Given the Labour Party leadership's backing for a living wage and growing support for inclusion of a living wage clause in public sector procurement processes, it is timely to raise the demand for UK ratification of ILO Labour Clauses (Public Contract) Convention No. 94. The UK was one of the first signatories of the clause back in 1950 until the Thatcher Government denounced it in 1982 - at the very time they were first introducing compulsory competetive tendering in the NHS and local government:
Convention 94 labour clauses (public contracts) (1949) covers 'public contracts awarded to other agents whereby wages and conditions offered by the external company to their workers shall be no less favourable than those already established for the work'
http://www.unison.org.uk/file/ILO.pdf
http://www.epsu.org/IMG/pdf/PPPs1-barg-d4-finalLAYOUT-2.pdf
Norway's centre left coalition government is imposing ILO minimum standards on public service suppliers:
"Public procurers in central and local government in Norway have an obligation to ensure that their service providers meet certain standards for the wages and working conditions of their employees. This responsibility is a result of the integration of an International Labour Organization convention into the country’s legal framework. Norway ratified the ILO Labour Clauses (Public Contract) Convention No. 94 in 1996. New regulations have now been put before the Norwegian Parliament to ensure public bodies comply with the Convention."
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/2012/11/articles/no1211019i.htm
