Unite begins ‘snakes and ladders’ roadshow to demand incomes increase for poorest households
‘Poverty is no game’ as union demands £20 back on Universal Credit to combat profiteering-caused inflation
Unite, the union representing people who are not in work, is demanding the immediate restoration of the £20 Universal Credit to help the poorest households cope with soaring inflation.
The £20 a week was snatched back from some six million people by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in October 2021, taking £1,040 a year from household incomes.
The union is warning that seven million UK homes are already struggling to make ends meet – but the situation is being made worse by profiteering companies that are loading costs onto ordinary people so that they can hoard more boardroom cash.
In June, Unite revealed how profiteers are forcing up the costs of basics like energy and food costs, so further fuelling inflation and destroying the value of benefits.
Members of Unite Community from London and Eastern, the leading trade union for people not in paid work, will be unveiling a giant ‘snakes and ladders’ board outside Parliament on Wednesday 6 July and inviting MPs to see how the cost of living crisis is hitting poorer Londoners hardest.
WHEN: Wednesday 6 July from at 13:00
WHERE: Old Palace Yard, Westminster SW1P 3JY
The ‘snakes and ladders’ board, measuring five metre square, takes players on the relentless ups and downs confronting people as they struggle to climb out of poverty but are hit by government cuts and soaring energy and food costs.
Players ‘climb out of poverty’ when Universal Credit is raised or the union wins a pay rise, only to tumble back down when rents go up or energy bills soar.
Unite Community is taking 10 ‘snakes and ladders’ boards to cities and towns across the UK this summer, to demand that our elected representatives do more to tackle the cost of living crisis, by fighting for better wages, decent pensions and the reinstatement and extension of the £20 uplift to Universal Credit.
Vic Paulino, Unite Community coordinator for London and Eastern said: “Poverty is no game. It’s a real-life, everyday misery for millions in this country – and it is being made worse by big business passing on price rises so that they can boost their profits.”
“A price rise of a few pence for someone on Universal Credit of earning the minimum wage can put that product out of reach. Incomes are that stretched, and it is getting worse. People on benefits urgently need the £20 taken off their incomes by Rishi Sunak restored.”
“Unite Community is going on the road this summer to tell the truth about exactly what is going wrong with the economy. Pensioners, people with disabilities unable to work, unpaid carers and many more are on the breadline already and we fear things will only get worse.”
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