UNITELANDWORKER Comment
Sharon Graham General Secretary
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham writes
At the Labour conference I asked delegates, how did we get here? A two trillion-pound economy – the sixth richest economy in the world – where workers and communities are merely existing, and we don’t even own our most basic of needs.
Our economy is broken. This Tory government has done exactly what it says on the Tory tin – make the rich richer and enable rampant profiteering. I moved a motion to renationalise energy in which I said we must take our energy back into public hands. It was overwhelmingly carried.
As you read this column energy bills are going up again. In early November Shell’s profits were published. It’s time to stop companies like Shell making a killing at our expense. Profiteering on this magnitude is one of the great scandals of our time. It is crippling our communities and what remains of our industrial base. Energy privatisation has failed – pure and simple.
Inflation is still far too high. The abject political failure to tackle rampant profiteering means that workers now face another winter of sky-high bills. Energy prices are 50 per cent higher for consumers after two years of this crisis. Big business is driving inflation while our communities are left exposed to an ongoing crisis that is not of their making.
And the latest National Grid profits say it all. These results show the true reality of our broken energy system. A monopoly company, sold off on the cheap by politicians to the private sector, making excess profits that it passes back to its shareholders rather than investing in services and infrastructure for the public good. The irony that two of the biggest shareholders are the governments of Norway and Abu Dhabi will not be lost
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on the public who will see this as the sham it is.
But Unite’s energy plan would bring vital infrastructure, like the National Grid, back into public ownership so that the workers of Britain, their families and the British economy are the ones who will really benefit rather than overseas profiteers.
As November closed the Chancellor gave his autumn statement. It was an abject failure for workers. He had a golden opportunity to tackle the issues threatening jobs and livelihoods and missed the target on every occasion.
UK workers desperately need a once-in-a- generation investment in the country’s productive capabilities, including in steel and other strategic parts of our manufacturing sector.
The triple whammy, of still high-inflation, Find out more
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interest rates and rising energy costs, left consumers at the sharp end of the economy continuing to struggle with the cost-of-living crisis.
But as ever, Unite will continue to press for action to tackle excess corporate profits and to provide proper funding, including for fair pay, across the public services.
Mark Thomas
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