Inflation, Collective Bargaining and Public Opinion

The main reason why the pound today will buy only three-fifths of what it bought in 1961 is that the average British pay packet contains twice as much money today as it did then. Depreciating the currency by enforcing pay claims is a senseless process at best, for real incomes would certain1y have risen faster if money incomes had risen slower; and at worst the process is perilous. But Governments have not been able to stop it. Public opinion will not let them. Why?