A living wage for all from St Antony's Primary School

Yesterday was quite unusual since I visited two excellent Newham primary schools (for different reasons). Check out previous post on West Ham Primary in the morning.

While after school I went to St Antony's to listen to their fantastic choir sing about the importance of a London Living wage. A superb performance.

Next we went to a meeting with senior pupils and supporters of London Citizens to be questioned about Newham Councils implementation of the London Living wage and our policies on building new housing. My colleague Cllr Mohammed also attended.

I though it went really well and was impressed by the challenge and range of questions from pupils and supporters. I hope they were also very interested with our programme in Newham such as to deliver 1000 new homes at social rents, community wealth building, reducing rough sleeping and improving the fuel efficiency of our existing housing stock.

The London Living wage is really important but what is needed is also a living rent, a living pension and a living sickness pay policy as well as safe, secure jobs where workers are given respect and control.

There will be a follow up meeting in February. 

Newham Council working with TELCO Citizens on the Housing Crisis

Picture from Tuesday with Newham TELCO Citizens. I first worked with TELCO in the 1990s when my trade union branch, UNISON Tower Hamlets was affiliated and I can remember going on demos and lobbies with them over the London Living wage.

Their twitter tweet was : -

Productive meeting @NewhamLondon  Deputy Mayor & Cabinet Member for Housing Services

@grayee

. We learned about the Council’s proactive action on housing & homeless in the face of huge challenges. Civil society can play an important role

My response to this on twitter:-

A really positive and constructive meeting. I look forward to working with #TELCOCitizens in the the future to improve the life of our residents #housing

@CllrShaban

@rokhsanafiaz

London Mayor Sadiq Khan & Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz visit Londoners living in new Council Homes

Picture collage from yesterday's visit in East Ham with London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Newham Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, to new Council owned homes. The large number of TV and other media present showed how housing is now becoming a number one political issue.

The families who proudly showed us around their new homes were absolutely brilliant ambassadors for council housing.

Thanks to London Mayor, Sadiq Khan's £107 Million investment, our Newham Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, will now be able to build at least 1000 similar council homes at a social rent.

Not only will this mean that at least a 1000 Newham families will in the future have access to decent, secure and truly affordable homes, the lovely family we visited with the disabled adult daughter will also benefit when we pay care workers a London Living wage and sign the UNISON Ethical Care charter.

Carers will not only receive sick pay, training and up to a £100 per week pay rise but this will result in less "turnover" of carers. Which is a major issue.

As part of our Newham Mayoral anti poverty programme, the 50% reduction in Council tax for the 19,000 poorest households in Newham, will be transformational for our most vulnerable residents. 

Showing solidarity at UNISON stall Newham Council Dockside Building

I stopped yesterday at the UNISON stall at Newham Dockside building to chat with colleagues and especially our top UNISON Branch Chair, Kim Silver. UNISON is by far the largest trade union in Newham (and of course the best) and is also now the biggest union in the country with some 1.3 million members.

We discussed the exciting news that after so many years of UNISON campaigning and also thanks to the commitment of our new Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, Newham will finally become not only a London Living Wage employer but also sign the UNISON Ethical Care Charter.

Up to 1000 Newham care workers, mostly female and black residents, who are currently suffering poverty pay will have a pay rise of up to £100 per week, proper training and occupational sick pay. All new Newham Council contracts will require a London Living wage. Newham will become a Community Wealth Building Council and campaign for all employers in Newham to stop paying poverty wages.

Kim is Newham Custom House born and bred. As well as being a UNISON branch officer, anti-poverty and disability advocate she is also a local magistrate! She is your genuine grassroots Labour movement activist.

I am so proud to call her my comrade, even though in our new respective roles, we will not always agree and no doubt she will give me a severe ear bashing (or far worse) from time to time. 

Newham will become a London Living Wage Employer AND sign the UNISON Ethical Care Charter

This is great news! At tonight's Newham Council meeting it was agreed by Councillors to endorse the decision by our Executive Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz,  for us to become a London Living Wage Employer and to sign (and become) a signatory to the UNISON Ethical Care Charter. 

Rokhsana had pledged to Newham Citizens in April 2018 that if elected she would introduce a Living wage for all Newham directly employed staff and contractors. 

