Wages - The cost of London living
WORKERS, MAY 2007 ISSUE
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has announced that the London Living Wage has risen from £7.05p to £7.20p.
This figure has no statutory clout but is being recognised by a number of leading companies and banks as the "real" minimum wage – nearly £1.70p higher than the figure set by the government and the Low Pay Commission.
Even at this level it still depresses wages but if applied would lift around 390,000 workers out of poverty conditions in London.
The Mayor's Office and Greater London Authority estimated that 40 per cent of London's children live in families below the government's poverty line. They estimate this figure has risen by over 100,000 in the last 12 months.
The voices from the captains of industry supporting the Mayor's initiative are quite clear: it makes good business sense, reduces costs of absenteeism, sickness, staff turnover and salves the "social conscience" of do-gooders – churches, Samaritans, London Citizens Organisation and so on.
The questions for London's trade unions are do they organise London or not? Do they protect the higher rates in the organised workplace or just tail behind? Do they fight for wages? Over £9 billion was paid in bonuses last Christmas to fewer than 4,000 individuals. London – a living wage or a living excess?