List: here.

As elsewhere globally, the wealth of Australia’s richest has swollen over the past two decades, alongside mounting financial stress for millions of people: here.