The investigative report has found in the last six months company profits are responsible for almost 60% of inflation rise.
New Unite is a UK and Ireland’s union that pledges to fight to protect and advance jobs.
The Unite report ‘Corporate Profiteering and the Cost of Living Crisis’ argues that workers’ wages may be wrongfully blamed for inflation.
The investigation digs deep into the average executive pay increase and how corporate executives have benefited from these rising profits.
The report also shows workers’ wages, and what they can buy, are being squeezed by companies pursuing runaway profits.
The investigative report claims the data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that company profits jumped 11.74% in the six months from October 2021 to March 2022. In the same period labour costs fell by 0.8%, accounting for inflation.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “The weight of evidence shows that the UK is in the grip of a profiteering crisis.
“Workers’ wages and what they can buy are being squeezed by corporate wreckers pursuing runaway profits, quite literally at our expense.
“The Governor of the Bank of England and Boris Johnson want workers to think it’s irresponsible to demand better wages to pay for crippling food and energy prices.
“It’s not hard pressed workers who are driving inflation, it’s whole swathes of corporate Britain.”
The union has found that the average executive pay increased to £2.59 million.
Sharon Graham continued: “It’s not just energy companies.
“There are businesses right across our economy and their directors who have made vast sums of money from Covid 19 and the inflationary pressures that have followed.
“Those who have profited from the crisis should pay for it. It’s time to demand profit restraint.”
Professor of accounting Prem Sikka, Member of the House of Lords said: “This report focuses upon corporate profiteering, the resulting hardship and the government’s failure to tackle it.
“Profits for the few are the source of crisis for many.
“This investigation could not be more timely.”
