Please donate to the RMT strike fund here if you can.
As the RMT trade union start the first of three one-day national rail strikes and a one day strike on the London Underground, this will be the biggest rail strike in 30 years. The RMT is facing an unprecedented attack on their jobs, pay and conditions. Anti*Capitalist Resistance today stands in solidarity with all RMT members taking industrial action.
This is only the beginning, the Tories seem happy during this cost of living crisis to let inflation eat away at our pay and buying power. Soon we will see Teachers, Postal Workers and NHS staff balloted over pay, instead of recognising the impact of rising inflation the conservatives now shout for pay restraint. When was the last time you saw a business leader or banker offer up restraint on their ever-rising salaries?
The median pay gap of 69 CEOs and their employees at FTSE350 companies that disclosed pay in the first quarter of 2022, found that the gap had doubled from 2021 to 63:1. As Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said:
“Our report indicates that companies and their stakeholders showed some sensitivity to the need to treat workers fairly and reduce vast pay inequalities during the pandemic.
“However, as the Covid 19 emergency hopefully reduces, it would be a shame if the spirit of solidarity it generated fades away as well.
“Major employers have a key role to play balancing their pay awards so that high, middle and low earners are all paid fairly and proportionately.”
Personnel today
It would seem that instead business leaders reverted to type in 2022 and rapidly increased their own salaries.
The think tank found that six out of ten people think top UK company CEOs should be paid no more than 10 times the salary of their typical employee. If the Tories want to look at pay restraint I suggest this is where they start. While Conservative Ministers and the Tory press will demonise hard working RMT members, they should be reminded of the low standing of MP’s, CEO’s and Journalists in the public eye.
Below are some pictures from Anti*Capitalist Members who visited RMT picket lines this morning to show solidarity with the striking workers.
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Already the backsliding begins. ITV news is reporting that the Government has changed one point in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They have accepted that academies will retain their ‘freedom’ to set their own pay scales for teachers. So the criteria in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions document will only apply to teachers in Local Authority schools. Why have the Government climbed down on this issue? It’s not as if this is a major financial problem for academies. But what will be the next change/climb down by the Government? Will academies be exempt from the National Curriculum? Will Local Authorities be able to build schools according to the needs of their communities or will all new schools, as at present, have to be academies?