By rejecting any real offer on waiting me for the miners the government has made clear its determination to force things through to an all out confrontation with the working class. It is worth spelling out jast what implientions this will have for the living standards of worken. The government is now systematically preparing to ride out the misers overtime ban. It has Imported one million tons of coal frein the United States and vanious European countries and has already saved 2 million cons of coal through the chree-day week and the other restrictions, It believes that it can now keep chal supplies going uncil the end of March when the enset of warmer weatber will drastically reduce consumption. This achievement will be paid for by still greater mach catac working crass. gning to be an acrile shortage of stect. Production ofsteel has already been cat hy 50%, with the threat of another 16sh fall, and engineering will soon rum our of this vital raw material. Flus will sead fust to big clastires and redundancies in steel itself, where as the Бсуен ma puts it it as already likely that some DE BSColder plants that are being shet will not reopen, and will then lead to general layoffs in farge sections of industry. The next step will be further soaring inflaton cutting into living scandans. The two-day-dwork lock-out wit raise industrial costs by anytaing up to 20-305 → year, Two months of this sould to aguealert to an ancial Incitase of 2-33 it costs. All of thy will he possed on in laghet paces. This i fation will hit a working class whose income has been drastically hit by the lay offs. Again the Coucome magarine sets out the facts. as seen even from the pot of wiew of the ruling close: The effect of the three day week will he sharply regressive. The average excrutive will Jose nothing. the average engineerine worker wil lose about tos. The worker in industry with no guaranteed week, probably low paid, will Jose neady 50%.. The best guesstimates soom that the three-day week may col average pre tux pury by around 1K3 Buc-that average come will fall by around 11'% thanks ro lower marginal tax and unemployment pay. Apain if this wen spread out over to months this is corivalent to a loss of income in a year of 25, Finally, it is quite clear that Phase 4 of the incolnes policy will be even mane vicious than Phase 3. As the expected rate of inflation next year is any Lung hetween 15 and 20%, and the rile of pay increuses allowed under Phase 3 is only ?%, this means that Phuse + will be aim eat at forcing a sharp fall in the Living standard of the working class.
If you add together these facts- the increasing inflation, the unemployment, the loss oi pay due to the lock-out, and the more Vicious Phase 4 ol the incomes policy still to come -the cono lusion is very clear, the goveruent and the employers are now aiming not simply to hold back the living standard of the working class, but to sharply decrease it. This is what any section of the working class movement which fails to support smashing Phase 3 and ending the Tory government is inviting Red Weekly 11 January 1974 Page 3