Received from: EIS
Congress recognises that millions of people across the UK are struggling to survive a cost-of-living crisis. Congress is clear that this crisis exists because living costs are rising faster than pay.
Congress believes that all workers deserve (Retail Prices Index) inflationary pay rises that maintain their standards of living. Furthermore, Congress supports pension and social security inflationary rises to ensure that living standards are maintained throughout society.
Congress instructs the General Council to campaign vigorously, in coordination with affiliates, to ensure that public sector pay rises match inflation, and to support and leverage affiliates’ campaigning on pay.
Congress asserts that the cost-of-living crisis has been caused and exacerbated within the UK by government decisions stretching back over decades. Furthermore, Congress asserts that the discourse prior to these decisions has been unfairly weighted by the right-wing, neoliberal bias of influential media outlets, eg, use of windfall taxes to address the current crisis.
Congress instructs the General Council to expand political education programmes for workers to understand how governments affect workers’ lives and the political and economic choices of governments.
Congress also instructs the General Council to develop a capacity to produce, on a regular basis, detailed briefings and other materials that explore the issues behind the major political/economic choices and decisions made in the UK. Furthermore, these materials should draw upon the ideas of prominent political thinkers and a range of respected international academics. These materials should be widely disseminated and should seek to rebalance the public debate around major political/economic decisions in the UK.
Educational Institute of Scotland