Forecasters at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research were spot on when they warned in November it would be “crunch time for household incomes” in the months ahead.
Now they are heading out on strike over a pay offer that will leave staff at Britain’s most venerable economic research institute severely out of pocket as taxes rise and inflation spikes this spring.
Unite, the union, said on Monday that three-quarters of its members at Niesr had voted for industrial action after management refused to improve on an offer to increase salaries by just 2 per cent in 2021-22, in the wake of a pay freeze in 2020-21. Inflation stood at 5.1 per cent in November according to the CPI measure targeted by the Bank of England.