Unite calls for 1% wealth tax on super-rich to fund UK public sector pay rises

聯(lián)合工會呼吁對超級富豪征收1%的財富稅，為英國公共部門加薪提供資金


(Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite trade unx, leads steel workers down Whitehall last year to demand more support for the industry. She says the British economy is broken.)

（去年，英國聯(lián)合工會秘書長莎倫·格雷厄姆帶領(lǐng)鋼鐵工人走上白廳，要求為該行業(yè)提供更多支持。她說，英國經(jīng)濟(jì)已經(jīng)崩潰。）
新聞：

Britain’s second biggest trade unx is calling on the new Labour government to introduce an emergency 1% wealth tax on the assets of the super-rich to pay for 10% pay rises for public sector workers and fill more than 100,000 NHS vacancies.

英國第二大工會呼吁新工黨政府對超級富豪的資產(chǎn)征收1%的緊急財富稅，以支付公共部門員工10%的加薪，并填補(bǔ)10萬多個國家醫(yī)療體系職位空缺。

The demand from Unite is in one of several motions to the Trades unx Congress, which meets in Brighton next month, that will expose tensions between Keir Starmer’s government and sections of the unx movement. It comes as Rachel Reeves is preparing for her first budget as chancellor, on 30 October.

工會代表大會將于下月在布萊頓召開，聯(lián)合工會的這一要求是向工會代表大會提出的幾項動議之一，這將暴露出基爾·斯塔默政府與工會運動部分之間的緊張關(guān)系。10月30日，瑞秋·里夫斯正在準(zhǔn)備她作為財政大臣的第一份預(yù)算。

Labour MPs and ministers believe that the TUC conference could mark the moment when an effective truce between many unxs and Labour – helping Starmer’s general election campaign – may begin to break down as the prime minister and Reeves double down on their commitment to fiscal responsibility and stress the need for hard choices if the economy is to be restored to health.

工黨議員和部長們認(rèn)為，工會代表大會可能標(biāo)志著許多工會和工黨之間有效休戰(zhàn)的時刻——這有助于斯塔默的大選競選——可能開始破裂，因為首相和里夫斯加倍致力于財政責(zé)任，并強(qiáng)調(diào)如果經(jīng)濟(jì)要恢復(fù)健康，就必須做出艱難的選擇。

Other key trade unxs are preparing to press for further policy changes from Labour, including abandoning the two-child benefit cap, which Starmer has so far resisted, and the reversal of the recent decision to end winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, which has been causing a serious backlash among Labour backbenchers.

其他主要工會正準(zhǔn)備向工黨施壓，要求其進(jìn)一步改變政策，包括放棄兩個孩子的福利上限，斯塔默迄今一直反對這一政策，以及撤銷最近終止數(shù)百萬養(yǎng)老金領(lǐng)取者冬季燃料補(bǔ)貼的決定，這一決定在工黨后座議員中引起了嚴(yán)重反彈。

While Reeves is understood to be considering increases in capital gains and inheritance taxes in the budget, Unite’s motion to the TUC conference goes much further, saying that, with local authorities in financial peril, an urgently needed boost to public investment cannot wait for economic growth to materialise at an unspecified point in the future.

據(jù)了解，里夫斯正在考慮在預(yù)算中增加資本利得稅和遺產(chǎn)稅，而聯(lián)合工會向工會大會提交的動議則更進(jìn)一步，稱地方當(dāng)局面臨財政危機(jī)，迫切需要的公共投資不能等到未來某個不確定的時間點經(jīng)濟(jì)增長才實現(xiàn)。

Unite’s plan is for a tax of 1% to be applied on the assets of those worth more than ￡4m, which it says would raise ￡25bn a year to fund investment in public services and avoid a return to austerity. Under the plan, someone with assets worth ￡6m would face a 1% tax on the ￡2m above the ￡4m threshold. These assets would include property, shares and bank accounts but would not include mortgaged property.

