The onset of the capitalist crisis has resulted in many new terms entering the vocabulary. Many of the long words used by bankers and economists are very confusing, and no doubt used to put ordinary people off attempting to understand what is really behind this crisis.
However one term which has recently started appearing on our TVs, radios and newspapers is “give-back”. If we lived in a fair and just world, one might have expected a “give-back” to be an arrangement between the capitalists and the workers whereby the bosses give back all the money they have stolen from us over the last ten years as the gap between rich and poor has greatly increased.
But we don’t live in a fair and just world; we live within a capitalism system. A “give-back” is where the bosses place an ultimatum on the workers – to lose their jobs or take huge cuts in pay and/or working conditions. These are generally negotiated between bosses and the trade union leaders who have collaborated with many of these give-back schemes.
Of course, give-backs weaken trade unions within a workplace as many workers feel outraged at their unions for negotiating to their disadvantage. This can open the way for bosses to both cut pay and layoff many workers too.
Now British bosses are negotiating with the trade union leaders to do the same. At Honda, leaders of the Unite union are negotiating pay cuts among 5000 staff in Swindon. Rank and file union members must oppose actions such as these, by setting up their own committees. They must demand that all negotiations between the union tops and the company bosses are made public to avoid sell-outs.
Youth worst hit
Low wages are a classic way that bosses try to make workers pay for the crisis, and for youth, who get paid less anyway the results can be disastrous. Over the last decade, more and more youth have been forced to take up “McJobs” due to the lack of other opportunities. Many of these jobs have been paid at the appallingly low minimum wage which also openly discriminates – the younger you are the less you get.
In October 2008, the government used the crisis to justify the tiniest wage “rises” to those on the minimum wage. For workers under 18, the hourly rate rose just 13 pence – at the same time as some basic food essentials went up in price by 30%. It will be of little comfort then that as unemployment rises in almost every sector of the job market, that Kentucky Fried Chicken plan to open 300 new outlets. These are the kind of jobs that will pay peanuts and offer no opportunity. When we say “we want jobs” we mean decent jobs with decent wages.
Youth must start to fight back against low pay and for job security too. Too often youth are forced into temp work or “zero hours” contracts where we suffer worse conditions and are at the mercy of the bosses who choose how much we can work from week to week. We can also lose our jobs with little or no notice at a time when prospects for finding other work are bleak. We must demand the right to join unions and build them in our workplace.
