New Year’s resolution for more jobs and better wages

Wages and jobs will remain the two big barriers to recovery in the North West in 2014 says the TUC’s Regional Secretary Lynn Collins.

Having took up post a year ago, Ms Collins says she has seen small signs of improvement in the economy and a welcome growth in jobs, but says more needs to be done in the new year to "get us back on track, including tackling the living standards crisis". She says in the region, wages have failed to rise in line with inflation for five years now and any increased spending that has happened has come from people eating into family savings.

Ms Collins adds: “The statistics show that Britain’s economic recovery is real but that is not how it feels here in the North West. This is because the government has failed to deliver a growth strategy based on rebalancing the economy through exports and investment. Instead growth is coming from rising house prices and people running down their savings. And while jobs growth is welcome, too many jobs are insecure and combine the three lows: low skill, low productivity and low pay.”

Having reflected on what has gone on so far, Ms Collins highlights the campaign for workers to receive a “Living Wage” and the need to outlaw the use of zero hours contracts as two key campaigns for 2014.

She says: “We have heard a lot about food banks and their growth in our region, and whilst there is an assumption they exist for those on benefits, we know that over the last year the biggest rise in food bank usage is by those in work, and facing low wages and no guaranteed hours.”

Ms Collins says that this is down to employers choosing to pay low wages, despite the call for them to share rising profits: “It’s a disgrace that workers have to turn to charities to put right the damage caused to working families by low wages. Paying a decent wage to all workers would reduce not only food bank dependency, but the benefits bill which currently tops up household income for those in low paid work. Employers should take responsibility and pay decent wages and this will be a big area of campaigning over the next 12 months.”

Ms Collins has welcomed recent announcements about jobs growth in the region: “Getting our young people in to decent work will be the biggest long term boost to the North West Economy. Youth unemployment remains a huge problem in the region, and it’s vital we don’t leave this generation of young people behind. We want to work with employers to ensure we create real opportunities young people to work and learn, and to create real jobs for them to go to.

“Without tackling the dual problems of wages and jobs, we won’t see the benefit of any recovery for many years to come. This is why 2014 will be a crucial year. It will be dominated by a single political question – whose growth? That reflects the big divide that is opening up about what future Britain should have.

“Do we want to go back to a business as usual version of the pre-crash economy, based on housing bubbles, an over mighty finance sector and increasing inequality as a growing proportion of the workforce fail to share in prosperity?

“Or do we want to build a new, genuinely rebalanced economy that through investment, growth and active government aims for a high-skill, high-pay, and high-productivity economy that shares out prosperity to all? I know which side trade unions are on here in the North West.”