The cost-of-living crisis has not disappeared and is set to get worse over the coming year. Prices are far above their 2021 level and the next pressure is likely to come again through essentials: energy, food, clothing, transport, heating and housing. These basics are already up multiples of wage increases and every worker now feels the pain during the weekly shop. The return to school is getting harder and harder for families every year.
In the Republic, inflation is estimated at around 3.4% currently, with energy prices up 6.5% over the year. In the North, inflation rose to 2.9% in July, driven by household energy costs. The European Central Bank has warned that inflation could hit 5% in 2027 with basic food items rising significantly.
It is important that inflation is not just commented upon and accepted as some kind of natural event but actually understood as a result of the dynamics of capitalism and imperialism. The war, launched by the US and Israel in the Middle East, has raised oil and gas prices resulting in persistently higher energy and food prices. Speculation, gambling and betting, on commodity markets by investors has exacerbated this trend. While some get rich off of this the rest suffer the consequence in every weekly shop. War, sanctions, shipping disruption and oil-market instability feed into bills and food prices. That is why peace is a working-class issue.
Another real political issue causing our bills to go up is climate change. The summer’s heatwaves and droughts damaged crop yields resulting in ongoing rises in food prices. Damaged fodder and feed production is rising costs for farmers and eating into both their money savings and their stored produce. Added to higher energy costs this is resulting in higher prices in the supermarket.
Imperialism and capitalist-made climate change are not abstract talking points or topics for social media reels. They are hitting workers in the pocket every week.
The labour movement must stand up for workers by identifying these systemic causes and combating them. We must stand up for peace, negotiated settlement of conflicts, and an end to imperialist wars. This matters to your pocket. We must also demand the root causes of climate change be addressed and a just transition for workers that does not make workers pay for the pollution of big business. And finally, in the most immediate pay bargaining facing the trade union movement we must insist on three basic points. First, pay claims must protect workers against the actual cost of living, not just the headline inflation rate. Second, public policy must reduce essential costs through housing, childcare, transport, energy and public service price caps. Third, the State must invest seriously in energy security and public planning, rather than leaving households exposed to international oil and gas markets. Working people need to move beyond passively seeing war and climate change as issues to be left to the political class and technocrats; they should be mobilised industrially and politically as best they can for a better society.
