THE Bank of England (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee decided yesterday to make no change in its base interest rate and to leave it at 5.00 per cent.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) reacted by declaring that it was ‘a depressing decision. With the slowdown now biting and recession on the cards, inflation is not the main threat to the economy. A cut today would have offered hope to all those who fear for their jobs and homes, and helped cut through the economic pessimism that is now doing as much damage as the credit crunch and energy prices.’
The latest unemployment figures for the second quarter recorded an increase of 60,000, with thousands more workers expected to face the sack as the recession in Britain deepens in the months ahead.
There has been a record number of house repossessions this year, with families made homeless, or falling into the clutches of private landlords, because Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government has blocked council house building.
Prices are rocketing. The BoE is predicting an inflation rate of five per cent. Food prices have increased by 25 per cent and petrol and gas have gone up 28 per cent over the past year.
On Wednesday, a top Swiss banker maintained that the Labour government, through the BoE, has handed over £200bn to the banks, exchanging bad debts for government bonds in response to the so-called ‘credit crunch’.
Alongside this, a report from a think-tank revealed that Britain is among the countries with the longest working week in the 27-member European Union.
On average, a full-time worker in Britain worked 41.4 hours per week in 2007. This is the 25th longest working week in the 27 countries. Only Bulgarian and Romanian workers worked longer, with an average working week of 41.7 hours.
In response to this situation, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘UK workers are still working the longest hours in western Europe, but this is no sign of economic strength as we are stuck at the top of the league table with poor countries in eastern Europe.’
As the trade union leaders prepare to meet at the TUC conference in Brighton next week, it is clear that the Brown government is taking desperate measures to keep the banks afloat and rescue British capitalism.
At the same time, it is letting market forces rip, decimating jobs, driving up homelessness and cutting living standards, through the rocketing prices of basic necessities.
Every worker wants action from their trade unions and the TUC to defend jobs, homes, essential services and living standards.
This is the message that will be delivered to the TUC conference next Monday by the lobby organised by the All Trades Unions Alliance, the industrial section of the Workers Revolutionary Party. (See details on page1)
However, the record of the present leaders of the TUC and major unions, like the T&G/AEEU (Unite) and UNISON, is that they have wholeheartedly collaborated with the government and consistently opposed coordinated extended strike action against government-imposed, pay cuts in the public sector.
These leaders took part in the Warwick Policy Forum last month. Brown came away with millions of pounds from the trade unions for Labour’s funds and the unions got nothing!
Strongly worded statements from the union leaders about government policies will not save jobs, or stop pay cuts.
In every locality it is necessary that the trade unions, working-class political parties and community organisations, establish councils of action to unite workers and middle class people. They must organise the struggle to stop the cuts, closures and evictions, through meetings, marches, strikes and occupations.
After yesterday’s statement from Health Secretary Alan Johnson, that Enfield’s Chase Farm Hospital will be closed as a District General Hospital, the North East London Council of Action has the task of taking whatever action is necessary to keep it open.
Building a new leadership in the trade unions is essential in the fight to mobilise the unions to kick out the Brown government and defend the working class from the catastrophe of the crisis of capitalism, by establishing a workers’ government that will implement socialist policies. Join the Workers Revolutionary Party today!
