Fair Pay

By Yousif Farah

Last week saw the launch of the Fair Pay Fortnight, which is an awareness fortnight sponsored by TUC. The fortnight is held to raise awareness about the cost of living crisis in the country, mainly caused by the imbalanced policies regarding pay rise verses rocketing prices.

In the past five years general commodities’ prices have gone up by almost 20% whereas, pay rises for the majority of the public have only increased by a modest 3%.

Government officials blame the lag between pay rise and inflation on the recent economic turmoil. However, in research carried out by Landman Economics, who provide Government organisations and think tanks with consultancy services, it was established that for every 1% increase in public sector pay rounds, £675 million of extra value is injected into the economy and around 14,000 full-time jobs are created. 

Francis O’Grady head of the TUC says:

“The simple truth is that many employers can afford to pay more. For large companies in sectors such as food production, banking, construction and software/computing - which employ over 1 million low- wage workers - paying all staff the living wage would mean an increase of less than 0.5 per cent of the total wage bill.”

Another topic which is expected to be highlighted in the campaign is zero hour contracts, which are spreading rapidly, according to the Office Of National Statistics 3.4 million of the UK workforce are on such contracts and 1.3m where no hours were worked. A zero hour contract is a contract with no guarantee of hours, only those benefits protected by law, such as holiday leave, are guaranteed.

The irony is that many of the organisations implicated in zero hours contracts, or those who are falling short of paying their employees a fair living wage, are mega organisations such as Sports Direct and McDonalds who both have 90% of their workforce working under zero hour contracts.

Pub chain Weatherspoon, Burger King, Starbucks and many other big names including The Church of England, have also been heavily criticised in the mainstream media and accused of sending mixed messages. See the In My Shoes blog on the same topic.

Mr Justin Welby, head of the Church of England, had called on employers to be responsible and pay their fair share of tax as well as pay their employees a fair living wage. Mr Welby admitted that it is embarrassing for the church to be found to be not paying the living wage. However, he puts it down to the complex Administrative nature of the Establishment.

“The Church remains committed to all parishes, cathedrals and dioceses paying the rate as soon as possible. But due to the make-up of the Church of England - the fact that each church and cathedral is a separate charity - this had to happen gradually.”

Such organisations are leading in their fields and should surely be leading by example, providing a guide to smaller and emerging businesses and also sending a message that employees are the backbone of any business and should be treated accordingly.

At Poached Creative and in many social enterprise organisations, despite our limited resources, we always aim to create suitable and fair working conditions for our employees, that includes paying them a living wage.

Last spring we received an award for our commitment to pay the London Living Wage at the Hackney Citizen Mayoral Assembly.

Jessica Smith director at Poached Creative says:

“The cost of living in Hackney is rising and we would like to see more businesses in the borough supporting their employees with fair pay and good employment conditions.

“Helping unemployed and disadvantaged people into employment is what Poached is all about and we have always aimed to be a model of good employment practice. The London Living Wage accreditation is public recognition of our commitment to our employees and our community.” 

To find out more about the living wage campaign visit The Living Wage Foundation or to take part in the fortnight visit Fair Pay Fortnight.

March For Homes on 31 January

by Yousef Farah

March For Homes

Londoners will march on City Hall on 31 January 2015 to express their anguish and frustration with the ongoing housing crisis in the capital. 

The marchers are expected to voice their demands to the Mayor, including:

• the need for tougher regulations to control spiralling rent prices which have been increasing by 13% per annum since 2010

• also the building of new affordable council houses rather than demolishing the ones which already exist to replace them with expensive private developments

• rent cuts as opposed to benefit cuts

• the need for decent pay and conditions for housing and care workers as well as calling for the abolition of the controversial bedroom tax.

Defend Council Housing, the South London People’s Assembly and Unite Housing Workers are behind the march.

Glyn Robbins of Defend Council Housing wrote in the Morning Star on 10 January:

“Nothing affects people’s daily lives more than housing. It’s hard to have a decent life without a decent home. But there is a chasm between the level of public concern and the ability, or willingness, of our political system to solve the housing crisis.”

                                                

At Poached Creative, we support the aims of the March for Homes. Many of our trainees and staff have been affected by the housing crisis and we recognise the urgent need for a solution.

Lately our colleague John Watts participated and reported on a similar march, in solidarity with 93 families from the New Era Estate in Hoxton. They were battling against eviction by $11bn US investor Westbrook Partners.

Fortunately, months of protests and campaigns paid off. The new owner was announced as Dolphin Living part of the Dolphin Square Foundation, a charity dedicated to providing affordable homes for low and middle income Londoners.

The campaign received high level of publicity and was an eye opener to the public who are starting to realise that unless a permanent solution is found to our fragile and vulnerable housing state of affairs, the problem will continue and expand. Ultimately it is us and future generations who will suffer the consequences of unaffordable housing.

To find out more about the march visit the march official webpage.