Did you get your 4.3% today?

For must of us the answer to that question will be no. Today is the day which we receive our wages with the addition of this years pay rise. It appears that this years pay rise was worth 2-3% to most of us this year.

In reality that’s no pay rise at all, in fact it’s a pay cut. Inflation (RPI) is currently running at 4.3%. Anything below that and we’re not keeping up with the cost of the the essential things we buy every day. So our fortunate colleague who received a 3% pay rise (and most have worked very hard to get this much!) will be able to buy 1.3% less stuff this year with the fruits of their 200ish days labour.

One of the main advantages of a collective bargaining unit is that by standing together we can get a much better deal. No one is asking for the kind of double digit pay rises enjoyed by Sarin and the board, but surely anyone who’s performance over the last 12 months was “Good” deserves a pay rise that at least matches inflation!!!