The outrage at Harriet Harman's refusal to oppose outright the Tory £4.5bn raid on tax credits is in contrast to the muted response to Labour front bench's equally unprincipled support for George Osborne's proposed 4 year 1% pay cap in the public sector. But there is good reason to be very angry at the latest capitulation to the Government's austerity agenda. A recent UNISON report highlighted that 'the proportion of local government workers receiving working tax credits at 11.2% is around two and a half times higher than the rest of the public sector.'
https://www.unison.org.uk/upload/sharepoint/Toweb/UNISON%20local%20government%20WTC%20report%2002%2012.pdf
As John Tizard writes on the Home Start blog, there is now a compelling an urgent case for all Councils to pay a Living Wage and to ensure that they 'require all their suppliers of goods and services to pay the Living Wage'
http://newstartmag.co.uk/your-blogs/local-government-must-respond-to-in-work-benefit-cuts/
In recent local government pay negotiations UNISON Scotland secured a commitment from the employers COSLA that the living wage will be the starting point for payment of the local government workers. Much work needs to be done to secure a similar breakthrough in the rest of the UK but a new report from the Greater Manchester Living Wage Campaign outlines the great potential of local authorities in challenging low pay beyond their directly employed workforce using procurement to the benefit of local economies:
http://tinyurl.com/nrxxnrm
One of the most enduring achievements of the 1997-2001 Labour Government was the enactment on 1 April 1999 of the UK’s first national minimum wage. This followed a prolonged campaign led by NUPE, a predecessor union of UNISON. Former General Secretary Rodney Bickerstaffe said ‘whilst we are delighted that we have for the first time, after a 100-year battle to get it, a minimum wage, that level is far, far too low. The argument that a higher minimum wage will cost jobs doesn't stand up in an area like the north east which has always suffered high unemployment.’ UNISON marked the historic occasion on Saturday 10 April 1999 with a national march from Gateshead to Newcastle when thousands march in support of the union's demand for a living wage:
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/1999/04/feature/uk9904196f.htm
Heather Wakefield, UNSON head of local government, has sent a festive message to Prime Minister David Cameron MP - ‘our members face the prospect of a further decline in their earnings next year and the economy will be hit further by their reduced spending power. They will be gathering across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on 18 December to ‘Strike A Chord’ for local government pay and sing our very own version of ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’. Let me share the first two lines with you: ‘In the bleak midwinter council workers’ pay, Won’t buy Christmas presents – there really is no way…’ So please send Santa with a promise to look after your hard-working local servants better in 2014. And enjoy that Bollie’ Read more at:
http://opinion.publicfinance.co.uk/2013/12/a-christmas-message-to-the-prime-minister/
As pressure mounts for a significant hike in the minimum wage rate, the Guardian reports on a visit by the Low Pay Commission to the West Midlands to hear evidence from low paid workers about life on poverty pay - including powerful testimony from a union steward - 'Having enough to eat and pay the bills is a struggle. The essentials are getting more and more expensive. I haven't had a holiday in years. I've been saving supermarket vouchers to pay for the Christmas turkey and my husband [who is retired] has given me part of his heating allowance for presents'
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/29/low-pay-commission-tours-uk-minimum-wage
#njcpay2014 Local government NJC Unions unanimously agreed the 2014/15 pay claim yesterday (for submission to the employers next week) and will be seeking a minimum increase of £1 an hour on scale point 5 to achieve the living wage and the same flat rate increase on all other scale points. If cross party support for the living wage principle is to have any meaning and the joint union commitment to ending low pay in local government is to have any credibility then 2014 must be the year when an increase in excess of the 1% Con Dem pay cap is secured.
Unions 21 has produced an excellent and very readable booklet on the debate around community organising, with interesting examples and a thought provoking chapter from Professor Jane Holgate on union approaches. There is also a good solid summary of where we are in the introduction by TUC officers Kevin Rowan and Carl Roper. it is a worthwhile read for all UNISON activists engaged in our campaigns nationally and in local campaigns where we need to work with service users in a community:
http://www.unions21.org.uk/download/371
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.
The political consensus which supports the Living Wage in principle is not reflected in the numbers of workers who benefit from that measure – only 45,000 out of 5 million low paid workers according to a Resolution Foundation report ’Beyond the Bottom Line’ published in January. How can momentum be stepped up to ensure a critical mass is achieved for the Living Wage? How can public sector employers lead the way, not only locally but in national pay structures?
Salford Council in Greater Manchester has recently introduced a living wage in a negotiated agreement with UNISON and other local government unions. Not only have 1200 staff receive a pay increase (in some cases of up to £1300) but City Mayor Ian Stewart is aiming for
Salford to become the UK’s first living wage city: ‘Our role as a Living Wage employer does not stop just our own employees. We have a role as a civic and community leader, to encourage other public sector organisations, the Third Sector and progressive Private Sector business leaders to follow our lead.
UNISON's submission to the Low Pay Commission for 2013/14 on National Minimum Wage rates states that in October 2013 there should be a 'substantial increase to reflect the increased cost of living' and beyond 2013 'the National Minimum Wage should move in stages towards a living wage for all workers' - in current terms this would mean a £1.26 increase in the rate outside of London
http://www.unison.org.uk/file/UNISON%20submission%20to%20the%20LPC%20Sept%202012%20FINAL.pdf
Living wage week had a high impact launch with yesterday’s Observer article by David Miliband MP and UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis, which stated that ‘poverty pay has no place in the 21st century’ and noted that 200,000 workers in local government are paid below the living wage of £7.20. There is a collective bargaining solution to this scandalous situation. The NJC pay claim submitted last month calls for ‘a substantial flat rate increase on all scale points as a step towards the longer term objective of restoring pay levels and achieving the living wage as the bottom NJC spinal column point.’ What better way for politicians of all colours to institutionalise a living wage in local government by abandoning the pay freeze and holding meaningful negotiations on the union side claim?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/03/miliband-prentis-living-wage
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B6085.pdf
Larry Katz - a retired Canadian Union of Public Employees Research Director of over 30 years - has written a very useful and interesting set of 10 proposals for trade unions to consider in Canada, but they could easily be adapted to the UK in general and some to UNISON in particular. He makes the point that this is the conversation we have to have with each other and with workers:
http://ourtimes.ca/Between_Times/article_228.php
Patrick Kane of War on Want reviews the intensified struggles of South Africa’s mineworkers in the aftermath of the deaths of 34 mine workers by police shootings at the Marikana mine in August and quotes COSATU’s Sidumo Dlamini: "What we see happening at Marikana and elsewhere is that workers are essentially demanding a living wage. Workers are simply saying, 'We produce wealth and we want our reasonable share. And they expect to be given a fair share.' This is a reflection of the demands being harbored by millions of our people"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patrick-kane/south-africa-mine_b_1967275.html
Leading COSATU affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers, is South Africa 's largest union organising in the mining industry:
http://www.num.org.za
The Jury is still out on Gordon Brown but during his tenure as Chancellor poverty amongst those families without work in Wales began to fall to similar levels to those in working but low income households. Top up benefits will never be the answer to all ills but they provided a necessary band-aid on child poverty issues amongst workless families:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-19828167
Now we see the starkest of cuts in Welsh Local Government with a new WLGA report that warns of continuing decline in funding possibly until 2021.
The UNISON Living Wage victory at St George's hospital in London puts the focus on how branches can make a real difference for workers at local level. Cleaners at the Medical School will get a new London Living Wage of £8.30 an hour. It comes on the back of another victory for the branch in 2008 (see pic) when they won up to £75 a week for cleaners employed by ISS.
