Bath and North East Somerset Council will be challenged to pay its own employees the Living Wage at a meeting of the Council this Thursday (13th November).
Labour Councillors in B&NES will be moving a proposal that the Council adopts the Living Wage for its own employees and moves towards ensuring that its contractors pay the Living Wage.
Cllr John Bull (Leader of the Labour Group) said: “It cannot be right that most people classed as living in poverty actually have a job. This means that the benefits system is being used to prop up low pay.
“Whilst the National Minimum Wage currently stands at £6.50 per hour, paying the Living Wage would see the wages of some of the lowest paid in the Council rise to £7.85 per hour.
“This is calculated to be the minimum needed to cover the basic essentials in life.
“Bath and North East Somerset is one of the least affordable areas to live in the country, with the rising cost of housing and huge pressure on household incomes.
“The idea of paying a Living Wage has support from across the political spectrum including the Prime Minister and the Mayor of London. I hope that it will be adopted by B&NES Council.
“Paying the Living Wage would not only help to lift people out of poverty and reduce dependence on top-up benefits, it has also been shown to have other important benefits including improving the quality of employees’ work, reducing absenteeism and improving the recruitment and retention of staff.
“By adopting a Living Wage, the Council would act as a model for other local employees”.