CWU calls for a payrise for Britain

2022 will prove to be a difficult year for millions of working people. A ‘cost of living storm’ as described by Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the TUC.

Fuel and energy bills are soaring, millions of households have already been made worse off by the cut to universal credit and a hike in National Insurance is still to come.

The Communication Workers Union – which represents workers throughout the communications industry, including BT, Openreach, Royal Mail, Capita O2 and Virginmedia – is fully behind the campaign; ‘A new deal for workers’ the key aim of which is to win for every worker in the UK, in every industry and sector, the basic right to job security, rights at work, and a fair and living wage..

“In the employers where we have recognition we are already negotiating hard to try and get decent pay rises for our members in 2022 – many of whom were key workers throughout the pandemic,” says Mark Elwen of the CWU West Yorkshire Branch, “Other unions will be doing the same for their members in different sectors, but there are millions of workers who have no union to represent them in the workplace, no one to negotiate on their behalf.”

“It is so frustrating,” continues Mark, “there are many other workplaces where we do not yet have the level of membership to be able get legal recognition with the employer, so employees there can’t get the full benefit of what a trade union can bring, including negotiating their pay.”

Mark believes the ‘New Deal for Workers’ campaign’ will ultimately be successful, but will take time, especially in non-unionised workplaces.

But for Mark the answer is simple – workers simply need to join a union.

“Join a union, get your colleagues to join, it takes a couple of minutes to join online. We don’t just need a new deal for 2022, we need a better deal that will last in every workplace. Only a trade union in your workplace will guarantee that.”

Find out more at https://www.cwu.org/join-us.