UNISON Solihull living wage campaign



On 30 January 2014, I helped UNISON campaign in Solihull calling for Solihull Council to pay its workers at least the living wage.

We received hundreds of signatures from the local people in Solihull from all around the area agreeing that the council should pay at least the living wage to its workers.




The minimum wage in the UK is currently £6.31. It is estimated that people need at least £7.65 outside of London in order to survive. Arguably by not paying workers enough to live on, the council is engaging in a form of exploitation. In any event, if people aren’t paid enough, this will only end up costing the country more in the long run - people will be forced to rely on benefits to bridge the gap.

The argument that organisations cannot afford to pay the living wage is often vitiated by the existence of high profits and/or large pay rises for the people at the top - how can it be fair that an executive gets a multi-thousand (sometimes multi-million) pound pay rise when a number of workers cannot afford to pay the bills?


Follow me on Twitter: @mcneil_tom