- Conference
- 2014 Community Service Group Conference
- Date
- 9 November 2013
- Decision
- Carried
This Conference notes:
• The living wage is now set at £7.65 an hour and £8.80 in London.
• By comparison, the national minimum wage is £6.31 an hour for adults and £5.03 for those aged 18 to 21.
• That the national government and administrations of devolved nations pay their staff the living wage.
• Sandy Mewies Welsh Assembly Minister, the Assembly Commissioner with responsibility for Assembly Resources and Facilities, said in December 2012, “The Welsh Assembly Commission is of the view that a living wage should be a basic human right.”.
• Many local authorities have committed to paying their staff the living wage, for example Caerphilly County Borough Council, Cardiff Council and Swansea City and County Council.
• Many organisations in the charitable, voluntary and housing sector which are funded by national government, devolved government and local government have undergone drastic cuts to their funding resulting in reduced terms and conditions and pay well below living wage levels.
• The cuts to the community sector funding mask the true effects of the austerity cuts by expecting staff to work more and be paid less.
This conference believes that:
a) It is hypocritical for local authorities who boast about paying their own staff the living wage to fund organisations that do not.
b) Funding to community organisations from any government source should be conditional upon those organisations paying the living wage to staff as a minimum.
c) Only bids for funding from organisations that pay the living wage should be accepted in any bidding procedure and appropriate funding should be provided.
This conference calls upon the Service Group Executive to:
i) Campaign to promote the living wage throughout the community sector as part of UNISON’s living wage campaign, linking with other service groups involved in the campaign.
ii) Work to extend that scope of the campaign to local government and devolved nation administrations with the aim of them only funding organisations that pay their staff the Living Wage.
iii) Lobby elected representatives at all levels of national, regional and local government, explaining the merits of the living wage and the disparity in the wages in the sector through UNISON’s Labour Link mechanisms.
iv) Produce guidance on the living wage campaign for members, activists and branches in the community sector in order to improve pay bargaining with employers and encourage regions to start local campaigns working with employers in the sector who support the living wage but are not able to pay it due to reduced and/or limited funding.