UNISON said today that a living wage deal at one of Scotland’s biggest universities is the latest success in the union winning hundreds of thousands of pounds for members.
Low-paid staff at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) are celebrating the decision to start paying the Living Wage of £7.45 per hour.
Today’s news is the latest in a series of recent successes for the public services union, including on equal pay, other Living Wage agreements and nearly £500,000 in personal injury settlements in the last three months.
Keith Galbraith, branch secretary at UWS, said: “We are very pleased the university agreed after we campaigned for the Living Wage.
“This will mainly benefit catering and cleaning staff and some library workers. It is excellent news for our members who work hard in contributing to the excellent student experience at UWS.”
Mike Kirby, UNISON Scottish secretary, said: “We congratulate our branch at the University of the West of Scotland for this latest success.
“The Living Wage is a key part of UNISON’s bargaining strategy and each win like this helps low paid staff at a time when they really need it. Across the UK people are worried about their jobs. In Scotland we’ve lost 57,000 public sector jobs since the start of the coalition government’s austerity measures.”
Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary continued: “Protecting and defending our members is our number one priority. We must all pull together to fight to defend our services, our jobs, our pay and our society. It is vital that we make the union stronger to withstand that onslaught amid predictions of 1.2 million public sector jobs going over the next five years.
“We’re launching our recruitment campaign today because we know that the only way this union can keep strong is by recruiting. And we recruit best where we’ve got issues and we recruit best where we’ve got branch organisation.
“With 1.3million members, UNISON is already a union to reckon with – but there are still hundreds of thousands of public service workers out there who don’t yet have the essential cover that UNISON provides.
“So from today, our campaign will be out there. Our television ad will hit the screens on 11 March, followed the next week by press and social media, with one key message: join UNISON – essential cover wherever you work.”
