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UK to be bottom of the wage growth league in 2018, TUC head to warn in New Year Message

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The UK will have the worst wage performance of any advanced economy in 2018, according to new TUC analysis published today (Friday).

TUC analysis of OECD forecasts shows that real wages are set to fall again next year – placing the UK last in the OECD for pay growth.

Frances O’Grady will warn in her New Year message that 2018 will be another tough year for living standards:

“Real wages are still lower than they were when the financial crisis hit in 2008. And 2018 is set to be bleaker still.

“It looks like UK wages will fall the furthest of all advanced economies.

“On current projections, average pay won’t recover until 2025 – a full 17 years after the pay squeeze began.

“So in 2018, we’ll keep campaigning for an economy that can deliver a payrise for everyone. We’ll push to stop the worst exploitation, like zero- hours contracts and the pay penalty for agency workers. We’ll argue for more and better jobs, in every region and nation of the UK. And on 12 May we’ll march together to demand a new deal for working people.”

On Brexit, Frances O’Grady will warn of the danger of a CETA-style deal:

“As the UK gets ready to leave the EU, we want a Brexit deal that puts jobs and rights first. Trade deals like CETA don’t protect workers’ rights, set up special courts just for corporations and make it harder to bring rail back into public ownership.

“So instead, we want all options on the table, including keeping us in the single market and customs union, and we’ll keep fighting for the deal working people need.”

Looking ahead to the TUC’s 150th anniversary in June, Frances O’Grady will say:

“150 years on, the world of work is changing fast.

“But in this digital age, we know that workers acting together is still the best check on rapacious capital. We think the best way to honour the spirit of those TUC pioneers [from 1868] is to rebuild a trade union movement fit for the next 150 years. And that means finding new ways to organise a generation of young insecure workers.”

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