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Wage Labour and Capital and Value, Price and Profit both by Karl Marx
Posted on Wednesday, September 03 @ 03:35:49 CDT by spno |
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 How many times has a boss told a shop steward or union rep that if they ask for too big a wage increase then prices will go up? Former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson claimed in the 1960s that: "One man's wage increase is another man's price rise". This is still a common cry from bosses world-wide.
When the national minimum wage was brought in, Britain's bosses again argued that wage rises cause inflation. If the minimum wage was at too high a level, they said, workers would be priced out of jobs, prices would rise and economic meltdown could follow.
Some trade union leaders stressed that a minimum wage had been introduced in other countries - sometimes at a higher level - without this economic Armageddon happening. This was a correct argument but it did not really explain why wage increases do not cause inflation.
If workers want the best arguments to expose the bosses and show that they can demand larger pay rises than are offered without causing economic chaos, then look no further than these two pamphlets from Karl Marx written in the 19th century.
Click here
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