Enough is enough

This post is aimed at UK readers of the blog, but hopefully might offer some inspiration to others elsewhere in the world.

The UK is currently entering an economic crisis caused by a wide range of factors including the aftermath of Covid, the war in the Ukraine, and long term economic policies. This is resulting in rising prices (particularly in relation to fuel) and stagnant wages, but not in falling profits. Many of these problems are global, but they have come together in a particularly challenging way in the context of the UK.

The Governor of the Bank of England has argued that workers need to show pay restraint to help the country to deal with the crisis, but has made no corresponding call for restrain in profits or rent. In other words it is working people who need to pay for the crisis by working harder and getting an increasingly poor standard of living.

This is leading some politician, trade unionists and activists to say enough is enough!

The enough is enough campaign is making the argument that people should have a decent standard of living and that there are political choices to make about how to address economic crisis. So far, politicians have repeatedly convinced people that they have to pay for problems in the economy with a cut in their living standards. This is what the policy of austerity was all about.

But Covid has taught us that governments have options. They can make different choices, and they can find the money if they want to. This leads the campaign to make five demands that are difficult to argue with. The way out of the crisis is through:

• A real pay rise
• Slash energy bills
• End food poverty
• Decent homes for all
• Tax the rich

This should be an obvious programme for any government.

You can sign up to support the campaign on the Enough is Enough website.

Careers professionals are going to be repeatedly hearing about the cost of living crisis from clients over the next few years. People will be worrying about paying the bills and looking for work that can help them to deal with their own personal crisis. We need to help them to see that their crisis is not just personal and that others are feeling the pinch just as much. Ultimately the answer to these problems is not just about working longer hours or getting a more highly paid job (although these are both likely to be important strategies that people adopt). Rather solving this crisis requires action from government.

It requires people to start saying that enough is enough.