Let's put this into perspective. Energy companies are telling us that they are
being "forced" to put our bills up by heart-stopping amounts, but on the otherhand, Paula Rosput Reynolds, chair of BP's remuneration committee, said:"Financial performance... was outstanding." Something very odd is going on. ----But it isn't the energy companies being greedy, oh no. ITV News politicalcorrespondent, Simon Harris, was careful to frame the pay award of LondonUnderground workers as "inflation busting". In reality, it was the rate ofinflation plus 0.2%. Meanwhile, BP recorded a profit of £13bn, the CEO had hispayout doubled to £4.5 million, energy companies' profits were £40bn, and MPsawarded themselves a £2,000 pay rise. None of these were described as "inflationbusting". That a 0.2% pay rise for workers is being flagged as extravagant tellsus much.Earlier this month, the Resolution Foundation think tank reported, in theirfourth dedicated Living Standards Outlook, that "real incomes are currentlyprojected to be lower in 2026-27 than in 2021-22, and the period from 2019-20 to2024-25 is currently on track to be the worst on record for income growth".Benefits too are lagging badly behind the cost of living, with the think tankfinding that "A 3.1 per cent benefit increase is inadequate when prices arerising by as much as 8 per cent". Their conclusion is that "Absolute poverty iscurrently rising" in the UK.The message we are meant to internalise is that it is only working-class peoplewho must "show restraint" as our incomes fall in the faces of rocketing prices atthe checkouts, petrol pumps, energy meters, and everywhere else. This neat trickby capital that puts the blame for supply side inflation on us, while theirprofits reap the rewards, is one we must expose and resist. Do not fall into thetrap of joining a race to the bottom when Simon Harris of ITN, and others in themedia, try to get us to resent the Tube workers' 0.2% pay award. Meanwhile, thebiggest earners in the UK saw their monthly pay increase from £10,891 pcm in 2014to £13,770 pcm in December 2021 - a 24% increase. We'll say that again. That's£13,770 PER CALENDAR MONTH.We must organise in our communities to fight back together. We don't have to sitback while the rich try to tell us we have to pay for boardroom greed, or thatlow-paid workers have to show pay restraint. We don't have to accept pensionscoming under attack. We don't have to accept the hike in heating bills, fuel,transport costs and national insurance contribution. We can come together to findways to resist. Start the conversation in your community now. Capitalism wants todivide, regulate, and administer us. Be unmanageable. Let's take action togetherand fight together for ourselves and others around us. The self-organisation ofmovements and organisations without external mediation is what officialdom andpower fears most.https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2022/03/25/the-cost-of-living/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten