Newcastle Living Wage

Living wage debate reported in Chron

2010-02-02T06:24:00.000-08:00

Click on the link below to read about the campaign in the Evening Chronicle

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-evening-chronicle/2010/02/02/7-an-hour-plea-for-thousands-of-civic-staff-72703-25743694/

Campaign update

2010-01-14T01:25:00.000-08:00

Due to a procedural issue the council wasn't able to consider this last night - but the living wage will be debated on the 3 February 2010 at 6pm.

That gives us another 3 weeks to campaign, so do get involved and let us know if you support us.

Drop us a line at henrimurison@hotmail.co.uk to get involved.

Sign up to support our campaign

2010-01-13T06:31:00.000-08:00

Do you support our living wage campaign?

You can become a Fan of the Living Wage on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/n/?pages%2FNewcastle-Living-Wage%2F251152121646&mid=1b7a201G2336141G3719660G4cOr, sign up to our campaign on Newcastle Labour's website

http://www.newcastlelabour.org.uk/livingwage

Join our campaign today!

Unite the Union in North East support campaign

2010-01-13T01:39:00.000-08:00

Unite has been a strong supporter and advocate of the Living Wage campaigns in London not only because it assists in addressing the wage exploitation of unscrupulous employers but because paying a Living Wage is not only morally right, but makes good business sense too.

What may appear to a company to be an unaffordable cost in a highly competitive market should more often be viewed as a sound investment decision Unite believes that paying decent wages reduces staff turnover and produces a more motivated and productive workforce. Recent independent research carried out on the impacts of the London Living Wage showed that:

• Living wage provisions are not generally associated with job losses or worker displacement;

• There is some evidence of productivity increases (often not statistically significant) associated with higher effort, lower staff turnover, reduced absenteeism, increased stability of workforce, and improved worker morale, motivation and commitment;

• Increased cost pressure leads firms to seek efficiency and cost savings elsewhere, such as reorganisation of workflows and substituting FT workers for PT workers (saving NI, training, etc); and

• Motivated increased training of staff and higher service quality
The Living Wage is an essential tool to tackle real poverty in the community and has been defined in London defined by the Family Budget Unit as, “a wage that achieves an adequate level of warmth and shelter, a healthy palatable diet, social integration and avoidance of chronic stress for earners and their dependents.”

A Living Wage must yield a secure margin ensuring that the person involved does not fall to the level of poverty wages because of unforeseen events. To achieve this, 15 per cent is added to the unrounded poverty threshold wage.

For all these reasons and many more Unite would want to fully support and work with the City Council in achieving widespread application of a living wage in the area.

Davey Hall
Unite Regional Secretary

Tonight Labour to call for living wage at City Council

2010-01-13T01:38:00.000-08:00

Notice of Motion - Living Wage for Newcastle
Councillor Forbes

“Council notes
1. The Living Wage movement, committed to introducing a guaranteed minimum standard of income over and above the National Minimum Wage, which was first introduced on the 1 April 1999.
2. The research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2008 which looked at developing a formula for calculating a minimum income standard. For their purposes, a Living Wage could be defined as the level of income needed to provide an acceptable standard of living in Britain to ensure good health, adequate child development and social inclusion. Following detailed research, they concluded that the living wage for a single working age adult in the UK was £6.88 an hour 2008.

3. The feedback from contractors who have implemented the London Living Wage is that it provides benefits including:

• Easier recruitment and retention, reducing recruitment costs

• Higher quality staff

• Better attendance

• Better productivity, motivation and loyalty

• Better quality of service

4. The Government target to abolish child poverty by 2020, and the important role of the local authority in achieving that in the City.

5. That Newcastle is ranked 37th most deprived local authority by IMD (2007).

6. That Glasgow, Oxford and the previous Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, have all introduced living wages.

Council believes

1. The National Minimum Wage over the last 10 years has raised the living standards of the lowest paid, and helped close the gap between men and women's pay.
2. That paying a set Living Wage to all Council staff, and for its contractors to do the same, could play a vital role in tackling poverty in Newcastle.
3. That setting a £7 living wage for Newcastle City Council employees or another level determined by a Living Wage Commission representing Trade Unions, public and private sector employers, charities, voluntary and pressure groups, would encourage other employers in the city to also adopt that same Living Wage.”

Our new blog

2010-01-13T01:35:00.000-08:00

Yes - we have a blog and today is our launch.

If you are an employer or a Trade Unionist who wants to join our coalition, or a person being paid less than £7 an hour who wants to support our campaign, please email us at henrimurison@hotmail.co.uk.