Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Larry Elliott - John McDonnell pledges shorter working week and no loss of pay

Shadow chancellor sets out plan to end in-work poverty and cut working week to 32 hours



Larry Elliott is one of the few people at the Guardian who's still on the left. He was always anti the EURO and now we know he was right.

Productivity has greatly gone up over the years, but pay and hours worked hasn't changed, says John McDonnell. All the gains have gone to the wealthy.

The Confederation of British Businesses say we can't afford a cut in the working week, and I guess they will cite that's because the competition is so fierce, which means globalisation is useless at creating prosperity for the the majority of the people. As more automation takes over, they will still be saying the same thing: cut your working week or increase your pay and someone else will take your job. That means the elite will always make all the gains. We need to rethink the system; in this one the game is rigged and the tables are tilted.

Workers will enjoy longer holidays under a future Labour government as part of a 10-year plan to see the length of the average full-time working week drop by five hours, the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has announced.

Speaking at the party’s conference in Brighton, McDonnell said he wanted to see a marked cut in the average working week from 37 to 32 hours within a decade, with no loss of pay.


2 comments:

Andrew Anderson said...

The Confederation of British Businesses say we can't afford a cut in the working week, and I guess they will cite that's because the competition is so fierce, which means globalisation is useless at creating prosperity for the the majority of the people. kv

Why should foreigners want British pounds to begin with? If not to buy British goods and services?

Two reasons come to mind:
1) To buy British sovereign debt and thereby obtain positive yields on the inherently risk-free debt of a monetary sovereign. But this is welfare proportional to account balance - an abomination.
2) To buy British land. But land ownership should be limited to British citizens. Otherwise, who owns the country?

Ralph Musgrave said...

Pretty fatuous promise. In ten years everyone will likely have forgotten about that promise. Second,Labour will most likely not be in power for much of that ten years, so if the shorter working week does not materialise they can always blame it on the Tories!