Category: living wage

Opinion: The New Deal will be transformational

By UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea

Labour’s election is full speed ahead, and the polls still predict a Labour majority. With that, comes delivering the New Deal for Working People.

I’m sure the party’s promise to make work pay is turning out to be a key part of their popularity throughout the campaign.

We worked closely with the Labour Party and other trade unions in turning this idea into a manifesto pledge and a deliverable plan. We put the needs of all UNISON members and working people at the heart of it. It will be transformational – not only for working people, but also for the economy.

The day we get a Labour government will be the day we can start to get the job done. We will hold a Labour government to account on the commitments in the New Deal for Working People.

I expect to see the Employment Rights Bill introduced within the party’s first 100 days in office. I expect to see a genuine living wage, pay equality, and fair pay agreements set up in social care.

Workers deserve security, and I expect to see the end of exploitative zero-hours contracts and fire-and-rehire practices.

While good employers already do what’s right by their staff, too many workers suffer under ruthless bosses. Workers can only thrive when treated fairly and paid enough to live a decent life.

With your vote on 4 July, you could be making sure that bad bosses can no longer exploit workers.

Strengthened rights for trade unions are also essential, and better sick pay, parental leave, and day-one rights at work will benefit working people and our economy. The New Deal offers all of this – the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation.

We will make sure a Labour government keeps its promise to create a Britain that works for working people.

As you head to the polls on 4 July, remember what’s at stake.

The article Opinion: The New Deal will be transformational first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Opinion: The New Deal will be transformational

By UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea

Labour’s election is full speed ahead, and the polls still predict a Labour majority. With that, comes delivering the New Deal for Working People.

I’m sure the party’s promise to make work pay is turning out to be a key part of their popularity throughout the campaign.

We worked closely with the Labour Party and other trade unions in turning this idea into a manifesto pledge and a deliverable plan. We put the needs of all UNISON members and working people at the heart of it. It will be transformational – not only for working people, but also for the economy.

The day we get a Labour government will be the day we can start to get the job done. We will hold a Labour government to account on the commitments in the New Deal for Working People.

I expect to see the Employment Rights Bill introduced within the party’s first 100 days in office. I expect to see a genuine living wage, pay equality, and fair pay agreements set up in social care.

Workers deserve security, and I expect to see the end of exploitative zero-hours contracts and fire-and-rehire practices.

While good employers already do what’s right by their staff, too many workers suffer under ruthless bosses. Workers can only thrive when treated fairly and paid enough to live a decent life.

With your vote on 4 July, you could be making sure that bad bosses can no longer exploit workers.

Strengthened rights for trade unions are also essential, and better sick pay, parental leave, and day-one rights at work will benefit working people and our economy. The New Deal offers all of this – the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation.

We will make sure a Labour government keeps its promise to create a Britain that works for working people.

As you head to the polls on 4 July, remember what’s at stake.

The article Opinion: The New Deal will be transformational first appeared on the UNISON National site.

New report on the future of the minimum wage

UNISON was at the forefront of efforts to bring about the original minimum wage. 25 years on, UNISON is once again leading the debate about how further advances can be made in a new report.

Titled ‘Delivering greater security for the low paid: a collection of essays on the future of the minimum wage’, the report features contributions from the Resolution Foundation, TUC, the Living Wage Foundation, Citizen’s Advice and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

It also includes a piece from head of health at UNISON, Sara Gorton, focusing on the issue of low weekly pay, which remains a big problem in about one in four workers, including many social carers.

A survey of social care workers conducted by UNISON revealed that:

  • 77% of staff said that they would take more hours if they were available
  • 73% of staff said that they would you prefer a typical full-time working week of approximately 37 hours if it were available
  • Contracted hours varied from week to week for three quarters of staff.

In comments on their working patterns, the dominant issue was the stress and worry caused by inadequate hours, which leaves workers unable to pay bills on time.

Many respondents referred to the high fixed costs of rent and energy bills leaving them to juggle the frequently inadequate remaining income on food for them and their families.

