Union steps up calls for living wage

A campaign was launched last December by Labour Party members, following the rejection of a motion put before the council to set up a committee to look at the issue. All council staff are currently paid at least the minimum wage of £6.19 per hour. Adopting the living wage would see the pay of the lowest paid workers rise to £7.45 per hour. Hull and Scarborough councils have agreed in principle to pay the living wage, calculated by academics based on the items needed for a “minimum acceptable standard of living”.

GMB Organisation Officer Ester Marriott said: “Council staff on the lowest pay grades are struggling to make ends meet because of the pay freezes of recent years and the rising cost of living. The position of many outsourced staff who deliver council services is similarly precarious. Low-paid workers cannot rely on in-work benefits to top up their earnings because state benefits of all kinds are being targeted by the Government.”

GMB members will be outside Wilkinson’s, in Beverley town centre on Saturday collecting signatures to lobby the council.