{"id":10417,"date":"2016-11-02T16:28:18","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T16:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10417"},"modified":"2016-11-02T16:30:26","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T16:30:26","slug":"living-wage-changes-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10417","title":{"rendered":"Living Wage changes lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For thousands of workers up and down the country, the Living Wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bogus rebranding but the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098real\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Living Wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has changed lives to the tune of thousands a year.<\/p>\n

 
\nFor some, it has meant the difference between not having had a holiday in over a decade and taking your kids to the seaside for a long weekend for the first time; between barely being able to afford to transport yourself to work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c leaving at 4am each day to take multiple buses into the city centre \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and getting your first travel card.<\/p>\n

 
\nIndeed, the Living Wage has for thousands even meant the difference between debilitating hunger and eating three square meals a day.<\/p>\n

 
\nOn Monday, the Living Wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a voluntary pay rate calculated by researchers as the minimum wage workers must earn in order to enjoy a decent, if modest, standard of living \u00e2\u20ac\u201c rose to \u00c2\u01419.75 an hour in London and \u00c2\u01418.45 an hour in the rest of the UK.<\/p>\n

 
\nFor full-time workers earning the Living Wage, this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s increase will mean those in London will earn \u00c2\u014195 more each week than workers on the mandatory minimum. Those paid the Living Wage outside the capital will earn \u00c2\u014145 more each week than their minimum wage counterparts.<\/p>\n

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Living wage employers<\/strong><\/em>
\nBeing an accredited Living Wage employer is no longer a rarity. This year, the total number of employers signed up to pay the higher rate has climbed to 2,000 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c double the number of employers on the list only two years ago.<\/p>\n

 
\nJoining the list of Living Wage employers in the last year are Everton Football Club<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c only the second Premier League club to become Living Wage employers after Chelsea F.C. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and big-name companies such as Ikea, Curzon Cinemas and Olivar Bonas.<\/p>\n

 
\nIkea told the Financial Times<\/a> this week since introducing the Living Wage in April, the company has seen a decrease in staff turnover, fewer staff absences and an increase in the quality and quantity job applicants.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIntroducing the Living Wage is not only the right thing to do for our co-workers; it also makes good business sense,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said IKEA country manager Gillian Drakeford. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a long-term investment in our people based on our values and our belief that a team with good compensation and working conditions is in a position to provide a great experience to our customers.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThousands of Living Wage employers have seen these and other benefits such as increased worker productivity as well as greater brand awareness.<\/p>\n

 
\nIntroducing the Living Wage would also make a huge difference to public finances \u00e2\u20ac\u201c researchers estimate that its implementation in London alone would save the government \u00c2\u01411bn a year in wage top-ups.<\/p>\n

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‘Priceless’<\/strong><\/em>
\nAnd of course, for workers themselves the difference a Living Wage makes is priceless.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite community co-ordinator Jamie Caldwell has been at the forefront in the fight for a Living Wage, particularly for young workers as part of a Unite campaign called Fight for 5.<\/p>\n

 
\nIts aims are to organise young activists to demand not only better pay but other conditions that constitute decent work such as trade union representation, job security, workplace safety and guaranteed hours.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe tells the story of a young Unite community member who was once working for a non-living wage company and eventually found a job with an accredited Living Wage employer.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt meant the world to him,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Caldwell notes. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt meant he was able to move out of his parents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 house, to live independently and to have a bit of extra money to save or go out now and again.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Not just about scraping by<\/strong><\/em>
\nCaldwell believes that we must fight the austerity-era stigma that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s developed around earning enough money to enjoy life.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is what it means to earn a real Living Wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not about just barely scraping by. You should be able to afford to go on holiday, to buy things, to go out with friends and family \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to live. In turn this benefits all of us as money that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spent keeps the economy running and boosts public finances.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCaldwell says that Unite community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Fight for 5 campaign has encouraged young workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who are among the most exploited, earning less than the legal minimum of \u00c2\u01417.20 if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re under 25 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to support one another.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about empowerment,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working. Our activists are learning that through collective action you can demand from work more than just the bare minimum.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner believes a true Living Wage can become a reality for all.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe thousands of employers who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve signed up to the Living Wage since it was first introduced \u00e2\u20ac\u201c companies of all sizes, from family-run shops to giant multinationals \u00e2\u20ac\u201c demonstrate that you can run a successful business by paying workers a decent, liveable wage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe at Unite argue that a much higher mandatory minimum wage, in line with a true Living Wage, is not only entirely affordable but will be beneficial for the whole economy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOf course the real answer to lifting low-paid workers out of the scourge of poverty pay and addressing growing levels of inequality in society is for government to introduce regulated sectoral and workplace level collective bargaining,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner added.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bStrong effective trade unions are part of the solution and can help create an economy that works again for everyone. Public investment to create decent jobs, stronger trade unions and higher wages means more money in people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pockets, a growing economy and better public finances \u00e2\u20ac\u201c this is the only way we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll shake off the decade of lost wages and living standards this government has presided over.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For thousands of workers up and down the country, the Living Wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bogus rebranding but the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098real\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Living Wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has changed lives to the tune of thousands a year.   For some, it has meant the difference between not having had a holiday in over a decade and taking your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[23,536],"wps_subtitle":"As LW rises, Unite calls for higher minimum wage","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10417"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10428,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10417\/revisions\/10428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}