End pay discrimination

Unite secretary for Ireland Jimmy Kelly expressed his union’s dismay at the miserly increase in the UK National Minimum Wage which comes into effect today (October 1).

“An increase of 20 pence in the National Minimum Wage for those aged twenty-one and over, from £6.50 to £6.70, is completely inadequate to meet the real needs of working households,” he said.

“Unite is calling for the National Minimum Wage to be increased to the current Living Wage rate determined by the independent Living Wage Foundation – currently set at £7.85 an hour,” Kelly added.

The increase to the minimum wage comes into effect six months ahead of the ‘phony’ Tory ‘national living wage’ which will raise the hourly pay for workers aged twenty-five and above to £7.20 an hour.

However, at the same time NI households are already losing almost an average of a thousand pounds a year through brutal tax credits cuts – with many low-paid households losing much more than this average.

“Analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies indicates that the Tory ‘sham’ national living wage rate will only compensate working households for 13 per cent of the loss associated with the cuts to tax credits,” Kelly explained.

He went on to highlight the devastation that chronic low pay has had in Northern Ireland in particular.

“Average pay in Northern Ireland is one of the lowest in Western Europe reflecting the historic legacy of underinvestment and our falling productivity,” Kelly said. “Northern Ireland needs a pay rise – not just to raise workers out of poverty pay but to stimulate demand and encourage higher rates of investment.”

Kelly voiced particular concern over employers who “seek to regionalise the Living Wage, paying workers here less”.

The UK Living Wage is a national rate applicable for all regions outside London, which has its own unique circumstances.

Kelly condemned the decision by Lidl last week to give all its workers in England, Scotland and Wales a Living Wage pay rise, while excluding workers from Northern Ireland from the wage hike.

“Unite will campaign to overturn such discrimination,” he concluded.