Word: wages
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Communist pledge to cooperate in a three-year government economic recovery plan, for example, had been attacked by workers who felt that they would suffer from new austerity measures and wage restraints. Similarly, the Andreotti government's failure to make a dent in unemployment, which rose from 1.5 million to 1.7 million in 1978, caused the jobless to criticize Berlinguer for not pushing through employment programs...
...Seeking wage hikes of 40%, thousands of garbage men, hospital workers, gravediggers and schoolteachers were staging wildcat walkouts, even though Britain otherwise was supposed to be enjoying a week of relative labor peace. That erstwhile peace had been purchased at a whopping price. Some 80,000 truck drivers, whose four-week strike had dealt a crippling blow to trade and industry, were voting region by region to return to work. Well they might, since they had won a 21% pay increase for the year, hardly a farthing less than their initial 22.5% demand...
...inclined to play follow-the-leader-meaning that the drivers' 21% increase will become the magic figure in future contract negotiations involving other unions. Practically speaking, the drivers' victory was a death blow to Prime Minister James Callaghan's attempt to enforce a 5% ceiling on wage increases this year. Callaghan met with heads of the powerful Trades Union Congress in an effort to patch together a new labor accord, but without any conclusive results. He also summoned leaders of four public service unions to 10 Downing Street, imploring them to show compassion for the public...
Meanwhile, Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey had grim warnings for Britons about a new inflationary spiral. If wage increases sought by public service employees and other striking workers average 15%, the country could expect double-digit inflation by summer, reaching 13% by year's end (current rate: 9%). The wage hikes could add $6 billion to the cost of public services in Britain, which the Labor government might have to offset by raising taxes and cutting government expenditures by $3 billion. If so, the number of unemployed in the country could rise from about 1.5 million...
Cudjoe said the oppression of "physical slavery" has been replaced by "wage slavery" and the "spiritual" degradation of the ghetto...