RMT PAY BULLETIN

RMT PAY BULLETIN- SEPTEMBER 2008
August 2008 retail prices index rate: 4.8%
This is down from the 5% in July. Figures for September are available on 14th
October 2008.
Members may be aware of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is being given
more prominence in the media, particularly by the BBC. This is the Government’s
preferred measure of inflation and historically it has been lower than the Retail Price
Index. It is currently 4.7%. Trade unions and the wider industry have instead used
RPI for pay bargaining purposes.
CPI was developed across Europe for the sole purpose of assessing whether
prospective members of European Monetary Union would pass the inflation
convergence criterion and then to be the measure of inflation used by the European
Central Bank to assess price stability in the Euro area.
CPI excludes housing components that are included in RPI: council tax, mortgage
interest payments, housing depreciation, buildings insurances and estate agent fees.
Given the depreciation of house prices there is some speculation that the CPI rate
could overtake the RPI rate in the future.
In pay submissions the RMT will continue to emphasise that your financial
commitments have increased at a much greater rate than inflation and your living
standards have suffered as a result.


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