UNISON vowed to step up the campaign for a living wage, and called for a living pension, at its national delegate conference in Liverpool this morning.
Noting successful union campaigns to win the living wage across all UNISON service groups – particularly in Scottish local government, the NHS and English further education colleges – conference called on the TUC to take up the campaign nationally and across all regions, urging councils and other large public bodies to both pay a living wage and act as champions for it in their local economies.
NEC speaker James Anthony recalled that when he joined the union, working in a private care home, he had been paid a magnificent 10p above the national minimum wage.
A living wage would have made a huge difference to him, he said, and it would make a huge difference to all the workers currently denied it.
“We need to use our influence in public sector procurement, and our bargaining strength in the private sector, to win the living wage,” he said.
As Jeanette Foster from Knowsley branch put it: Too many people “find that there’s too much month left at the end of the money, and we need to change that.”
