MORE THAN 120 COMPANIES PLEDGE TO PAY GLASWEGIANS A LIVING WAGE
A remarkable 121 companies have guaranteed to pay their workforces £7 per hour or more, as part of the Glasgow Living Wage.
The scheme was launched in March by Councillor Steven Purcell, Leader of Glasgow City Council, to tackle in-work poverty and support those who struggle to survive carrying out low paid work.
By securing a decent wage for Glaswegians the Council also hopes to encourage people in receipt of benefits to enter the labour market.
Through the creation of a Glasgow Living Wage employer award, the Council has been working with companies across the city and some on the outskirts who mainly employ Glaswegians, to sign up to the scheme and demonstrate their business pays the level of income required to provide an acceptable standard of living.
The Council is the first local authority in Scotland to establish a living wage and the first organisation to agree to pay all its employees an income that will increase the basic salary of the lowest paid Council worker by more than £1100 a year.
At an event in the Council’s City Chambers, Councillor Purcell, acknowledged the overwhelming support from Glasgow’s business community for this scheme.
He said: “The Glasgow Living Wage accreditation is a mark of excellence; it shows that companies pay their staff a decent wage and therefore contribute to the social wellbeing of the city. Businesses that have signed up to the scheme should certainly be proud of this fact.
“Through our procurement process we are continuing to encourage our suppliers and their sub-contractors to pay this rate, so that even more people can benefit.”
Dr Lesley Sawers, chief executive of Scottish Council for Development and Industry, who spoke at the event, said: “SCDI welcomes the successful collaboration of Glasgow’s business community and the council in securing encouraging levels of support for a living wage policy.
“This ground-breaking initiative is a clear demonstration of effective partnership working, which is critical to the long-term success of ‘Team Glasgow’ and to achieving the goal of a sustainable economic prosperity in which everyone can share.’
Peter Kelly from the Poverty Alliance, said: “Despite the recession it is clear than many employers can and do pay decent wages to their employees. The living wage makes a real difference to the lives of low paid workers, allowing them to make more of the choices that many of us take for granted, and we hope that employers across Scotland begin to see the benefits of paying a decent wage.”
Charles Quinn, Director and General Manager of computer giant Dell, said: “Dell welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this worthwhile initiative, representing employees based in our Glasgow City Park office.
“In 2005, Dell chose Glasgow as a location due to the richness in talent and education available. We’re proud of our achievements in Scotland aligning customer and employee satisfaction, winning several major awards in the process and contributing positively to our local community.”
Hugh Connor, managing director of Tough Construction Ltd who employs more than 100 people in the city, said: “Glasgow's living wage builds confidence, self esteem and loyalty and that brings long-term benefits to both employee and employer.”
“We have always found that paying people what they are worth is beneficial to the employer and employee. By doing this we achieve better levels of motivation and productivity from our staff, allowing us to service our customer base to the highest standard. This means everyone benefits”, said Andrew Crawford, Scottish Area Manager from iGuzzini Illuminazione, an independent lighting specialist in the city.
Companies of all sizes, that pay all their workers £7 per hour or more and therefore meet the requirements of the Glasgow Living Wage, can sign up or find out more from a new website that has been launched www.glasgowlivingwage.co.uk
When signing up to the scheme companies receive accreditation and a certificate from the Council to display in their business premises and are given access to the Glasgow Living Wage logo for use on their business stationery, website and literature etc.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. A “Living Wage” can be defined as the level of income needed to provide an acceptable standard of living in Britain to ensure good health, adequate child development and social inclusion.
2. Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has calculated that the living wage for a single working-age adult in Britain is £6.88 per hour.
3. The Annual Survey of Household Earnings 2008 calculated that there were 394,000 jobs in the Glasgow City Council area. 20% of these jobs pay less than £7.14 an hour.
4. In terms of part-time employees, 40% of employees are paid less than £6.64 an hour.
5. Glasgow is the first Local Authority in Scotland to establish a Living Wage. The first in Britain was the London Living Wage, launched by Mayor Ken Livingstone in 2005.
6. Feedback from contractors in London who have implemented the Living Wage has identified benefits including.
· easier recruitment and retention, reducing recruitment costs
· higher quality staff
· better attendance
· better productivity, motivation and loyalty
· better quality of service
7. Council staff employed at Grade 1 from 2009/10 will earn a starting salary of £13,340 compared to £12,200 prior to the introduction of the Living Wage.
8. A full list of all companies that have signed up to Glasgow’s Living Wage can be found at www.glasgowlivingwage.co.uk