The Labour campaign for such a Living Wage was started on 22 February 2007 (check this blog for mentions of "Living Wage") by members of Newham TULO (Trade unions for Labour). 

After a long 11 years I am so pleased (and personally feel quite emotional) that Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, is delivering on our campaign after so many years and introducing a London Living wage AND signing the UNISON Ethical Care Charter. 

After next April we will have up to 1000 low paid predominantly local care worker being given FTE pay rises of around £100 per week (and £5000 per year) 

This charter is a "Living wage plus" for care workers, making sure that as well as a living wage they get occupational sick pay, training and paid time for travelling and expenses. 

This proposal will still need to be agreed at the 2019 Full Council budget meeting (which due to Tory Austerity cuts will be eye wateringly painful but I cannot think that any Councillors will want to put this item at risk).

UNISON Ethical Care Charter & London Living Wage for all Newham Council Workers

It is just really fantastic news that Newham Council is planning to become a London Living wage employer and sign the UNISON ethical care charter. This was announced by the Newham Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, on behalf of her Cabinet, at last month's Full Council Meeting.

I have spent many, many years arguing and advocating for this to happen (with other comrades).

While all our directly employed Newham staff are paid at least the London Living Wage, this will make a huge difference to lives of so many Newham Residents and their families who work for organisations and agencies funded by the Council.

The London Living wage is currently £10.55 per hour while the Government minimum wage is only £7.83 per hour. This will make a huge difference to the lives of so many in Newham and is part of our commitment to Community Wealth Building.

This could mean a pay rise in April 2019 of up to = £108.80 per week for low paid workers who are currently paid the existing minimum wage. Some £5,657 per year. This will be absolutely transformational! 

It will also mean that the Council for the first time will be able to act as an "exemplar" employer and encourage (or if necessary campaign and demand) other employers in Newham to pay a living wage.

Newham residents are currently the lowest paid in London and we have the second highest rate of poverty in London at a staggering 37% of our residents. We have to tackle the historical demon of East End poverty wages - and make work pay.

The UNISON Ethical Care Charter not only requires a London Living Wage commitment but also adequate time for home visits, pay for travelling time for workers & other necessary work expenses such as mobile phone etc, no compulsory zero hour contracts, an occupational sick pay scheme and collective meetings and proper training for workers. This should mean that the same carers are rotated on a regular basis to care for our elderly and disabled.

This will take time since we will have to wait for existing contracts to come up for renewal before we are able to insist on these conditions. To become a Living wage employer, we will have to have an phased rolling implementation plan in place, ensuring that all our 3rd party employers accept this as contracts are renewed . This will cost Newham Council at least £12 million in care alone over the 4 years but it is a price worth paying.

There is compelling evidence that paying a Living Wage will save the Council money in the long term since not only will the service be improved for our residents but it removes reputational risk, increases motivation and staff retention rates.

As a Living Wage Council it will also mean, since we have so many low paid residents and workers who live in the borough, a decrease in Council tax and rent arrears.  It will also save money spent on Housing benefit and tax credits. 

Newham Council Budget proposals 2019-2020 - London Living Wage; Cut Council Tax for Poor; Eat for Free & Support Children with SEN

I was really proud of the budget proposals announced today by our Labour Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, at Full Council tonight. In spite of further Government cuts and Austerity, we are proposing a London Living Wage for all our care staff (then rolled out to all other parts of the Council); cutting Council tax for the poorest; retaining free school meals ("Eat for Free") and supporting children with special educational needs (and other policies).

Nevermind all the transformational stuff we are doing on housing.

This makes politics worthwhile. 

The speech that never was - West Ham Ward Labour Councillor selections 2018

Since on Saturday I was affirmed by West Ham ward members as a Councillor candidate for May, I was not able to give my speech - so will blog it here instead :)

"My name is John Gray and I have lived in Newham for the last 30 years and have been honoured to be a Newham Councillor in West Ham ward since 2010.

· Even though I am seeking a 3rd term as your Councillor the reason why I am standing here today is that I want to be a change candidate in Newham for the next 4 years. While we have done many fine things as a council over the years, we desperately need fresh political leadership and a fresh approach.

· Not only at the top of the Council but also amongst backbench Councillors. The directly elected mayoral system gives such mayors huge powers and they must be held accountable by Councillors brave enough to stand up for their constituents, regardless of the consequences.

