האגודה הישראלית לחקר יחסי עבודה

Speakers to composite motion 13 on Monday said that the social security system must work in tandem with the labour movement's agenda for strong trade unions and employment rights and secure, decently and properly paid work.

Until all employers pay a real living wage, welfare payments will play a necessary role in ensuring that workers are able to make ends meet.

The Conservatives have frozen most working-age benefits, including working tax credits, over the next four years; costing the average family £260 a year. The value of such benefits has already been seriously diminished as a result of one per cent increases between 2011 and 2015.

In this climate, the growing popularity of the idea of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) with a variety of models being discussed here and around the world - a progressive system that would be easier to administer, easier for people to navigate, paid individually and that is complementary to comprehensive public services and childcare provision.

Good, basic living standards

PCS supported the motion, which was carried, but there are concerns over UBI and we want the policy to be further explored before adopting it.

PCS's Katrine Williams said: "We need a system that means everybody has the right to good, basic standards of living. And those in work should have £10 an hour as a minimum."

She said that although the £12bn cuts to tax credits had been defeated by the House of Lords, the government was sneaking them through in Universal Credit.

The motion also recognised that until the housing crisis is resolved there would also be a need for supplementary benefits to support people on low incomes with high housing costs and that there will always be a need for supplementary benefits for disabled people.

Delegates expressed concerns over the Conservative government’s cuts to the welfare system. These cuts will cause increased levels of deprivation for many working families. The current system has been made increasingly punitive and has effectively been used to stigmatise benefit claimants. The operation of sanction pushes people into destitution for trivial reasons.

Deep concern

Congress was also deeply concerned about the introduction of Universal Credit, with estimates that the policy will leave 2.5 million families worse off; some by more than £3,000 a year. While the Conservatives may have originally claimed tha the introduction of Universal Credit was to encourage more people into work, it has become increasingly clear that this is a thinly veiled ideological drive to cut the support provided by the welfare state to low-paid workers.

Universal Credit requires many claimants to commit to earning the equivalent of 35 hours’ worth of pay at the national living wage every week. If workers face a cut in hours, they will not only lose pay but will also face benefit sanctions.

Vicious austerity

Steve Turner from Unite who proposed the motion said that the Tories had spent the last 6 years, through 'vicious austerity,' "ripping the heart from the welfare state and benefits system."

"The government is responsible for the rapid growth in poverty and deaths of people at the end of their cuts," he said.

He said universality should be returned to the core of benefits system.

Steve quoted Victor Hugo in saying: "Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. And this is an idea whose time has come."

Paddy Lillis from Usdaw said there was a clear strategy by the media and government to "dehumanise those on welfare".

"There are many people who are struggling to survive," he said.

Nicky Ramanandi from Unison said the welfare state should be an adequate safety net for those in need.

Defend in-work benefits

Congress agreed that the TUC would campaign to defend in-work benefits to ensure that workers have access to a proper welfare system that ensures those on low pay are free from poverty.

The transition from our current system to any new system that incorporates these principles should always leave people with lower incomes better off.

Read more news from PCS at #TUC16.

Original Source