Note on unemployment

Unemployment is an integral part of the ‘normal’ capitalist system. Those out of work should be offered either a job or accredited training, and paid at least the living wage, with priority given to work that helps shift towards a low-carbon future economy. However, as an economic rule, reduction in unemployment shifted the balance of power at work sharply towards workers, which in turn provoked a reaction from employers who feared not so much the loss of profit as the loss of control; in effect, a loss of the conditions under which profits can be produced. Any guarantees of future employment should arrive without compulsion, and with the conditions the worker organizations sets out – safe conditions, proper pay, and socially useful work.