Minimum Wage or Living Wage? Time to close the gap

Professor George Bain, who was the first chair of the Low Pay Commission, is quoted in the Independent as saying that the national minimum wage is 'no longer working' because its value has fallen as increases have consistently been outstripped by inflation.
    A similar case was made in more trenchant terms on this blog back in December 2010 by former UNISON General Secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe.

And a submission that the minimum wage rate should rise over time to the living wage rate was a cornerstone of UNISON's most recent evidence submitted to the Low Pay Commission.

GMB and Unite are seeking a similar hike in the national minimum wage rate.

We’ve heard a lot of talk in recent weeks about unions doing politics differently. Closing the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage should be a UNITED union demand made on all political parties as the 2015 general election approaches.