聯(lián)合工會的計劃是對價值超過400萬英鎊的資產(chǎn)征收1%的稅，它表示，這將每年籌集250億英鎊，為公共服務(wù)投資提供資金，避免回到緊縮狀態(tài)。根據(jù)該計劃，資產(chǎn)價值600萬英鎊的人將對超過400萬英鎊的200萬英鎊征收1%的稅。這些資產(chǎn)將包括房產(chǎn)、股票和銀行賬戶，但不包括抵押房產(chǎn)。

Unite points to research showing that the richest 50 families in the UK now have assets worth nearly ￡500bn.

聯(lián)合工會指出，研究顯示，英國最富有的50個家庭目前擁有近5000億英鎊的資產(chǎn)。

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said: “Unite’s resolution to the TUC on the economy calls things by their real name. The British economy is broken.

聯(lián)合工會的秘書長沙倫·格雷厄姆說：“聯(lián)合工會就經(jīng)濟(jì)問題向英國職工大會提出的決議是實事求是的。英國經(jīng)濟(jì)已經(jīng)崩潰。

“Britain led the world’s first industrial revolution. But due to decades of underinvestment in manufacturing and national infrastructure, we are now falling disastrously behind other countries in the new technological age and the transition to net zero.

“英國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)了世界上第一次工業(yè)革命。但由于幾十年來在制造業(yè)和國家基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施方面的投資不足，我們現(xiàn)在在新技術(shù)時代和向凈零排放的過渡中嚴(yán)重落后于其他國家。

“We need serious investment in our crippled public services and in industry to ensure a prosperous future for Britain’s workers and their communities. We won’t get the money needed for that just by waiting for growth.”

“我們需要對我們殘缺的公共服務(wù)和工業(yè)進(jìn)行認(rèn)真的投資，以確保英國工人和他們的社區(qū)有一個繁榮的未來。我們無法通過等待增長來獲得所需的資金。”

Unite was a big donor to the Labour party in 2019 but did not contribute to this year’s election efforts, saying the election manifesto did not go far enough on protecting workers’ rights and jobs in the oil and gas industry.

聯(lián)合工會在2019年是工黨的一大捐助者，但沒有為今年的選舉做出貢獻(xiàn)，稱選舉宣言在保護(hù)石油和天然氣行業(yè)工人的權(quán)利和就業(yè)方面做得不夠。

The RMT transport unx has also tabled a motion to the conference calling for a wealth tax to fund public investment, and the abandonment of what it describes as “unnecessarily restrictive and arbitrary fiscal rules” which limit the government’s ability to borrow.

英國運輸業(yè)工會也向大會提交了一份動議，呼吁征收財富稅，為公共投資提供資金，并放棄它所稱的“不必要的限制性和武斷的財政規(guī)則”，這些規(guī)則限制了政府的借貸能力。

A motion from the shop workers’ unx, Usdaw, calls for an end to the two-child benefit cap, and an amendment to the same motion from the PCS civil service unx calls on the TUC to “oppose cuts to the winter fuel allowance” and “demands appropriate taxation of corporations and the super-rich to fund the social security improvements identified in this motion”.

來自商店工人工會Usdaw的一項動議呼吁終止兩個孩子的福利上限，來自PCS公務(wù)員工會的一項修正案呼吁工會代表大會“反對削減冬季燃料補(bǔ)貼”，并“要求對公司和超級富豪適當(dāng)征稅，以資助這項動議中確定的社會保障改善”。

The TUC is also expected to press for “pay restoration” to make up for a decade of real-terms salary cuts for public sector workers.

預(yù)計英國工會代表大會還將敦促“薪酬恢復(fù)”，以彌補(bǔ)公共部門工人十年來的實際工資削減。

Such demands will further add to the strains between Labour and its unx backers after a series of pay deals between the Starmer-led government and striking workers in sectors ranging from healthcare to the railways.

這些要求將進(jìn)一步加劇工黨與其工會支持者之間的緊張關(guān)系。此前，斯塔默領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的政府與從醫(yī)療保健到鐵路等行業(yè)的罷工工人達(dá)成了一系列薪資協(xié)議。