London Living Wage

There is good even in Boris. Well, not a lot obviously of course. But I had tabled as an item to be discussed at our employer/trade union JCC this week - “London Living Wage”.

While I am pretty sure that my employer pays everyone directly employed in London above the “Living Wage” which is now £7.60 per hour. I am equally sure that our contract office cleaning staff, some agency caretaking, concierge and home care workers are being paid either national minimum wage rates or only marginally above. This is just plain wrong.

I wasn’t sure what documentation to submit to support this issue? There is a lot of very worthy but not particularly convincing stuff out there. Then I found this Guardian article from last month which portrayed the Blond one as being very supportive of a “Living Wage” for all. It helps shows the breath of political support in London for a “Living wage”.

I hope that we will become a “Living Wage Employer”. I argued that making sure that our contractors paid a “living wage” is not only a moral responsibility but also good for the Group. We are after all in the business of regeneration and improving our resident’s life chances. There was a slightly stunned but sympathetic response from management side and they promised to look into the issue and to respond.

If you work in London or other areas with high housing costs check out the article, copy it and take it to your employers.

At my Labour Party Ward meeting last night in Forest Gate I noticed that the venue Dunning Hall had this sign (main picture) up on its wall.