Of course, they want flexibility, like most workers do, and they want a decent work life balance. But they want it within the bounds of the contractual security that many better paid workers take for granted.

UNISON therefore maintains that, while it’s important to push for an increase to the minimum hourly rate, unions should also be looking to ensure that people have secure contracts guaranteeing weekly hours too.

Labour’s commitment to scrap zero hours contracts and give workers the right to a contract for the hours they do will help significantly. But, as UNISON policy officer David Arnold, who edited the collection points out, it is the party’s plan to introduce sectoral collective bargaining and fair pay agreements, with the first in adult social care, that could have the greatest impact on the low paid:

“This should enable trade unions to negotiate with employers and to address the too few hours problem

“In many ways this represents a shift in emphasis to a more joined up approach to addressing low pay. This is a theme that runs through the report. Agreements, living hours, better sick pay provision and an improved benefit system, will all make the minimum wage even more effective in helping the low paid.”

Read the full report here

The article New report on the future of the minimum wage first appeared on the UNISON National site.

UNISON publishes report on the future of the minimum wage

UNISON was at the forefront of efforts to bring about the original minimum wage and, 25 years on, the union is once again leading the debate about how further advances can be made in a new report.

Titled Delivering greater security for the low paid: a collection of essays on the future of the minimum wage, the report features contributions from the Resolution Foundation, TUC, the Living Wage Foundation, Citizen’s Advice and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

It also includes a piece from the union’s head of health at UNISON Sara Gorton, focusing on the issue of low weekly pay, which remains a big problem for around one in four workers, including many social carers.

A survey of social care workers conducted by UNISON revealed that:

  • 77% of staff said that they would take more hours if they were available
  • 73% of staff said that they would you prefer a typical full-time working week of approximately 37 hours if it were available
  • Contracted hours varied from week to week for three quarters of staff.

In comments on their working patterns, the dominant issue was the stress and worry caused by inadequate hours, which leaves workers unable to pay bills on time.

Many respondents referred to the high fixed costs of rent and energy bills leaving them to juggle the frequently inadequate remaining income on food for them and their families.

Of course, they want flexibility, like most workers do, and they want a decent work life balance. But they want it within the bounds of the contractual security that many better paid workers take for granted.

UNISON therefore maintains that, while it’s important to push for an increase to the minimum hourly rate, unions should also be looking to ensure that people have secure contracts guaranteeing weekly hours too.

Labour’s commitment to scrap zero hours contracts and give workers the right to a contract for the hours they do will help significantly. But as UNISON policy officer David Arnold, who edited the collection, points out, it is the party’s plan to introduce sectoral collective bargaining and fair pay agreements, with the first in adult social care, that could have the greatest impact on the low paid:

“This should enable trade unions to negotiate with employers and to address the too few hours problem

“In many ways this represents a shift in emphasis to a more joined up approach to addressing low pay. This is a theme that runs through the report. Agreements, living hours, better sick pay provision and an improved benefit system, will all make the minimum wage even more effective in helping the low paid.”

Read the full report here

The article UNISON publishes report on the future of the minimum wage first appeared on the UNISON National site.

Genuine living wage and public service investment show why Labour should be in government

Commenting on the speech from shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today (Monday), UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said:

“This shows the difference a Labour government would make to working people and public services. A windfall tax so our children’s children aren’t still paying off the cost of our energy support in years to come and sustained investment in rundown public services.

“Rachel Reeves is a future chancellor who understands that public services are both the bedrock of a decent society and help fuel the economy.

“Committing to a genuine living wage that keeps up with costs and a huge investment in the NHS will be music to the ears of struggling low-paid workers and exhausted health employees alike.

“The need for a proper plan to increase the number of key workers in health and care is something the current government seems unable to grasp. Labour gets it, and the need for a green future that’s made in Britain. A Labour government in Westminster can’t come soon enough.”

Notes to editors:
– UNISON is the UK’s largest union with more than 1.3 million members providing public services in education, local government, the NHS, police service and energy. They are employed in the public, voluntary and private sectors.

The article Genuine living wage and public service investment show why Labour should be in government first appeared on the UNISON National site.