UNISON, the country’s largest public service union, is calling for the National Minimum Wage (NMW) to rise substantially in October 2012, to reflect the increased cost of living in recent years, presently and expected in 2012. After 2012 the NMW should move in stages towards a living wage for all workers, currently in the region of UKP 8,00 (€ 9,24) an hour depending on family size. The union’s detailed submission to the Low Pay Commission argues that the NMW should not be frozen, or cut, or the economy will fail to recover. UNISON argues that, despite the claims of self-interested business lobbyists, there is no evidence that the NMW has caused unemployment in the last decade.
English: http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2445
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 at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.