Great Britain: employers maintain tight control over labour costs even with more pay disputes

After a dispute beginning in August and involving two one-day strikes and then a deal brokered by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), the company agreed to pay a 2.5% rise for 2010 and a 2.5% rise for 2011. However, inflation – whether measured by Retail Price Index (with or with mortgage costs) at 4.7% or the Consumer Price Index at 3.1% – has remained relatively high. This means that while the strike by Unite members at Tunnocks succeeded in raising the employer offer from 2%, the pay rise still amounts to a cut in the real value of the workers’ wages.
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rch Unit (WERU), University of Hertfordshire. (Ref. 100741)

After a dispute beginning in August and involving two one-day strikes and then a deal brokered by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), the company agreed to pay a 2.5% rise for 2010 and a 2.5% rise for 2011. However, inflation – whether measured by Retail Price Index (with or with mortgage costs) at 4.7% or the Consumer Price Index at 3.1% – has remained relatively high. This means that while the strike by Unite me

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