Today I was with Boris Johnson at Great Ormond Street Hospital when he announced the increase in the London Living Wage to £8.80. There are now 432 companies accredited as paying the living wage.
The "living wage" rate for London, which is calculated on the cost of living in the capital, has been increased to £8.80, a rise of 25p.
Since it was introduced in 2005, many employers have signed up - some of whom I have met like Aquila Way and Barclays. Today I sat next to the representative from Aviva, and with other big businesses like Linklaters, KPMG, and charities like Save the Children.
The highlight of yesterday was
- not the wonderful Rabbi, whose North London Synagogue is a living wage employer, albeit she spoke well
- nor the Mayor, who gave a great speech
- but young Lacey Green, a supervisor at the William Morris Pub in Colliers Wood. She spoke with passion and eloquence at the podium of the courage of her employers, Faucet Inns, who are a living wage employer, and the difference it had made to her and her childs life. She spoke really well.
I welcome that we are talking about pay - whether it is a discussion of the minimum wage, the raising of the income tax threshold, the need for better skills to empower more people into better paying jobs, and the ways in which we can address the problems with employer take up of the living wage. I do not think Ed Miliband's idea is much more than a short term gimmick, albeit the gem of an idea is there. The simple criticism is if the policy works, and is sustainable, then why is it for a short period of time, and how will it be paid for? As I say I do believe work needs to be done on tax reform and incentivisation, but I do not believe Ed has the right policy tweak. We need companies to be publishing numbers of people not earning the living wage, and I will be doing all I can to ensure more companies in the North East sign up.
The fact of the living wage should not be in doubt. As Boris said today - you can be a low tax, centre right capitalist, but totally support the living wage: it does not just address social justice but makes economic sense by producing -
- higher morale,
- better productivity
- better staff retention and motivation
- lower overheads
and thereby creates more jobs
Boris Johnson added: "Paying the London Living Wage ensures hard-working Londoners are helped to make ends meet, providing a boost not only for their personal quality of life but delivering indisputable economic dividends to employers too."
For last weeks debate on low pay, in which I spoke, as did the Minister, Matt Hancock, look here:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2013-10-30a.316.1&s=speaker%3A24962#g318.0
