Living wage

IN UNCERTAIN times, you have to search for anything positive but in Torfaen there is a good news story that benefits our whole community. Working with UNISON, Torfaen Council has introduced a living wage of £8.25 per hour, backdated to July 2016, lifting nearly 900 mainly female employees out of poverty. That’s 900 households having more money to spend in  shops, pubs and local businesses.  Many school caterers, cleaners, teaching assistants, council administrators, street cleaners and others, including those supporting the vulnerable, previously earned just £7.52 per hour.   That simply wasn’t enough for them to get by. £8.25 was identified by the independent Living Wage Foundation based upon what employees and their families need to live. At UNISON we have always championed a fair rate of pay for everyone and that more must be done to help low paid women in the workplace. The Torfaen Labour group deserve praise for being the only authority in Wales that has made a long-term commitment to the living wage and ensured this is basic pay. 
A living wage benefits us all and that is why UNISON will be asking council candidates at the local elections throughout Wales to commit its payment as a priority.