GLOBAL body the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) says it’s time for a pay rise to ease the enormous pressure facing workers.

Looking forward to its 16th World Day for Decent Work, held every October 7, the confederation said working people and their families have been increasingly the victims of inflation driven by corporate profiteering.

It said the focus provided by the day is as important as ever because over the last 40 years the share of global wealth that goes to wages has fallen by 13 per cent — even as the world economy has quadrupled in size.

ITUC said this is largely a result of falling trade union take-up caused by the long-term erosion of workers’ rights.

It said that workers are increasingly being forced to take strike action as employers take profits for themselves and shareholders while refusing even modest pay demands.

And instead of supporting working people and their dependents, many governments side with the bosses and keep the real value of wages at such low levels that families are struggling to survive — the right to strike was violated in nine out of 10 countries last year.

ITUC acting general secretary Luc Triangle said: “Many employers are refusing to share prosperity with the workers who produce the goods and provide the services that generate wealth — and with corporate tax avoidance and evasion at record highs, the public sector is also starved of the resources it needs to ensure decent levels of pay.

“When employers suppress wages, governments need to intervene by guaranteeing union organising and collective bargaining rights, along with living, statutory or negotiated minimum wages. 

“Some 20 per cent of the world’s formal economy workers depend on the minimum wage.”

ITUC pointed out that workers who are members of a union earn more than workers who are not members by between 10 and 25 per cent, and while in unionised workplaces this wage premium can be lower, it is because all the workers, including the non-union members, benefit from pay rates negotiated by unions.

It said the gender pay gap, now at about 20 per cent globally, is substantially lower where female workers are unionised and in many cases is virtually eliminated through collective bargaining.

Adding that unions are also taking action to tackle exploitative pay rates for migrants, younger workers and other groups subject to discrimination, Mr Triangle said: “The best and often the only way for workers to get decent wages is through joining their union.”