Retail trade union leader Paddy Lillis has welcomed the increase in the real Living Wage rates as a step towards £15 for workers of all ages.

The Living Wage Foundation announced new rates for the real Living Wage of £10.90 per hour and a higher rate of £11.95 in London. The annual uprating has been brought forward from the traditional November announcement due to the cost-of-living crisis.

The Government’s ‘National Living Wage’ is currently only £9.50, with lower National Minimum Wage rates for younger workers.

Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: 

“The scale of the cost-of-living emergency for low-paid workers is made absolutely clear when the Living Wage Foundation feels compelled to bring forward their annual uprating and deliver such a significant increase. So, the new Living Wage rates are welcome, which are based on an individual’s cost of living and clearly show that the Government’s so-called ‘National Living Wage’ is nothing of the sort.”

Usdaw is campaigning for urgent Government action on the cost-of-living emergency and wants the Government to bring forward the National Minimum Wage rate increases to October 2022, instead of April 2023.

They are also seeking talks with all the employers they deal with, to secure urgent assistance to tackle the hardship that many shop workers are facing.

Usdaw’s New Deal for Workers campaign calls for a minimum wage rate of at least £12 per hour immediately, as a step towards £15, for all workers over 16, which would abolish the lower youth rates. Usdaw have already helped abolish lower rates for younger workers in companies like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Co-op and Morrisons.

The New Deal for Workers campaign also calls for a ban on zero-hour contracts; sick pay for all workers from day one; job security, with day one employment rights for unfair dismissal and an end to ‘fire and rehire.’

Photo by Alexander Kovacs on Unsplash