ABSTRACT
Common to all the declarations in LO specialist reports, proposals submitted to the Congress and contributions to the debate has been the assumption that the policy can produce a situation in which some proportion of the potential for pay increases is not tapped but accrues instead to owners of capital. The policy of wage solidarity simply has to produce results - and they have been surprisingly good results, given the strength of market forces - if the union demand for a clawback of profits from highly profitable companies is to have any kind of firm foundation. Even greater caution is in order when we assess the influence which the wage policy has had on trends in the wage share in the economy. The now familiar proposition that the wage policy of solidarity has favoured owners of capital at the expense of the totality of employees could conceivably be incorrect.