· For example, I have been a supporter of the London Living wage foundation since it was founded in 2001. It is completely unacceptable that we still have 17 years later, hundreds of workers employed as agency or in house contractors, providing Newham Council services on poverty pay. Doing often dirty, hard, manual labour for a measly £7.50 per hour, compared to the £10.20 per hour, the Living Wage Foundation thinks is the absolute minimum to live on in London. Not only do they have rubbish pay, but they are on insecure zero hour contracts, no pensions, no company sick pay. They are even forced to opt out of the working time regulations, so they can be even further exploited.

· We need proper financial checks and balances in place in Newham Council to stop the continuing financial governance problems such as the £530 million we have committed to 50-70 year toxic derivative LOBO loans and £60 million of Newham resident’s money wasted down the plug hole on the London Stadium.

· At the moment Newham Council officers are going up and down the country buying car parks, warehouses, shopping centres in order get money to try and offset government cuts in our grants to councils. I understand the need and lay blame with for the cuts where it lies – which is this thieving tory government but if we are going to borrow billions of £s, where are the checks and balance in place to make sure that this money is invested wisely?

· As a founder member of “Newham against Austerity” I want to support our Schools to remain in the Newham family of Schools and campaign against all education cuts.

· I want to bring back in-house the management of the many outsourced Council Services, stop the use of bailiffs by the Council against the poor and vulnerable and the Council to sign the Ethical Care Charter.

· We need to build decent homes at social rents not homes for private market rent.

· We desperately need better youth services to stop gang and knife killings, we also need accessible citizen advice provision across the borough.

· I work in social housing , a school governor, Pension and Charity trustee and UNISON trade union activist (and member of its National Executive Committee)

· I have been Lyn Brown MP Parliamentary agent for the last 3 General elections & Vice Chair campaigns of West Ham CLP.

· Please also support my Councillor colleague John Whitworth. We have worked together as a team to stop the 40% rent rises of housing association key workers and working with branch members, we persuaded the planning committee to tell the Ford Show room’s developers to get lost until they change their plans and provide far more social housing homes for rent. John and I have been leading the campaign in Newham to call Executive power to account and support Mayoral candidate, Rokhsana Fiaz, in her call for a referendum on the future of the directly elected mayoral system in Newham.

Thank you for your time and hope that I have earned your trust to be your candidate.

A London Living Wage for all in Newham Schools

I am a school governor in Newham and I am planning to go to the borough Governors' Forum on Tuesday evening at the town hall. As a governor I have raised the following question :-

London Living Wage

How many Schools are London Living Wage employers (as defined by the GLA including agency and contractors)?

A reply was published in the agenda from a Newham Council officer explaining that all directly employed staff should be paid above the London Living Wage (currently £10.20 per hour).  However, it was admitted that some staff may be paid less and that a letter will be sent out to all Chairs and Headteachers requesting them to ensure that all directly employed staff are paid at least £10.20 per hour.

This is well and good but does not answer my question about how many schools are London Living Wage employers (which they can only get this accredication if you include agency and in-house contractors).

I know for a fact that some schools in Newham have agency staff working there who are earning the minimum wage of £7.50 per hour. Of course these staff are also on zero hour contracts, receive no sick pay or pensions and have to opt out of the 48 hour working time restrictions. These are overwhelmingly female and Newham residents.

This must be challenged and the case for a London Living Wage for all school staff (and all within Newham Council) must be made.  I will see what happens on Tuesday.

I think that this can be part of a wider argument in Newham against academisation and supporting schools who want to remain part of the Newham family of schools. Much of the opposition from school staff to academisation is driven by the well founded fear that it will lead to a race to the bottom in terms and conditions. Especially for low paid manual and administration staff.

All workers in Newham should be paid a real living wage and receive other decent terms and conditions. I wonder how many workers in Westfield Shopping Centre are on minimum wage? I will ask London Citizens. I recently heard some horror stories of young people being forced to work unpaid hours during the night at Westfields as part of a "job interview" process and then being told the next day they had not been successful. 

UNISON members continue their fight for Fair Pay at Outward

(Branch press release) "Low-paid UNISON members who care for some of north and east London’s most vulnerable people have voted strongly to proceed towards a formal ballot for industrial action over fair pay.

Over 400 workers are employed by Outward to provide care and support to people with severe learning difficulties and Autistic Spectrum conditions. Most earn below the London Living Wage.

