This week’s increase in the living wage will be welcomed by those workers who receive it.
But while an extra 20p per hour, and 35p for people working in London, will make a difference, the bottom line is that more than five million people in the UK receive less than the Living Wage.
Poverty pay has no place in 21st century Britain and we are working hard in UNISON to get employers to sign up to pay the living wage.
It’s not a king’s ransom, but it is a rate that takes into account the area-specific cost of living, as well as the basic essentials needed to support a family. It can mean the difference between living and existing.
The public sector in the past set the benchmark for all local employers by setting fair pay standards.
However, over four years of deliberate and brutal government cuts to public services alongside an increasing reliance on outsourcing services has driven pay in public services into the ground.
Up to half a million local government workers earn less than the living wage. Many of these workers are women and large number will, out of necessity, have more than one job.
All provide a vital role in supporting and helping people.
No one can deny how important it is to have a strong, respected and supported workforce, and a workforce paid a dignified Living Wage.
When UNISON successfully campaigned for the national minimum wage in the 1990s, the result was a vital safeguard for employees who were the most vulnerable to low pay. It lifted more than a million people out of poverty pay without costing jobs.
Fast forward 16 years and that success has formed the building blocks of our living wage campaign, the next stepping stone on the road to eradicating in-work poverty for good.
