Your questions answered - Week Two - Living Wage

15.06.10 - Helen Symons

How would you practically implement a living wage? For example, would you support legislation to ensure that companies can only get government and local government contracts if they pay a living wage?

Diane Abbott:

Ensuring we have a living wage is extremely important. Working hard should mean being able to provide for your family and lead a decent standard of living – not living on the breadline.

Implementing a living wage doesn't only benefit the employees. It improves staff loyalty and boosts morale, and therefore productivity. It also reduces training and recruitment costs, which is overall better value for money for employers.

I would support introducing legislation to ensure that government tenders are not able to be taken up by contractors who are not prepared to pay a living wage to their staff.

As a party, we must lead by example and those who are not willing to offer a decent wage for a decent day’s work, should not benefit from government contracts.

My father worked as a sheet metal worker. He was able to provide for my mother and buy the odd treat for me and my brother. This is what working should be about; providing for your family and been proud of what you earn.

Keeping people’s wages below the breadline has a knock-on effect on not only on the family unit, but the wider community in terms of anti-social behaviour and crime. This in turn places further burden on services like the police. Insisting on a living wage would alleviate this.

The gap between rich and poor in the UK is far too wide. As leader of the Labour Party, this is something I would want to tackle. My government has done much to address this over last 13 years and in particular, work to help reduce child poverty. We have made good progress but more needs to be done.

Implementing a living wage for all government contractors would be a step in the right direction to addressing this inequality.

Ed Balls:

It was a scandal that in 1997 jobs were still advertised for as little as £1 an hour. Labour’s rising National Minimum Wage and tax credits improved living standards for low-paid workers and narrowed the pay gap for women whilst avoiding job losses.

But low pay is still a problem - and we need to recognise that higher living costs in some parts of the country, particularly in London and the south, mean the minimum wage and tax credits are having a reduced impact there.

Ken Livingstone instituted the London Living Wage, responding to calls from unions and London Citizens to recognise the higher cost of living in London.

If campaigns for a living wage are to be successful then we have to set the example and show leadership ourselves, as Ken did when he was Mayor.

I did not just talk the talk - I was the one and only Cabinet minister to introduce the Living Wage within my own government department for all staff and contracted staff.

But a living wage cannot be implemented in isolation. Our plan must be to:

Raise the National Minimum Wage every year at least in line with average earnings.
Follow Ken Livingstone’s example by having the Low Pay Commission properly assess the level of a Living Wage.
Reflect different family circumstances through child benefit and tax credits. We cannot base a living wage on a 1950s notion of the family.
Beef up enforcement – I want to see local council and tax inspectors empowered to blow the whistle on employers who evade the legal minimum. There is a strong case for a unified Employment Inspectorate.
Strengthen laws on agency and posted workers to combat undercutting.
Ensure low paid workers have access to trade union organisation if they so wish.
And ensure the public sector leads the way on fair pay, both directly and through procurement.

Now we must reject the Tory counsel of despair and press the case for a living wage.

Andy Burnham:

Under my leadership, introducing a living wage in the public and private sectors will be a priority. But first we’ve got to practice what we preach. We should work towards a requirement in government contracts that only those companies paying at the agreed level, region by region, should be entitled to bid. As resources allow, we should ensure that those employed in government departments also receive a living wage

It is important that it is set at the right level. I would establish a joint consultation of unions, business and a range of stakeholder groups to ensure that it is set at the appropriate level for each region and that it is workable.

We must also remember the importance of policing and enforcing the minimum wage. In Opposition it is essential not only to press the Coalition government to ensure that the minimum wage keeps its value in real terms but also that government ensures that checks and enforcement continues to stamp out bad business practice.

Finally, I will set up a scheme, where good employers who were paying at the level of a living wage would receive accreditation and gain the recognition of being a good employer with positive employment practice. Such a scheme would provide an incentive to encourage employers to pay a living wage and help embed a living wage within employment practice going forward.

David Miliband:

A fair days pay for a fair days work has always been a core principle of the Labour movement. That’s why the minimum wage is one of Labour’s proudest legacies – and we were right at the general election to argue that it should rise at least in line with average earnings over the next few years.

But when nearly five million people earn less than 7.15 an hour, we know that the fight for fair pay is not yet won. That’s why I support calls for a living wage, to complement the National Minimum Wage. I think we should pursue this goal through the government becoming a living wage employer – and committing to only doing business with contractors who pay a living wage. This would set a bar and show the way for the private sector – where campaigns involving community groups and trade unions have already made a big difference.

I want Labour to return to its roots as a living, breathing movement for change precisely so it can play its part in these community actions. It’s also important to remember that successful living wage campaigns do not just strike a blow for social justice – they make good business sense too. Major companies, like Barclays, who have implemented the living wage, have seen real benefits in lower staff turnover and higher productivity.

Ed Miliband:

I've put the Living Wage campaign as the centre of my campaign for labour leadership because it sums up both the Labour party's values and its activism.

It speaks to our values because it touches our deep sense of justice, of fairness and of a belief in the dignity of work. And it speaks to our activism because this has never been a party to rest on its accomplishments or believe change only comes from those with the most power. To equip us for government once more the Labour party needs to become a vibrant movement for change - and taking on grassroots campaigns like this are crucial to that endeavour.

I've already thrown my support behind Labour councils and Labour groups who have led the way on the living wage - like Tower Hamlets, Lewisham, Glasgow, Preston, Oxford, Lambeth and Hackney - and I'll be working with others to do the same.

Businesses too have a chance to show they are responsible employers by adopting the living wage and Labour members can and should campaign to raise the wages of the lowest paid employees in shops and banks as well as councils.

When in government I pushed to make Whitehall a Living Wage employer – a commitment that appeared in our manifesto. When in government again we need to throw its entire weight behind the campaign, by supporting councils who adopt it, broadening the range of public sector workers who get it and by moving towards a procurement process that supports living wage employers bidding for external contracts.

The living wage campaign can become the hallmark of a Labour party engaged in local communities, campaigning for change. It can show that even in Opposition we can help some of the poorest people in society to do better.

Labour brought in the minimum wage, we now have an opportunity to lead the fight for a living wage. I hope we will seize it.