Their employer is proposing to cut pay by at least £3,000, with proposed starting salaries for support staff of £15,256. They are also proposing to extend the working week and implement a restructure which staff say will make services less viable.

Outward management last cut pay in 2011 when support workers also lost around £2,000 per year. Throughout the consultation period UNISON members have campaigned strongly to oppose these cuts and to demand the London Living Wage for all. On the 11th April UNISON members lobbied management. UNISON have presented alternative cost-saving plans to Outward management but these were rejected. No significant changes have been made to the original proposals.

 In a consultative ballot UNISON members in Outward voted 94% in favour of further action. UNISON Regional Organiser Colin Inniss said: “We know that care and support workers do not take lightly the prospect of industrial action. Nonetheless, the dedication of these staff should not be exploited in order to make cuts.”

“UNISON have taken an active part in negotiating around the proposed cost-saving proposals. However, Outward have not made any meaningful changes to their original proposals and we know that our members are not prepared to accept a second pay cut in three years.

UNISON have proposed to Outward management that we should meet at ACAS to find a way forward in this dispute.” “it is ironic that, as a social care provider, Outward are not prepared to take responsibility for the social problem of in-work poverty. Their staff provide an essential service to very vulnerable people and are rightly demanding a Living Wage for this work.”

Senior support worker Beth Stevens said: “It is not an easy job that we do so to face the prospect of a further pay cut seems like taking advantage of our commitment to our work.”

Notes for editors: 1. UNISON represents 1.3 million workers employed in the public sector, by private contractors and in the not-for-profit sector, including over 20,000 members in housing associations. The UNISON Housing Associations Branch represents over 3,000 housing workers across Greater London.

2. Outward is a subsidiary of Newlon Housing Trust which made an overall surplus of £6.4 million in 2013, with reserves of £532.5 million.

3. The current rate of the London Living Wage is £8.80/hour, which is set with reference to the basic cost of living in London. Over 247 large employers in London are accredited Living Wage employers. A recent study by Barclays found that the benefits in staff retention and training make paying the Living Wage cost-neutral.

For more information, please see http://www.livingwage.org.uk/ For more information please contact UNISON Housing Associations Branch: 020 7697 4030 or info@unisonhablondon.org

Metropolitan Housing: Poverty Pay, Pay Offs and Predistribution

NO PROGRESS IN METROPOLITAN CONSULTATION MEETINGS

A series of cost-cutting proposals presented to UNISON by Metropolitan housing association have been firmly rejected by the union’s members.

Metropolitan are conducting a 90 day consultation on changes to the terms and conditions of its 887 staff who are employed as Care and Support workers. The proposals include the reduction of staff salaries by up to 40%; reducing the number of job roles from 44 to 4, introducing flexible contracts and reducing management and administration posts.

Controversially, a private consultant’s report presented to the Metropolitan Board in December 2011 recommended employing more low-paid, part time staff “who could supplement their income by claiming working tax credits”.

If implemented, the proposed salary cuts will slash the wages of front line staff to below that of the GLA’s recommended London Living Wage. Metropolitan’s 2011/12 Financial Statement revealed that the former chief executive, Bill Payne, received a record payout of £412,000 in 2011.

UNISON’s Housing Associations’ Branch Secretary, John Gray, commented: “The hypocrisy of Metropolitan’s position is absolutely staggering. It pays £412,000 to honour the employment contracts of a departing chief executive yet wants to rip up the contracts of hundreds of frontline staff in order to impose wage cuts of up to 40%”.

UNISON Regional Organiser, Colin Inniss stated: “our members at Metropolitan are very angry about this and rightly so. Unless the Board sees sense and reconsiders its proposals we are heading for a serious dispute.

For Further information or comment please contact:

UNISON Housing Associations Branch Secretary, John Gray j.gray2@unison.co.uk
UNISON Regional Organiser, Colin Inniss or C.Inniss@unison.co.uk

Notes for Editors

1. Metropolitan manages 36,000 homes and provides housing and other services to 80,000 customers. In 2011/12 it made an operating surplus of £65.4M on a turnover of £244M.

