UPDATE (22/8/22): Everybody's on Strike! The Wage-Price Spiral of Inflation Continues Or Is It All Due to The Greedy Bosses?

 

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UPDATE (22/8/22)

Yesterday, workers at the largest container port in the UK went on strike for 8 days.

Today, barristers have voted to go on all-out strike.

Who will go on strike next?

These latest strikes are despite Conservative MPs voting in July to allow agency workers to undermine strikers.

UPDATE (5/8/22)

We published the below a month ago now. It's time for an update from the RMT union. They - and other union bosses such as Sharon Graham of Unite - claim that it is bosses that are responsible for inflation. 

In a TV interview on the Jeremy Vine show, Eddie Dempsey of the RMT had a bruising discussion with former Tory MP and Cabinet Minister Ann Widdecombe. Mr Dempsey claimed that bosses are making huge profits at a time when people are struggling and the suffering includes low-paid workers. Ms Widdecombe argued that pay increases will lead to price increases - the spiral that we have described before.

Andrew Pope responds:

"When I was a union representative and negotiator, I argued the same as Mr Dempsey. It was all the bosses' fault. They were making profits for shareholders who were doing well. Those on high pay, such as company directors of large corporations, were also doing well. 

Meanwhile the low-paid were struggling. I have a lot of sympathy for his argument, but as I have already said in public, it is logical that there will be a spiral of prices increasing and wages increasing to keep pace with prices. That is what is happening, and union leaders try to pretend that their wage demands do not have an impact.

Both Mr Dempsey and Ms Widdecombe are right in some ways. Above inflation increases do have an impact on prices. Those pay increases have to be covered somehow.

The political question that arises then is HOW those pay increases are to be covered, particularly when other costs of production are also rising at the same time.

They could be covered by cutting the pay of those on high pay and limiting shareholder profits.

Or they could be covered by increasing prices. Or a bit of both.

It all comes down to what the companies do and what they think they can get away with. The company bosses are in a much more powerful position than the low-paid and the power of the unions is usually weak.

So prices go up. And we all suffer while the process is repeated. Yes it is a spiral."

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UPDATE (6/7/22)

Gareth Reynolds, Solicitor and Director of Bartlett, Gooding & Weelen Solicitors based in Cheddar, told us:

"I cannot speak for other Directors but I do have considerable sympathy for the Barristers who are on strike.  If junior members of the profession are not adequately remunerated then it will be very difficult to recruit new members."

 

UPDATE (5/7/22)

Yesterday morning, we published the below article on strikes and inflation, leading to a wage-price spiral of inflation.

Since then, late last night, ITV News has published an article saying that "Most firms expect prices to rise in the next few months amid high inflation and skills shortages."

And the Unite union General Secretary has gone to the media to boast of an "inflation-busting" 15.25% pay rise at Interface Europe, not in Somerset but in Craigavon. 

This begs the questions:

Who will get the increases and who won't, in the private sector and in the public sector?

Which firms will go bust trying to pay more to their staff and then increasing prices? 

Which firms will be able to absorb pay increases to those on lower pay by reducing the pay of those on higher pay, meaning that they do not charge higher prices?

If the survey from the British Chambers of Commerce is to be believed, and looking at more strikes happening, the wage-price spiral has already begun. Where it ends, who knows?

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Somerset Independents puts residents and workers first. This does not mean that we blindly support all workers in any dispute. We also support good businesses and employers in Somerset. 

Each dispute has to be looked at carefully. In some disputes, employers or employees - or both - can be in the way of resolution. That is why there are ways that disputes can be resolved.

To go on strike should be a last resort for any worker.

It is vitally important that everybody understands the reasons for a dispute and for a strike.

So as we did with the threatened bin strikes, the train strikes, and the Clark's dispute, we will endeavour to present the different views from the disputing parties and those affected by the dispute.

Then residents and workers of Somerset can make up their own minds.

And then they tell us what they think.

In a democracy, that is how we think things should be done.

The Cost of Living Crisis and Inflation

Andrew Pope, Leader of Somerset Independents, says:

Andrew Pope

"Last year, I anticipated that inflation would increase and I said in public that I worried that it might go over 10%. The Bank of England is now warning that it might reach 11% soon.

I also thought that this would feed in to pressure to increase wages. It is only natural that workers will want their pay packets increased when they feel the pinch when spending their money.

This is what is known as the wage-price spiral in economics. The increased prices mean higher wages which then have to be factored in by producers to maintain a surplus or profit. And it goes around again.

Like it or not, that is the nature of the system that we have.

The cost of living has increased. That is what inflation does. People across Somerset are feeling the pinch.

So we have had bin disputes affecting Somerset, train disputes affecting Somerset and now there is a barrister dispute affecting Somerset court cases.

Somerset Independents will try to give residents the information they need, so they can make up their own minds about the disputes."

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