The truth behind Brown's "booming economy" - a mass of "working poor"

Print
Workers' Fight workplace bulletin editorials
6 February 2007

Research by the trade union Amicus, almost two years after the final collapse of MG Rover in April 2005, shows that 25% of the workforce is still unemployed.

At that time, 6,100 workers directly employed by Rover lost their jobs. The fate of another 16,000 workers in suppliers and 7,000 in dealerships has not been documented.

Today, according to the Amicus survey, only 66% of the MG Rover workers have found alternative work. But of these, 20% are now earning the equivalent of the minimum wage! Which, of course is now still only £5.35/hour. This means that even if these workers work 40 hours a week, they have dropped from an average of £22,000/year to just over £11,000!

Contrary to what supporters of this government keep telling us, including union leaders, this minimum wage has not actually improved the situation of the working class because it is used as the "benchmark" for wages, effectively pulling all wage levels right down to the minimum!

And by the way, there was no financial support given to those Rover workers who could not afford to retrain. Only 31% had any kind of advice given to them, against the 58% claim by the government.

This is the true picture of Brown's "successful" economy and the truth behind this government's boast of the "highest level of employment in British history"! It claims that unemployment under Labour has been all but abolished! But of course what their fiddled figures actually conceal is the crude reality of casualisation and low pay.

The truth of the matter is that there are just no decent permanent jobs on offer any more. It has become "normal" for many workers to hold multiple temporary and part-time jobs - all paid on the minimum wage. Indeed they have no choice, but to take whatever work is on offer - and as much of it as possible - to make ends meet. Labour's pro-business policies have created a huge and desperate number of "working poor".

But not content with that, this government is also attacking those on incapacity benefit and forcing them into the arms of bosses whose only aim is to exploit them as cheaply as possible. As for Brown's pride and joy, the "tax credit" system, meant to prevent the low-paid from starving, it is nothing but a government subsidy to the bosses who pay starvation wages!

Sure, it is the bosses who slash jobs and close factories at will, to ensure that they and their shareholders continue to get richer, while the working class who made all their wealth for them, gets poorer. But in doing this, they rely on a government which is prepared to aid and abet them at every single turn. And since every main party has exactly the same pro-business agenda, it is not by voting, but only through a concerted fight waged by workers themselves, that this will ever change.