2. Brian Johnson, formerly of Moat, has recently been appointed chief executive of Metropolitan.

3. UNISON’s Housing Association Branch represents 3,500 members in the Greater London Region and the South East.

The London Living Wage is designed to help people towards a minimum acceptable quality of life in our capital. It is calculated by the Greater London Authority and is currently £8.30

(This is from branch press release. I brought this matter up at our West Ham GC meeting last night with our MP Lyn Brown)

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.

Forest Gate North Welcomes East Anglia Labour Outlook

My local Labour Party ward meeting last week was held at a members’ home in order to have a more informal "brain storming" get-together for the year ahead.

Tonight we welcomed John Miles, who has recently moved into the ward from Ipswich to work for the National Party. Before he got the job John use to run the well respected blog “Labour Outlook” which he had to give up due to workload pressures.

It was a good ward meeting and I am lucky to live in a Consistency Labour Party (CLP) where there are well attended and active local meetings. Following reports from our 3 ward Councillors, they took questions covering subjects such as problems regarding the new earlier refuse collection times, shops taking over the pavements with outdoor displays, possible redundancies following the proposed centralisation of Council offices, update on Olympic Health centre petitions, the closure of Dunning Hall (important local community hall) and will Newham follow Tower Hamlets as a Living Wage borough?

We have a “plan” for the next 12 months (see picture). This month a Stall in Forest Gate collecting petition signatures about the Olympic health centre, then visits to Holden Point in Stratford which overlooks the Olympic site and to Jenkins Lane which is the main Council Recycling facility.

We are inviting London Labour MEP Claude Moreas, our West Ham MP, Lyn Brown and Newham Mayor, Sir Robin Wales, to speak to us (joint meeting with Forest Gate South ward).

The major campaign event of the year is the European Elections in June. We are aiming for a full ward canvass, numerous leaflet drops and high street stalls.

We are planning a Social fund raiser in August (rounder’s game on Wanstead flats?) and fund raising dinner/quiz in the autumn. We are also thinking about each month allowing time for a short political presentation and debate on topical subjects. Finishing the year off with a Christmas Party.

Ward members will also take a full part in the various West Ham CLP and Newham Labour Party (and socialist societies) activities.

If anyone reading is a Labour Party member and has not been to a ward meeting before I would recommend you give your local secretary a ring and give it a go.

Living Wage for London – a huge step forward at last

I first picked this up from Peter Kenyon post about the early Christmas pressie for many Tower Hamlet Council workers and contractors.

The Council had just passed a motion calling for the London Living wage to be implemented not only for all directly employed workers but also for all contractoring staff. It also calls for Best Value contracts to apply a London living wage when they are up for renewal. The current Living wage level is £7.45 per hour (minimum wage is only £5.73 for over 22 year olds).

The Council free newspaper East End Life covers it here . There are some woolly bits in the motion that are a little worrying about “encouraging” contractors to adopt a living wage.

But I am really pleased. This is potentially a huge advance. I went into a Tower Hamlets “Idea Store” (merged library and life long learning centres) and spoke to some people I know. There are agency staff on only £6ph so this will make a huge difference to people’s pay. I know that the Council ALMO Housing agency caretakers are only paid NMW as well. I have posted here and here on this issue in the past. In the past, when I was a member of the local UNISON branch I have also attended a number of meetings with various Tower Hamlets Council leaders on this issue. We were always listened to sympathetically but were always told that it was not legally possible to implement a London Living wage.

The really interesting thing is whether or not similar motions will be passed in the other London boroughs and how effective they are in “encouraging” other employers to pay the same. I have recently asked my employer to carry out an audit about how many workers receive less than £7.45 (mostly office cleaning and security contractors).

I know of some housing organisations that have lost Local authority Supporting People contracts by being undercut by those who pay just above the NMW.

It was good to see that there was cross party support for this in Tower Hamlets, but I seriously doubt anything will happen in Tory boroughs. Peter Kenyon sees this as a return to basic Labour values.

Well done to the new Labour Council Leader Lutfur Rahman (seen in photo with successful candidate Rachel Saunders at the Mile End East By-election).

“Tell the truth” Boris bottles promise in poverty wages - Olympic shame

This is a bit late and apologies for the tabloid style headline but I think this is important. When standing for London Mayor, Tory candidate, Boris Johnson made a specific pledge at a husting meeting of the influential organisation “London Citizens”.

