United Kingdom - UNISON backs living wage call - August 24, 2010

UNISON public services union has welcomed plans of Labour leadership candidate, Ed Miliband, to push for a living wage. Miliband has proposed that companies which agree to pay a living wage of at least UKP 7.60 (Euro 9.20) an hour would get a tax reduction. The union’s Labour Link has backed the plan, pointing out that a living wage of UKP 7.60 will mean a lower bill for tax credits and benefits while raising more income tax and national insurance from employees and employers, saving UKP 4.1 billion from public funds. Miliband’s proposal foresees that some of this saving could be recycled into a small tax reduction in corporation tax for companies who pay the living wage, rather than the national minimum wage of UKP 5.83 (Euro 7.05) an hour. “UNISON has been making the case for the living wage for 20 years and one advantage has been that it tackles poverty, reduces social expenditure and increases revenues,” commented UNISON Labour Link chair Steve Warwick.

English: http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=6301

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.