This week, the Government confirmed it will support the Low Pay Commission recommendations to increase the national minimum wage from £6.31 to £6.50 an hour, a paltry 3% increase. The minimum wage, introduced by Labour in 1998, would have to be £7 to have kept pace with inflation since the recession.
And for many people on low pay, costs continue to rise especially for essentials like electricity and gas, and for those renting privately, local rents have rocketed. This is why Labour is a strong advocate of the London Living Wage (LLW) where all employees and contractors are paid at least £8.80 per hour, just enough according to the experts to afford the essentials needed to survive from day to day without any luxuries or indulgences.
Greenwich Council has recently been accredited as a Living Wage employer and is ensuring all new contracts stipulate paying the LLW. Many leading businesses in London already pay the LLW and Canary Wharf is considering becoming the first Living Wage Zone. Paying the living wage means for employers not only that they are treating their people with dignity, but improved morale and productivity with lower staff turnaround and sickness. All the evidence is that the business case is strong as the social case and means lower benefits bills. Indeed, it could be argued that for the 5.2m on poverty pay (under the living wage), employers are effectiveky subsidised by the taxpayer.
At the moment average monthly wages in Greenwich are more than £300 lower than neighbouring Tower Hamlets over the water. We need to redouble our efforts to attract higher value and decently paid jobs locally and build pressure on existing local employers like Tesco and the army to do the decent thing and pay the LLW.
David Gardner
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