UK workers are suffering the worst pay squeeze in 200 years with millions of children in poverty despite their parents having jobs, according to union figures.
Wages, which have lagged behind inflation, are worth £24 a week less than during the 2008 financial crisis and are not set to return to pre-crash levels until 2025, said the Trades Union Congress.
By that time, workers will have lost out by around £18,500 in real earnings, the TUC claimed.
It comes as tens of thousands of union members and campaigners will join the biggest demonstration for four years today calling for a “new deal” for workers.
Amid the longest pay squeeze in modern history, the TUC-organised central London protest is calling for a higher minimum wage, a ban on zero-hours contracts and more funding for the NHS, education and other public services.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady will tell marchers: “UK workers are suffering the worst pay squeeze for two centuries. It’s taking wages longer to recover from this crash than from the great depression and Second World War.
“This means families are struggling to get by. Millions of kids are growing up in poverty despite having parents in work. Mums and dads are skipping meals and turning to dodgy lenders to make ends meet.”
Image: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to address a union rally in central London
Nurses, ambulance crews, postmen, teachers, civil servants and cleaners will be among frontline workers attending a rally where Jeremy Corbyn will be among the speakers.
The Labour leader is expected to say his party will always “proudly support” working people coming together and organising to transform their workplaces and the country.
He will say that “in government, we will give workers and employees more power at work, by strengthening their rights and freedoms to organise together to improve their lives”.
He will add: “And because we believe in uniting people, we want to see workers across whole sectors, not just individual employers, get to bargain together to get the best deal for the workforce in their industry.
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“Why should bar staff and waiters not be able to organise and support each other like London bus drivers can?
“It’s time for a fundamental shift in power in our country – from the few to the many – and that is exactly what the next Labour government will deliver.”
Source: Sky