East Street, Bedminster
21st February 2014
10:00 – 12:30
Bristol Trades Union Council will be in Bedminster to raise awareness about Britain’s cost of living crisis. Working people are seeing their living standards squeezed harder and harder. The cost of energy, food and housing is soaring but wages aren’t keeping up. People have lost over £4,000 since 2009 and while jobs may be returning to the economy they’re increasingly low paid, low hours and low security. As a result, more and more people struggle to pay their rent, mortgage and heat their homes. Women and young workers are particularly affected.
The TUC recently reported that wages had fallen, as a share of the economy, from 66% in 1975 to 54% in 2014. A quick back of an envelope calculation suggests to reverse this slide would require an average £173 per week pay rise for every employee.
Bristol Trades Union Council and the Trades Union Congress want to help workers in Bedminster fight for Fair Pay to reverse the decline in pay.
By Fair Pay we mean getting money back into people pockets which is essential to securing a strong recovery. We also need to avoid another debt fueled spending boom of the sort that caused the recent financial crisis – sustainable economic growth depends on fairer pay for ordinary workers and smaller bonuses for the super rich.
That’s why the Bristol TUC is campaigning for action that will start to move our economy back in the right direction.
A properly enforced minimum wage;
Higher minimum wages for employers who can afford to pay more;
Increased commitment to the living wage;
A crackdown on excessive executive pay.
Workers in Bedminster have a proud history of standing up for themselves, but changes in the type of jobs has weakened this tradition. Now is the time for workers in Bedminster to help establish Bristol as a City that pays it’s workers Fair Pay. Join a trade union!
Where to find us: On the day we’re on East Street, Bedminster, close to Argos and Greggs. There will be a stall, the Bristol Trades Union Council ( Bristol TUC ) banner and Fair Pay Fortnight flags.
Please come and join us and give your support, either by volunteering to help distribute our leaflet “Bristol needs fair pay” or engaging with the workers of Bedminster. If you can volunteer for an hour or two, please complete the form below, you can volunteer for more than one slot. You don’t have to fill in the form if you don’t want to – just turn up between 10:00 and 12:30.
Bristol Trades Union Council 
The TUC has issued this press release
9 March 2015
Commenting on the publication today (Friday) of the latest data from pay analysts at XpertHR, which suggests talk of decent wage growth is premature, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“Most workers are still not getting a fair share from the recovery, and these figures suggest that decent wage growth is still not on the horizon. In fact earlier this week the Office for National Statistics reported that wage growth is slowing down, so it looks like under the government’s current economic plan the bad news on pay is set to continue.”
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The day was a success with lots of new contacts made. Here’s a photograph, taken by Simon Chapman, of some of those who took part.
Thank you everybody.
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Read the recent TUC blog explaining the reality of falling living standards for working-age people in the current parliament
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Local campaign group, Equality Bristol, has contacted the parliamentary candidates of all the principal political parties in Bristol’s four constituencies asking them to commit to three specific actions to reduce pay inequality. We want candidates to sign a Declaration that they will:
1. Advocate increasing the National Minimum Wage, so that by 2020 it is equivalent to the Living Wage.
2. Advocate measures to reduce the gap between the highest and lowest paid in the UK.
3. Support the introduction of legislation requiring organisations employing 20 or more staff in the UK to make public the extent of their pay gap by publishing the ratio of the pay of their highest paid member of staff to the pay of their lowest paid member of staff.
Contact your constituency’s candidates and ask if they have signed the Equality Bristol Declaration.
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This press statement was issued at the start of Fair Pay Fortnight Wage stagnation has increased the deficit by at least £33bn, says TUC
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The TUC has issued a press statement in the build up to Fair Pay Fortnight specifically about pay in the South West it can be found at Real wages fell £300 in the South West in 2014, says TUC
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The TUC has issued another press statement in the build up to Fair Pay Fortnight it can be found here – Household debt to grow nearly three times faster than wages under Osborne’s plans, says TUC
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The TUC has issued this press statement The average wage is worth £2,500 less a year since Cameron became PM, says TUC
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