TUSC why we support demand for £10/hour minimum wage

Not only does the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition support the demand for £10/hour minimum wage but our representatives and supporters actively campaign for it, and not just at elections either.

£10/hour represents the minimum that's needed for a genuine living wage. Even the current official 'Living Wage' is only enough to get by on if it is supplemented by working benefits. Poverty wages are the reason why the majority of people claiming benefits are in work.

When wages are any less than £10/hour then the Government is effectively subsidising low-paying employers with our taxes and resources that could be used for our services. Supermarkets, which include some of the biggest, wealthiest businesses on our high streets (or retail parks anyway - they're killing town centres) are subsidised to the tune of £11 billion a year to pay poverty wages to the workers that generate their profits.

Why should we subsidise these giant corporations to pay poverty wages? With smaller businesses who genuinely couldn't afford to pay that much, there could be a case for the state helping them to pay (after all we subsidise them now by paying low paid workers benefits). But that would only happen if they opened their books to trade union scrutiny to prove that they really couldn't afford it. They would also have to prove that they pay their taxes in full because many low-paying firms are also implicated in tax-dodging.

Of course even £10/hour won't lift workers out of poverty if they are not guaranteed enough hours to earn a wage to put food on the table. That is why TUSC also demands zero-hours and other super-exploitative contracts are abolished along with minimum wage exceptions, like discriminatory youth rates.

All of this is TUC policy since the last Trades Union Congress but the Labour Party, which many trade unions continue.to pour money into, will only promise to raise the minimum wage to £8/hour in 5 years' time. Even their promise to end zero hours contracts are hedged around with small print.

There is only one party contesting this election that is proud to stand on TUC policy and that's TUSC.

TUSC supporters and representatives campaign to raise the minimum wage with other trade unionists and will continue to do so whatever the result of this election. The picture accompanying this post shows us supporting the Bakers' Union, BFAWU, and other trade unionists, calling on workers to join a union and fight for £10/hour on a global day of action (15 April) for trade union rights in the fast food industry.

If you're a trade unionist who thinks the party your union funds should fight for trade union policies or if you're a low-paid worker who supports our demand for £10/hour then get involved with TUSC and help us to fight  for £10 now and beyond the election.

Ronnie Job
TUSC Candidate, Swansea West

For fighting trade unions

 

I've just voted yes in my union's political fund ballot. It's important trade unionists have a voice of their own, speaking for them in politics.

Unfortunately the party that trade unions set up to represent themselves, the Labour Party, has given up all rights to be considered the workers' party by tying themselves in to Con-Dem cuts and refusing to support workers' struggles to defend their jobs and conditions.

That's why the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition supporters argue for the democratisation of the political funds so that union members can vote for their unions to back candidates who defend their interests and who support union policies!

The by-election in Swansea illustrates the point. My union, UNISON, has given around £6 million to Labour since 2010 when the Con-Dems were elected. In that time we've got precious little for our money. Labour's pledged to continue Con-Dem cuts, said they'll be tougher on those needing benefits to get by and refused to back nationalisation of the railways and royal mail (despite overwhelming conference votes at party conference) and failed to support any workers' struggles.

In Swansea we have a Labour council which isn't a Living Wage employer, has employed workers on zero hours contracts and outsourced services to firms who use even worse employment practices. Contracts have been awarded to companies who've been named as blacklist users and, of course, they're passing on Con-Dem cuts. Council Leader Rob Stewart is predicting £70-100 million to be cut from jobs and services, of which the £26 million cut this year is only the start. Cuts at this level mean the end of council services as we know them.

TUSC was set up by the RMT union, with the late Bob Crow being an enthusiastic supporter. It was set up to provide trade unionists with a voice in politics, the voice that Labour is failing to provide.

Vote to retain the political fund where your union has one; argue for setting one up if they don't.
If you're in an affiliated union, support calls for a break with Labour and for funds  to be used to support candidates who back members' struggles and support union policies on pay, jobs, cuts, etc.
If you're in UNISON you can back that demand up by transferring from the affiliated to the general political fund to stop funding Labour.

Trade unionists in Uplands can vote for a socialist and trade unionist committed to voting against and campaigning against all cuts next Thursday in the Council by-election.

Vote Ronnie Job, TUSC Against Cuts.

Swansea's Labour Council is not a Living Wage Employer!

A fighting socialist and trade unionists platform includes Ian Hodson, Bakers' Union President (on right) at Socialism 2014

And neither are 21 out of 22 local authorities in Wales!

An aspiring Labour politician has sent me a link to the GMB website in an attempt to prove that City and County of Swansea is a Living Wage employer.

The story on the site, which is over a year old, uncritically repeats claims by the then Labour leader, David Phillips, that Swansea's Labour councillors had agreed to pay the Living Wage. What it fails to mention is that, by the time that most of the lowest paid workers received it, the level the Council were paying was already out-of-date - 20p less an hour than the Living Wage Foundation said workers needed to get by on at the time.

