That's a tough sell.
From the Independent:
Prime minister blames Ukraine war for U-turn on promise to create a high-wage economy
Workers will have to settle for real-terms pay cuts if Britain is to avoid 1970s-style “stagflation” and soaring interest rates, Boris Johnson has warned.
In a major speech, the prime minister performed a startling U-turn on a promise – made just months ago – to create a high-wage economy, instead highlighting the pain to come from rising inflation.
“We cannot fix the increase in the cost of living just by increasing wages to match the surge in prices,” Mr Johnson said, in a speech billed as the latest reset of his troubled premiership.
He said: “If wages continually chase the increase in prices, then we risk a wage-price spiral such as this country experienced in the 1970s. Stagflation – that is inflation combined with stagnant economic growth.
“When a wage-price spiral begins, there is only one cure and that is to slam the brakes on rising prices with higher interest rates.
“That has an immediate impact on mortgages and rents. It puts up the cost of borrowing for business, it is bad for investment and growth, it is bad for jobs – it is bad for everyone.”
The prime minister blamed the Ukraine war for having “brutally interrupted” the bounce back from Covid, also dashing hopes of early tax cuts or higher spending to help struggling families....
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Stick it to the working stiff. Meanwhile Tony Blair's son is on his way to his first billion.
It appears Germany is taking a similar approach. From the World Socialist Website, June 6:
During the budget debate in the Bundestag last Wednesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democratic Party, SPD) announced the convening of a “Concerted Action.” He said that he was inviting employers and trade unions to work closely with the government. This was an “unusual” measure but necessary in view of the high level of inflation.
“We need a targeted effort in a very exceptional situation. We want concerted action against price pressures,” Scholz said.
In truth, the chancellor’s proposal is a political conspiracy against the working class. In the face of rapid price increases, unsustainable conditions in hospitals and schools and mass layoffs in many industries, resistance is growing. The ruling class and its institutions are responding by moving closer together.
The Bundestag debate has once again shown that all parties—despite heated exchanges—agree on the fundamental issues. They are all pulling in the same direction on military rearmament, the herd immunity policy of deliberate mass infection and the debt brake. Now the trade unions and the employers associations are to be formally involved in these policies.
The “Concerted Action” has the task of making the working class pay the gigantic sums for military rearmament and the billion-dollar gifts to the super-rich through cuts in wages and social spending. Their textbook is titled “Let the workers pay!”
The depth of the chasm between the working class and the government was shown by a demonstration that took place in Cologne at the same time as the chancellor announced his “alliance with the social partners.” Several thousand workers from the university hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia, who have been on strike for five weeks, demonstrated against intolerable working conditions. All the demonstrators the WSWS spoke to were outraged that the government was spending €100 billion on a military build-up, while hospitals, schools and other social institutions were being cut.
The employers and trade unions, on the other hand, welcomed the chancellor’s proposal. Employers’ Association President Rainer Dulger said, “We employers are aware of our responsibility. Employers associations and trade unions have always worked constructively on solutions in previous crises. We will do so again this time.”....
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