Its not a strange analogy. Inflation affects all inputs to a business. Be it energy, wood and metal, or Human Resources. But we decide it’s easier to bully a person into lower wages than bully a supplier into lower prices.
Pay should keep up with inflation as the most basic level, otherwise you are signalling that the job isn’t as important as it was.
For Doctors and Teachers in particular that’s lead to a staffing shortage as the job market responds to that signal.
The Cameron/Osborne approach was to pretend you could just not do stuff. Don’t build any infrastructure. Don’t keep pay up with inflation. And surprise surprise it all came falling down around them.
The so called worst examples, and actually ones I have the most sympathy with the right with, train drivers I’ve just shown haven’t had their wages rise by inflation in the last 13 years. So even them with their ridiculous tactics are falling behind. And still people are moaning and wanting their pay cut more.
Public sector employees can’t negotiate individually. Budgets are set by government. They can only get paid what the government agrees, and the government is far worse than most employers at paying a fair wage. Collective bargaining is the only option to prevent political pressures from cutting wages and with it demand from the economy.
I’ve explained that if people are doing their job I think they should get inflationary payrises (unless totally unaffordable)
See my other post about BMA and restricting medical places. Also a large number of junior doctors still trained for the profession in recent years knowing what the pay was (without the 35% restitution - a figure which has also been questioned). As I’ve said before them striking a week or two before the election was totally unacceptable to me
Train drivers have done alright since 2010. Again though, this isn’t about the pay rises, I haven’t got a major issue with the numbers, this is the unwillingness to change even minor conditions to make the services better and/or making sure there’s not any unreasonable striking in the near future
I have no major issue with collective bargaining or unions, when it turns into not willing to accept reasonable changes to conditions, refusing fair pay offers, restricting entrants to profession or role etc this just doesn’t sit well with me
ps if there’s a shortage of teachers or say nurses then I’ve said before, pay them more, offer bursaries to encourage more into profession etc etc. Train drivers, consultants (doctors) etc, I’m sorry but I lack the same sympathy