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USEFUL LINKSThe national minimum wage
UNISON submission to Low Pay Commission
Term-time workers - an overview
Holiday pay? No way!
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The government claims it wants to eradicate child poverty yet is still to set a decent minimum wage. Clare Bayley looks at what UNISON is doing to get people the wages they deserve
Poverty wages
The introduction of the National Minimum Wage in 1999 was a bittersweet victory because the rate was set so low.
Despite the fact that it has had annual raises, it still falls far short
of a living wage. And this makes it a false economy as far as the Treasury
goes, since it ends up being supplemented by benefits – the government
effectively subsidising bad employers.
UNISON has commissioned research to establish levels of income required to ensure a “low cost but acceptable” standard of living, and the gross weekly earnings required to produce it.
Peter Ambrose at Brighton University has, after extensive research, calculated
the hourly rate to achieve this basic level as £7.83p per hour –
the NMW is currently set at £4.20 for over 22 year-olds, £3.60
for under 21s (set to rise to £4.50 for over 22 year-olds, £3.80
for under 21s and those on accredited training schemes).
In setting the NMW the government has resolutely shied away from setting minimum standards required for people to live in a healthy and socially included way.
As UNISON national officer Deborah Littman points out, if the government
was serious about eradicating child poverty in Britain, as it claims,
they would start there. “It’s the same as Gulf War Syndrome
– if you can’t diagnose the disease, you can’t say who’s
got it,” she points out.
The problem of low pay is acute both in the private sector and in the public sector. All local government staff are falling behind public sector workers, but women in local government earn 66% less than their male colleagues.
Recent legislation to end the two-tier workforce will eventually address
inequalities within workplaces, but the public sector still has a lot
of catching up to do.
Among the lowest paid workers in the country, there are pockets of further discrimination. Part-time women workers still earn only 61p for every £1 earned by a full-time male worker.
Although UNISON has had major success in winning equal rights for part-timers
in terms of pay, shift enhancements, paid bank holidays and pension rights,
the gender pay gap still needs to be addressed.
In further and higher education, support staff wages are notoriously low. And throughout the education sector, term-time workers have to contend with the added injustice that they are not paid during the holidays.
Most are denied the right to claim benefits to tide them over for up to 13 weeks a year when they are not being paid. Legislation affecting term-time workers in education has always been muddled and contradictory (see right).
In June, UNISON strengthened its Justice for Term-time Workers campaign by joining forces with the TGWU and GMB. Low-paid members working in education from Cornwall to Scotland marched on Parliament to press home their case.
A national claim for an end to part-year pay in education was submitted
to the local government employers on 7 July.
Local government members across London, meanwhile, took selective strike action last month after employers offered a small rise in London weighting for some members, but promptly threatened to withdraw it if not accepted by this month.
Current London weighting is between £1,500 and £2,800. But
UNISON has calculated that council staff need £4,000 to alleviate
the cost of working and living in London. Other areas, such as Reading,
Brighton, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire are also seeking recognition of
the high cost of living.
In May this year, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published research to show that “key workers”, such as nurses, social workers, teachers and police officers, cannot afford to buy homes in large areas of southern England, not just in London as was previously thought.
A nurse in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea might be earning
only one sixth of the yearly income needed to buy a small house in the
borough, but the situation is also critical in Dorset, Cornwall, the South
East and parts of the Eastern region.
Last year the government put £250m into a housing scheme to help 10,000 key workers find homes near their work. However, UNISON argues that the definition of “key worker” is too narrow, since it doesn’t include vital members of the health or education team, such as social workers, home care staff and teaching assistants.
In three London boroughs in 2002, social worker vacancy rates reached 50%.
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Term-time workers Term-time workers too often feel as if they have full-time jobs with part-time pay and conditions. They are hired for 52 weeks of the year, but paid for considerably less. Performing a variety of administrative, professional, technical,
ancillary and classroom support duties, these workers are typically
female, usually with dependent children and are already low-paid.
Their access to employment rights, sick and annual leave, maternity/paternity
pay and job seekers allowance varies. Many have no access to a
pension scheme at all. But even if term-time workers are part
of a pension scheme, a poor income means a poor pension, especially
if contributions cease during holidays. To make ends meet Janice Jones, a care assistant within a Special Needs Unit in Wales, who is married with two children, works as an office cleaner for two hours a night, five nights a week, 52 weeks of the year. For this work she is paid just 38p per hour less than for her work as a care assistant. “For just 38p per hour more I have the responsibility for
the welfare, health and education of children, a responsibility
to their parents and other staff members. I am constantly training,
taking refresher courses and upgrading my skills,” she points
out with justifiable indignation. Andrea Goodwin works as a Learning Support Assistant within a specialised Speech and Language unit in Aberystwyth. She is also married with two children, and receives no income during the summer holiday break. For the last three years she has attempted to claim benefits during the summer, after being advised that she “should be” eligible. As she explains, “Each year I have dutifully filled out all forms given, and have each year had a degrading refusal. I have always worked since the age of 17, and have therefore always paid taxes and NI contributions. It is an appalling situation to realise that I am unable to support my two young children throughout the summer months. My daughter is nine years old and my son seven, and to date they have never experienced a summer holiday.” Although both Ms Goodwin and Ms Jones love their work, their wages are unrealistic. Even if their current wages were stretched out over the year to allow them to have a continuous income, it would not be enough to live on. The only explanation for this is that it is assumed the work is “women’s work” to supplement a family income or to act as “pin money”. In reality, this is far from the case. As UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said, “This is a case of direct sexual discrimination. No group of male workers are treated in this way.” |
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