With Britain facing a cost-of-living crisis, Frances O'Grady is calling on the chancellor to work with unions and focus the Spending Review on improving pay and conditions.

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has called on Rishi Sunak to include unions in efforts to “build back better” after the pandemic.

This Wednesday – October 27 – will see the chancellor announce the Spending Review, alongside the second Budget of the year. Sunac has said the Review will focus on “looking to the future and building a stronger economy for the British people.”

Unions must ‘have a seat’ at the table

Writing in the Mirror yesterday, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, said the Spending Review is the big test for the government’s ‘build back better’ agenda and that any serious plans to meet the Tories’ proposals “must be made with a seat for unions at the table, not just big corporations.”

“Longstanding problems that hold Britain back must be fixed – like low pay and insecure work,” wrote O’Grady.

“And we must see concrete plans to build a stronger, more resilient economy – backed by investment.

“Too much of our economy has been taken over by business models that profit from low pay and denying workers’ rights. That must end,” she continued.

Calls to raise pay are a key focus on the TUC’s submission to the Treasury ahead of the Spending Review. The trade union backs increasing the minimum wage to at least £10 an hour, alongside reversing the cut to Universal Credit, and ending the public-sector pay freeze.

“Public services are essential to the resilience our economy needs. They must be better funded, with good pay and conditions to attract and keep high-quality staff,” O’Grady wrote.

Collective Bargaining is key in reducing inequality

Talking to Left Foot Forward, the TUC’s general secretary explained how giving trade unions greater access to workplaces is the key to “levelling up” pay and employment standards across the country.                                                                                                                                          
“The OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] and governments across the world, from America to New Zealand, have recognised the key role collective bargaining can play in reducing inequality and giving people security at work.  

“It would be nice if Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson took a leaf out of Joe Biden’s book on this.

“President Biden has already started building a new deal for working America and shown that the foundation of a fair economy is decent work, paying the union rate for the job.

“That’s the way to build back a fairer Britain too. 

“Committing to industry-wide fair pay agreements would transform the lives of millions by setting minimum standards – on pay, training, health and safety – and prevent good employers from being undercut by the bad.

“And fair pay agreements would help ease staffing shortages in under-pressure sectors like logistics, food production and social care, by making those industries better places to work in,” O’Grady told LFF.

Cost-of-living crisis

The TUC’s demands come at a time when Britain is facing a sharp rise in living costs. Soaring prices in energy, food, and fuel are amounting to what has been labelled as a “cost-of-living crisis.”

With Covid support schemes ended, alongside cuts to benefits, the difficulties presented by Brexit, rising inflation and with Covid-19 cases rising, households across the UK are facing a difficult winter.

Figures from the Resolution Foundation, the think-tank focused on improving living standards for those on low incomes, show UK households could be £1,000 worse off in 2022.

With Britain facing a ‘winter of discontent’, Frances O’Grady isn’t alone in urging the government to set out plans to improve pay and conditions and better fund public services to rebuild the nation’s economy.

James Smith, research director of the Resolution Foundation, said that the cost-of-living crisis must be a primary focus of the Spending Review.

Talking to BBC Breakfast, Smith said: “The big thing that he needs to deal with, and the thing that will really create opportunity, is the focus on the living standards crisis in front of us.

“So we have huge cuts in benefits … we have higher inflation and we have rising taxes, and all these … affect incomes, particularly the incomes of those at the bottom end.

“That impact is something the chancellor must factor into his decision-making this week.”

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves shared similar sentiment, saying that if Labour was in power their priority would be:

“…easing the cost-of-living price crisis, helping businesses who have had a torrid 18 months, and addressing some of the long-term challenges that we face with the climate crisis..”  

Left Foot Forward reached out to the Treasury department for commentary on Frances O-Grady’s calls for the government to work with unions if it is serious about its ‘levelling up’ agenda, and whether improving pay and conditions be a focus of this week’s Spending Review. 

An HMT spokesperson said:

“The Budget and Spending Review will set out how we will continue to invest in public services, businesses and jobs while keeping the public finances on a sustainable footing.”

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a freelance journalist and contributing editor to Left Foot Forward.

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