This Friday, Osborne's so-called "National Living Wage" comes into force, meaning - in theory, at least - a 50p/hr increase for those who qualify. But many of those entitled to it are already on - or close to - that rate anyway, so in reality, it's much ado about nothing!
Besides, describing a minimum rate of £7.20/hr as a "living wage" is a cynical misnomer! Who can live decently on such a rate, especially with the extortionate housing costs in the big cities?
Worse, only workers aged 25+ will benefit! For all others, the old minimum level still applies. It should be slightly upgraded (meaning by a few pennies) next October. But for now, it remains the same miserly £6.70/hr, £5.30/hr and £3.87/hr, depending on age. As to apprentices, they're still on the same slave rate of £3.30/hr - permanently, for the under 19s and during their first year for the others!
Dirty tricks in store
Ever since Osborne announced this "National Living Wage" in last year's budget, the bosses' organisations have been weeping real tears over the terrible "blow" that this measure supposedly represented for them.
But all evidence points to the fact that they intend to use this as a pretext to turn the screw even further on workers. Company survey upon company survey has revealed plans to cut working hours, and cut overtime and overtime premiums - as a way to recoup a lot more than they will pay out, due to any increases in their wage bill.
Government officials have even felt it necessary to issue guidelines to the effect that it would be "inappropriate" for companies to sack workers before they reach the age of 25. This fact speaks for itself. Of course, the bosses are bound to think up such dirty tricks - and many others! And they will be greatly helped in this by the "flexible" labour market that this government boasts so much about. All they'll have to do, will be to take on workers on fixed-term contracts - or agency workers, for that matter - and get rid of them when it suits them.
But the bosses have still other means to by-pass this new legislation. For instance, it is no coincidence that the number of "self-employed" has been growing so fast over the past period, compared to all other categories of worker. So much so, that by now, an estimated 1.7m "self-employed" (out of 4.6m "self-employed") are low-paid. But these 1.7m will gain nothing from the new legislation - because, despite being low-paid, they are not covered by it!
Likewise for workers on zero-hours contracts, whose numbers keep growing. Sure, they will benefit from the new hourly rate - if they're old enough. But what will stop their employer from cutting their hours, so that they get no actual wage rise?
Freeing society from the profit plague
The government itself hardly conceals the hypocrisy of its "handout" to the low-paid. After all, while it allows some of us to earn a few quid more a week with its "National Living Wage", this will be taken away from us several times over by the new Universal Credit system, which cuts tax credits!
But beyond this hypocritical contempt for the low-paid, there is a deliberate drive to increase the exploitation of the working class as a whole, in order to boost the capitalists' profits despite their crisis. And this involves turning the clock back many decades to the past, in terms of workers' conditions.
Indeed, what is the difference between the situation of today's millions of low-paid workers working as self-employed, temps or on zero-hours contracts and those on the "lump" which prevailed in the building trade, many decades ago? None! After decades of struggle against these precarious conditions, the capitalists are pushing us back to where we started.
Such is the future that capitalism has for society in general and for the working class in particular. The capitalists may still produce all sorts of technological gadgets, in so far as these can help them to make more profits - although their social usefulness is often more than dubious. But when it comes to our conditions, this capitalist system has nothing to offer: we, workers, may produce all the value in this society, but the only thing that this system has in store for us is more exploitation. More and more value to be squeezed out of our labour, at less and less cost to the capitalists.
But the very same exploited working class is the class which holds the future of society in its hands. It is the only class which can free society from the straightjacket of capitalist profit - and which has an immediate interest in doing so. By joining ranks across all the different categories of worker that capitalist exploitation has created among us, we have the collective strength to achieve this aim.