Boris promised the meeting that if elected as Mayor he would only allow the promotion of hotels and restaurants in the official “Visit London” website in the run up to 2012 Olympics, to those who pay their employees a “London Living Wage”.

Despite London being one of the richest cities in the world this “Living Wage” is only £7.45 per hour, or just over £13,500 per year.

Boris being Boris, Tories being Tories – now he has been elected he firstly tried to deny that he ever promised such a thing. Then Catersearch.com sent him a copy of the video where he did indeed make a public pledge.

So he now comes out with a revised letter saying that:-
“During my election campaign, I supported a list of proposals on the living wage that included this idea. However, further work in this area has made it clear that a positive approach of partnership with business to promote the London living wage is more appropriate, and likely to be more effective in achieving the key goal of the wider implementation of the living wage.”

Which means in Boris speak – “sorry poor people but my pay masters have spoken so get stuffed" –They should not rely on his tips either!)

Check out the London citizens website and video (lower right hand side of web page – about 6 mins 35 seconds in for the magic words, but before he started he did agree formally to all their pledges regarding a living wage).

I hope that those Labour party “supporters” who simply slag off the Party at every opportunity will stop and think for a mo about the best way to stop Boris’s best school mate from being elected on similar bogus promises. Not the 1983 manifesto please!

BTW - Early on in the video, someone heckled Boris and shouted out “tell the truth” – yeah.

(Hat tip thingy to comrade Colonel Roi)

Murad Qureshi: London living wage for all housing workers?

Yesterday was a busy day for UNISON Labour Link meetings. At lunchtime I was a guest at Tower Hamlets Labour Link, while in the evening I convened a meeting with the UNISON Housing Association Labour Link members.

At that meeting was the Labour London Assembly member Murad Qureshi who is a member of the branch and technically still in my own UNISON “shop”!

During the meeting we discussed the future new role of the Greater London Assembly and the provision of social housing in the capital. The Mayor will soon exercise new powers over development and finance. Murad agreed to look into whether or not the GLA/Mayor could insist that any future housing developments in London should be conditional on employers paying a London Living Wage (currently only £7.20) in the same way that directly employed staff in the GLA are protected. The Labour GLA members have also tried to extend this protection for all Transport for London employees and the Olympics 2012.

This is clear red water between us and the Tories who are pledged to reduce the wages of vulnerable low paid London workers to the minimum wage (only £5.52 ph).

We will be holding a further meeting with Murad in the future over the GLA elections. If anyone can help with his campaign please let me know.

Tower Hamlets Labour Link pushes for London Living Wage.

Today I was invited to attend a lunchtime UNISON Labour Link (APF) meeting with Tower Hamlets Council deputy Leader, Sirajul Islam. Cllr Islam has been a member of UNISON for many years. Before my TUPE transfer I also use to be the Labour Link officer for Tower Hamlets LG branch.

Cllr Islam spoke about his belief that the current industrial dispute over the proposed Tower Hamlets ALMO could hopefully be resolved and how the Labour Council is pressing ahead with its programme to improve services for residents in the borough and how the constructive role of staff is crucial.

Wearing my new hat as UNISON Housing Association Branch Labour Link officer, I asked him what the relationship was with the various RSL’s (Housing associations) in the borough (at the moment mainly “good” apparently) and also whether he would support the idea that all the housing organisations in Tower Hamlets should pay as a minimum a “London Living Wage” (£7.20 per hour) to all employees (including agency workers). There is a proposal that they should all only pay agency and temporary staff the living wage. He promised to look into this idea and report back.

I need to investigate this further, but by co-incidence I recently found out that apparently if you employ agency or contracting workers you have to pay the government 15% VAT on the total cost. Never mind additional agency fees (which VAT is also payable upon) but surely that money could be better used paying staff a “living wage”? At the moment the Council and many RSL’s employ vulnerable workers who are only paid the minimum £5.52 per hour.

We also discussed the forthcoming GLA and Mayor elections and what we can do to help. An interesting fact came out about how the Labour vote across London is so important. In 2004 Ken Livingstone got more actual votes from Richmond (true blue Tory area with a high turn out) than Barking! (Labour but low turn out). Interesting for a number of fairly obvious reasons.

Picture of Cllr Islam with the excellent new Tower Hamlets UNISON Labour Link officer (and Redbridge Labour party activist) Fazlul Chowdhury (left).