The Board of Schools Co-operative Society is urging all its 600 member schools to consider implementing the Living Wage, following a joint agreement with the UK’s largest union, UNISON. The call coincides with Living Wage Week and follows a similar initiative on the living wage adopted by the Catholic Education Service for England and Wales covering more than 2,1000 schools.
Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said:
“I am delighted that the Co-operative Society are working with UNISON to promote the Living Wage in their schools. Times are tough and the cost of basics like food and fuel are leaving families struggling to survive. The Living Wage pays just enough to provide a decent life for workers and their families and we need more schools across the UK to recognise the benefits to signing up.”
Dave Boston, Chief Executive of the Schools Co-operative Society.
“Co-operative societies were amongst the first organisations to campaign for a minimum wage over a century ago, so it is fitting that we now ask all member schools to adopt a living wage.”
Deb Bacon, Chair of SCS added
“Support staff are critical to the success of our schools, and research by KPMG has demonstrated that paying a living wage can help reduce staff turnover and absenteeism and help develop a committed and engaged workforce. We want staff to be actively involved in trusts through our membership structure. We feel that paying a living wage is consistent with our co-operative value of equity, and we hope that co-operative schools will take up this initiative”.
Mervyn Wilson, Principal of the Co-operative College and College’s representative on the Board of SCS added,
“The long term economic slowdown that followed the global financial crisis has impacted heaviest on the low paid and part time workers. All schools are totally dependent on the loyalty and commitment of support staff – the cleaners, school meal staff and all the support staff, to create a quality learning environment. Implementing the living wage is one way that co-operative schools can put their values into practise”.
The work with UNISON on the living wage is part of growing collaboration with the education sector trade unions, which builds on the historic and common roots between the respective organisations. The National Co-operative Archive have been developing new resources to explore these links, with a new online resource “Common Roots” now available at www.archive.coop/hive <http://www.archive.coop/hive> tracing the relationship between co-operatives and trade unions.