Come On You Irons - Hammer's Home Scores On Living Wage Goal

• Content
• News
• Come On You Irons - Hammer's Home Scores On Living Wage Goal

05 November 2018

Revised (Real) Living Wage rates have been launched at events across the UK this week as the National hourly rate went up 25p to £9 per hour, and up 35p in London to £10.55.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan revealed the rate for London at an early morning event  at the Barbican Centre, which is an accredited Living Wage employer. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also made the announcement in Scotland and the metro Mayors of Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region and Sheffield City Region also joined in on the morning of Guy Fawkes night.

Living Wage Foundation Director, Tess Lanning, said from her own HQ:  "Employers that pay the Real Living Wage enable their workers to live a life of dignity, supporting them to pay off debts and meet the pressures of rising bills. We want to see local councils, universities, football clubs, bus companies and the other major public and private sector employers in every city commit to become real Living Wage employers. When they do, thousands of people get a pay rise, but other local employers also follow their lead. If more of these institutions step up, we can start to build true Living Wage places."

Khan

London's Mayor said: since January 2017, £94 million in extra wages has gone into Londoners’ pockets. In the last 12 months, businesses including King’s College, Shelter and the world’s oldest international law firm Freshfields and have all become Living Wage accredited."

Khan also called on the city’s big employers in the public and private sectors to follow suit and to start paying their workforce the London Living Wage, whilst announcing that once the Mayor's office took control of the former Olympic stadium the (now renamed) London Stadium is an accredited real Living Wage employer. The Mayor thanked the Stadium’s management team who have overseen the complex contract negotiations needed to make sure that all full time and sub-contracted staff – including cleaners, security and catering workers - at the Stadium will have received their pay rise by December, backdated to August 2018.

Khan is particularly keen for major sporting and cultural institutions to follow this example and sign up to the scheme and will be writing to many of them in the coming weeks encouraging them to do so.

Sadiq Khan, continued: “I am determined to make London a fairer and more equal city, so I’m proud to say that the London Stadium has joined more than businesses across the capital in becoming a Real Living Wage employer.

“Now I’m calling on all of our city’s employers – in the public and private sectors – to do the same. And I’m calling on our most influential institutions – from our universities, local authorities and airports, to our football clubs, theatres and galleries – to help lead the way."

Trade Union Congress

Sam Gurney, from the Trade Union Congress London region said: “This much needed increase in the London Living Wage will be welcomed by the tens of thousands of workers who benefit from it directly and by everyone else who wants to see a fairer London. The fact that hundreds of thousands of our fellow Londoners are still not receiving what should be the minimum in our city is a disgrace. Far too many families in London are trapped in poverty because, despite their hard work, they’re in jobs that don’t pay even a basic reasonable salary."

London Legacy Development Corporation

Speaking on behalf of E20 Stadium LLP, Lyn Garner, Chief Executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation, said:“We are very proud that the London Stadium is the largest venue to be Living Wage accredited in the UK and we very much hope that others will now follow suit.

Good Work Standard

Later this year the Mayor will also be launching his Good Work Standard to support employers in adopting best practice and achieving high standards in areas of such as workplace diversity, flexible working, health and well-being, skills development and ensuring employees’ voices are heard at all levels of their organisations.

Picture: The London Stadium (home to West Ham United FC) pays the London Living Wage.

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 05 November 2018

Share

Related Articles