15 October 2015
Green Party councillors on Bridport Town Council are campaigning to make Bridport the country’s first town where every employer pays at least the living wage (currently £7.85 per hour UPDATE April 2016: it is £8.25 per hour). In West Dorset about a quarter of employees are on an hourly rate below this. The figure is calculated by the Living Wage Foundation and updated each November. It is nothing to do with George Osborne’s attempted re-branding of the minimum wage as a ‘living wage’.
Councillors Julian Jones and Kelvin Clayton succeeded in passing a motion to this effect at the Town Council meeting on 22nd September (and thanks to the Lib Dem councillors who supported it). The Council will now pressure its contractors and the employers it grant funds (such as the Leisure Centre and Arts Centre) to pay at least the living wage. It will work with employers associations to persuade them of the merit of voluntarily and collectively paying the living wage to all employees of 18 and above (except those on genuine apprenticeship schemes that combine work and education/training). Councillor Julian Jones says "This is crucial because the Government has launched an inexplicable vendetta against young workers. Those under 26 have been left out of the plan for a raised minimum wage and will be left on, by the Government’s own definition, less than their notion of a living wage! Eligibility for housing benefit for 18 to 21-year olds is likely to be removed in 2017. As a town we can push back against this discrimination. Obviously much more is needed to tackle inequality in our society but at least let’s ensure a decent hourly rate of pay."
People in Bridport can help by accepting that the price of goods and services need to reflect their true cost, not be subsidised by poverty wages here or in sweatshops abroad. By reassuring local employers that we would happily pay a higher price justified by their higher wage bill we can all play a part in bringing this about. Anyone in Bridport can do that in person by speaking to any employers they know or indeed work for. Big chains however should simply absorb the cost by cutting shareholder dividends and exorbitant executive salaries.
Some may fear that firms will become less competitive and low paid jobs will be lost. Similar messages were put out by opponents of the minimum wage, introduced by the Labour government in 1999. In fact those warnings proved to be completely spurious. Lidl recently announced that from October all its employees will be paid at least the Living Wage; their lowest rate will be £8.20 a year. It will cost them about £9 million a year but they are happy to do the right thing even though their industry is very competitive. And latest news; Morrisons have announced the same policy.
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