Councillor Phillips also failed to mention that the payment of a "living wage" (at less than the Living Wage rate) was partially paid for by cuts to other payments to council workers and charging them for the privilege of going to work, through car parking charges. These cuts left some workers facing a 10% drop in wages and when some protested they were told to "sign (new contracts) or be sacked"!

It gets worse though. The Council made it crystal clear that this was a one-off and that there was no commitment to increase council workers' pay in line with the Living Wage. This was reinforced when then council cabinet financial spokesman, now Council Leader, Rob Stewart, moved this year's cuts budget. In the papers accompanying the budget, it states plainly that the Council is not committed to becoming a Living Wage employer and has not budgeted for the increase in the Living Wage that has just taken place.

I decided to double-check just in case, with uncharacteristic modesty, Labour councillors had decided to increase the wages of their poorest workers without making a song and dance about it. On the Living Wage Foundation website you can get lists of Living Wage employers in each region. There are 33 in Wales and only one of them is a local authority. It isn't City and County of Swansea! Labour leads half the local authorities in Wales and yet 21 out of 22 are paying poverty wages! No wonder nearly a quarter of workers in Wales earn less than the Living Wage.

Was the GMB's enthusiasm to promote Labour councillors' unsubstantiated claims to be a Living Wage employer a result of their long outdated link with Labour?

Even the Living Wage, although it would represent an increase for tens of thousands of Welsh workers, isn't enough. The GMB at this year's TUC seconded the motion moved by the Bakers' Union, BFAWU, that the TUC demand the minimum wage be raised to £10 an hour.

This weekend, at the Socialist Party's annual education event, I heard Ian Hodson, President of the Bakers' Union explain why. Anything less than £10 leaves low paid workers needing their wages to be topped up by means-tested benefits in order to get by. This is state subsidising of employers who pay poverty wages.

£10 an hour was overwhelmingly carried at the TUC but TUSC candidates will be the only ones demanding immediate implementation of TUC policy on pay now and at the general election. After all, if the minimum wage had kept pace with bosses' sky-rocketing pay, the minimum wage would be worth £19/hour now. We call on all trade unionists to support us in demanding £10 now, with no exceptions on age or other grounds. If you're in an affiliated union ask why your union's finances go to support a Labour Party whose policy is for £8 an hour (15p more than the current Living Wage) in 5/6 years' time and not TUC policy.

Swansea's Labour Council pays poverty wages

The Living Wage was increased today to £7.85. The Living Wage Foundation, the body that sets the level of the Living Wage, says that they have now accredited over 1,000 Living Wage employers.. Swansea's Labour Council isn't one of them!

While the Council seems to be very generous in paying councillors - the basic wage is £13,000+, over £1,000 month for what for many is only a top-up for their day job - they're not so generous with their workers.

Last year, the Council claimed to have paid the 'Living Wage' but at a level which was already out of date (£7.45 when it has already been increased to £7.65). And, as the papers for the council meeting that set this year's 'cuts' budget make clear, councillors saw it as a one-off and definitely were not committing to future increases in line with a rising Living Wage. The increase for some workers was also offset against huge cuts in incomes for others as the Council threatened workers to "sign (new contracts) or be sacked".

The Living Wage Foundation sets the Living Wage at the level they say workers need to get by. By paying less, Swansea's Labour Council is paying poverty wages.

The Labour Party have made a big fuss over Ed Miliband's pledge to raise the Minimum Wage to £8/hour.. in 2020! In 5/6 years' time workers can look forward to earning 15p more an hour than what the Living Wage Foundation says you need today.

In fact, even the Living Wage is only enough to get by on when topped up with benefits - a case of the state subsidising low paying employers. That's why the Bakers' Union, BFAWU, moved the motion, overwhelmingly carried, at this year's TUC, to demand the Minimum Wage be raised to £10/hour. TUSC campaigns for TUC policy; if you're in an affiliated union, ask why you're union is funding the Labour Party when they promise nowhere near it.

Of course, it's no good having even a good hourly rate if you're not sure to get enough hours' work in the week to put food on the table.. Like the workers Swansea's Labour Council employs on zero hours contracts.

The Labour Party promises to regulate zero hours contracts but that's not good enough. Zero hours contracts have played a big part in the increase in poverty for many workers and they should be scrapped.

Labour has been in power in Swansea for 2 and a half years and still the Council pays workers less than the Living Wage and uses zero hours contracts.

They're also outsourcing services and jobs to low-paying employers who use zero hours contracts and other forms of casualisation, to drive down wages.

The Labour Party won't support TUC policy to end poverty wages or commit to scrapping zero hours contracts. Isn't time Labour stopped posing as a workers' party and taking votes off genuine workers' representatives?

If you're a low-paid worker living in the Uplands then vote, Ronnie Job, TUSC Against Cuts on November 20. Wherever you live, help us build the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) as the no-cuts alternative for the General Election and beyond.