Milliband Explains Why the Living Wage Matters to Workers

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21 November 2013 | Updated 01 January 1970

It was an evening shift with a difference for the ISS cleaning operatives at KPMG’s Bristol office when Ed Miliband, paid an out of hours visit to meet them to discuss the Living Wage.

For his part, Mr Miliband was keen to hear first-hand how receiving a fair rate of pay makes a difference to their lives and he requested a one-to-one with each member of the team, including Angela Francis, Mark Ellington, Deeq Amed and Fahan Mohamed.

He also spoke to Operations Manager, Ashley Winter, who repeatedf ISS’ commitment as a Living Wage employer, citing that it had been introduced as early as 2006 in some cases and resulted in a number of benefits, including improved staff turnover.

ISS recently became one of the first major FM companies to sign the Living Wage Foundation’s Service Provider Accreditation. This means the company has formally committed to paying a Living Wage for all support staff employed on the ISS estate, and to including a Living Wage option in all tender submissions.

Mr Miliband chose to visit KPMG because of its reputation as a long standing Living Wage employer. It came just a few days before Living Wage Week (that commenced on 4^th November) when he announced an intention to “incentivise” employers to pay the Living Wage.

His plans to introduce Make Work Pay contracts aim to encourage businesses to give every low paid worker a raise by offering a 12 month tax rebate of up to £1,000 for those who pay the Living Wage rates.

 Chris Newman, Facilities Workplace Regional Manager - London North and South, KPMG said: “Overall the visit went really well. The ISS staff were excited to meet Ed and have an opportunity to discuss how the Living Wage benefits them, but also share experiences about friends that are not on Living Wage.”

People with a lot of heart

A team of 70 ISS employees from Surrey and East London completed the 17-mile High Peak Winter Hike on Sunday, raising £8,000 so far for ISS’ corporate charity, the British Heart Foundation (BHF). BHF are the biggest funder of heart research in UK and ISS was selected as their first national charity partner in 2010.

After weeks of hard training, the group set off for Derbyshire from the ISS head office in Woking, arriving at 6.30am. They gathered at the Matlock Lions Rugby Club in the freezing temperatures for the start of the High Peak Trail at Sparklow.

The group set off at different paces and Richard Elder, National Account Manager, managed to reach the finish at Cromford Meadows in an impressive four hours but everyone in the group managed to reach the finish line by the afternoon.

Corporate Responsibility Director at ISS, Steve Workman said: “Sunday was a great day for the team who tackled the hike, raising an incredible amount of money to help the BHF in its pioneering work. We set out in the dark, which made for a challenging start, but we all managed to make it the entire 17 miles. I would like to thank everyone who took part on behalf of ISS and the BHF, and we hope to take part again next year.”

‘Huge Accolade’ to Win Award

Standfirst Dovetail HRS and FM Recruitment, the Newbury based recruitment company, scoops the Inaugural West Berkshire Business Innovation Award.

At a prestigious presentation dinner at Newbury Racecourse, attended by 150 plus representatives of the Business community, Dovetail secured this coveted award, which was sponsored by Bayer.

John O’ Brien (the company’s founder and Managing Director) said: “Winning the West Berkshire Business Innovation award is a huge accolade for Dovetail. At a time when the recruitment industry as a whole has declined by 40%, Dovetail have introduced innovative new ways of working to grow our business.”

Three years ago Dovetail were predominantly placing people in the West Berkshire area and now have contractors working at various sites across the UK and in France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Denmark, Israel, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia.

In the past year Dovetail have placed FM and CRE candidates with their international customers in various European locations as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, China, India, USA, the Middle East, the Far East, and South Africa.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 21 November 2013

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