Life in the Zone

London is one of the most expensive cities in the entire world, but it is home to millions of workers who, despite toiling hours on end, don’t take home enough money to make ends meet. Their hidden, low-paid labour helps support a city of jet-setting millionaires, luxurious five-star hotels and posh high street shops.

London Heathrow Airport is in many ways the hub of the city’s wealth—where wealthy businessmen and holiday makers trek through to their various exotic destinations. Underneath it all, however, are tens of thousands of workers paid well below a decent wage, from cleaners to caterers, security staff to shop and bar workers.

But Unite’s Heathrow workers have had enough. In a bid to make London Heathrow the first Living Wage Zone, the union has embarked on a campaign to make the airport’s employers pay up.

Unite regional officer Wayne King, who is behind the campaign, explains that a Living Wage Zone is a geographic area in which all employers commit to paying the Living Wage, a non-statutory wage rate that takes into account the real costs of living.

The London Living Wage, which is currently ÂŁ8.80, has been set every year by the Greater London Authority since 2005. Although London Mayor Boris Johnson promised to pressure more employers to adopt the London Living Wage, at the current rate of progress, it will take 450 years to deliver.

King believes that the slow adoption of the London Living Wage is a result of poor advertising and employers who are simply not interested.

But Unite’s Heathrow members are committed to taking a strong stand in order to make them interested. King said Heathrow, which forms a distinct community of workers, is perfectly set up to be a London Living Wage Zone. He explained the steps Unite will be taking to win a Living Wage victory at Heathrow.

“We’re going to be going to all the various employers at Heathrow, and we’ll map the airport for their wage structures,” King said. “Then we’ll look to identify those we believe are paying below the London Living Wage. After that, we’ll campaign with our members in those workplaces to get them to agree to the Living Wage.”

Stay tuned at UNITElive for more information on the Heathrow’s London Living Wage fight as the campaign goes forward.