Workers can fight and beat the wage squeezes, says Frances O’Grady
Outside a giant B&Q warehouse in Worksop Frances O’Grady is braving the icy rain to talk chat to members of the Unite union fresh from an 11-week long dispute.
This is classic red wall territory. Worksop forms part of Bassetlaw, the Nottinghamshire constituency won by the Conservatives at the 2019 election by more than 14,000 votes. The distribution centre is on the site of what was once the Manton colliery and – in a move redolent with symbolism – a Unite picket line was set up where miners had gathered during the year-long pit strike of 1984-5.
There is one crucial difference. Whereas the miners eventually lost their industrial battle, O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary, is greeted by workers celebrating victory. Having balloted to reject a 4% pay offer, Unite members at B&Q’s main UK distribution centre stood firm. Eventually, the 450 warehouse workers secured a 6.7% pay deal backdated to July. With recognition and bonus payments on top they will receive the equivalent of a 10.75% rise.
“The workers from B&Q are a great example of what is possible, affordable and just,” says O’Grady. “They should never have had to go on strike to get a fair share but they were determined. They were in it for the long haul.”
O’Grady is visiting Nottinghamshire to see for herself how workers are coping with Britain’s cost of living crisis and dismisses the idea that excessive pay rises are making the problem worse.
“It is plain to see that it is not pay rises that are driving inflation. According to the Bank of England’s own estimates real [inflation-adjusted] wages are going to fall again this year. Working families are victims of inflation, not the cause of it,” she says.
“I don’t see wages taking off. I don’t know how anybody can make
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