UNITELANDWORKER Comment
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham writes
Once again we find ourselves in the grip of crisis capitalism. In the last three years we’ve reeled from one crisis to another and austerity has delivered a calamity of under- investment and under-staffing in our public services. Now the Chancellor’s new bout of City deregulation threatens a rerun of the 2007 financial crash.
To many it’s now obvious the system is broken. The so-called decision makers are incapable of creating an economy that works for the vast majority of us. At every turn we see redistribution of wealth and power away from working people, into the hands of the few.
One of the main causes is soaring corporate profiteering. This isn’t just a few “bad apples”, it’s systemic.
At Unite we were among the first to examine this. Our most recent Unite Investigates report showed how in the first half of 2022 FTSE 350 profit margins were 89 up on the same period in 2019.
We’ve all seen this close up with jumps in food and petrol prices, energy bills and mortgages. Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda – the top three supermarkets – doubled their combined profits to £3.2bn in 2021 compared to 2019. Big brand food manufacturers like Nestle and Unilever have done similarly well.
Our team of forensic accountants also ripped apart claims that supermarkets’ profits are being squeezed by rising food prices. Tesco’s profits fell due to property values, rising interest rates and admin expenses – not because of “absorbing” increased food costs.
Sainsbury’s gross profit “before non- underlying items” actually increased last year. It was £2.42bn in 2022/3, 3% higher than £2.36bn in 2021/2.
Not all companies have done well – many smaller businesses have suffered. But the glaring issue is how, across so many industries, the broken economy has created so many opportunities for bosses to profit from crisis.
What of our politicians? Instead of tackling the real root cause of the cost of living crisis, both major parties are instead obsessing over GDP.
We need a lot more than higher abstract economic indicators to deliver in the real economy. That’s why for me it all starts in the workplace. It’s there that we can make change ourselves. We can focus on defending jobs and securing the pay and conditions of working people. And perhaps most importantly, we can empower people not just teach them to be dependent on change at the top.
Sharon Graham General Secretary
I’m proud that Unite has helped lead the way. Over the last 18 months since my election, we have had over 700 disputes covering over 100,000 members. We have won over 80 per cent of those disputes and as a result put an extra £300m into the pockets of workers. That is change I can believe in.
find out more
See
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