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

Housing Civic Academy - Saturday 7th April, 11:30am-5pm

(My father helped form a successful private sector tenants union in Buckley, North Wales in the early 1960's following Tory attacks on tenants.  A London Renters union is desperately needed. I am out of London on Saturday but wish this initiative well)

"Housing Civic Academy with TELCO, St. Stephen’s Church and London Renters Union!
Are you facing rent increases? Have you had a landlord who’s slow to fix disrepair in your household? Have you ever had your deposit stolen?

Everyone knows someone affected by the housing crisis in London. We need to come together to transform the housing system & support each other with our housing issues.

Established east London community organisers TELCO (The East London Citizens Organisation), London Renters Union &St. Stephen’s Church community welcome you to an afternoon Housing Civic Academy at St.Winefride’s Primary School in Manor Park, Newham. We will share knowledge around housing problems families across Newham are facing and build a community that looks out for one another.

This is a great opportunity to receive training around renters rights, hear from inspiring community groups who have led winning campaigns and plan the next steps towards taking action.

Teas and coffees provided. If you are able to, please contribute to a bring and share lunch!

Please contact Amina on amina@londonrentersunion.org or 07729 044 081 if you have any questions or concerns.

The Case for the Living Wage - Why a Living Wage Pays Dividends

Thursday evening I went to a well attended ShareAction event to mark "Living Wage" week and the launch of their latest "Investor Briefing" on the business case for a Living Wage.

Rhys Moore, the director of the Living Wage Foundation, spoke first about the doubling of employers who now pay a living wage in the last 12 months. It is now £9.15 per hour in London and £7.85 in the rest of the country. The national minimum wage is only £6.50 per hour. The Living Wage is about 70% of the medium national income while the international definition for poverty is 60%. Last year there was only 5 FT100 companies who paid a living wage, now there is 19.

Rhys thinks that a living wage is becoming a norm for responsible employers. Research shows that 25% of workers who earn less than a living wage, do not work in a "low pay" sector. The foundation are about to launch a living wage "consumer movement" to encourage people to "buy" only at living wage employers.

Next speaker was Phillipa Birtwell from Barclays Bank, who is its "Head of Reputational Risk" and told us about their ground breaking agreement in 2004 with the community group TELCO, over cleaners being paid a living wage at their Canary Wharf offices. Even though only 200 workers were involved, the story went  "viral". The benefits of applying a living wage is a fantastic human interest story.

Lisa Nathan from ShareAction spoke about the investor benefits from a living wage such as staff retention and reduction in turnover, reduced absenteeism and improved morale leading to increased productivity.

As well as being a corporate citizenship issue there is also a macro economic growth argument since if those who are paid the least, get a pay rise, they will spend it locally and boost demand.

Finally, there was a panel (see my pretty rubbish photograph above) with Cllr Richard Greening, Chair of Islington Council Pension Fund; Janice Turner, Vice Chair of the Association of Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT); Sarah Smart, Chair of the Pension Trust, James Corah from CCLA and chair Catherine Howarth.

Richard explained how 98% of all its employees are on a living wage, the only major area that they are not is a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) providing residential care. As a member of LAPFF they are also trying to control executive pay. He believes that the living wage campaign is now at a tipping point and becoming main stream.

Janice from the AMNT talked about an exciting new initiative which could have an significant impact on the living wage. At the moment the vast majority of votes at company annual general meetings are automatically voted in favour of management. Fund managers who do this are not held to account. The AMNT in partnership with others, is trying to draw up "Red Lines" voting guidelines. Pension funds of all sizes could agree to adopt a common set of voting instructions on Governance issues. So it could (this is early days) mean that fund managers are instructed to vote against any company that does not have all its staff on a living wage and and no future plans to do so.

Sarah explained that the Pension Trust was a £6 billion pension fund that caters for the "not for profit" sector. While its primary purpose is of course to meet its pension obligations, she doesn't think that companies paying a living wage is a huge investment problem. Pension funds are for the long term and believe in responsible investment. The Pension Trust recently became a Living Wage employer. The contract cleaners in their head office in Leeds had a pay rise of £1 per hour which has made a big difference to their lives.

Last speaker was James from ethical fund managers CCLA who were hosting this event. He quoted sections from the famous classical economic textbook "The Wealth of Nations" which appear to support the arguments for a living wage. He pointed out therefore that both the author Adam Smith and the Bank of England argue for a living wage.

In the Q&A I made a comment that as a pension trustee we believe that we will get better returns in the long run if we invest in well governed and responsible companies.  For example, those who treat their staff well, who do not destroy the environment, bribe public officials etc.  As investors we must be concerned with the substainablity of companies whose entire business model is dependent on paying its staff poverty wages and being reliant on state benefits to exist.