Living Wage: ‘Low pay is not just an issue for those being underpaid, it also affects communities’
Torbay’s trades unionists and community campaigners have come together to campaign to end poverty pay by introducing a Living Wage of £7.20 an hour for The Bay’s workers.
The Living Wage is independently set and calculated on the basis that every worker in the country should be lifted from poverty and earning enough to provide their family with the basic essentials to survive.
Paul Raybould, President of Torbay Trades Union Council, said: “Low paid staff are facing dire poverty as a result of poverty pay and rising prices. Like many in our communities they will be forced to choose between heating and eating this winter. This is a disgrace.
“We live a country where banker’s bonuses are once again booming and the Coalition’s priority seems to be to a cut in the 50p tax rate for the rich. This kind of injustice cannot go unchallenged.
“Low pay is not just an issue for those being underpaid, it also affects communities: low-paid workers often have to work long hours to support their families making it hard to spend time or money on their children’s education, on community activities or just in the local shops.
“One in four of The Bay’s households are jobless and another 22,000 residents are one bill away from being classed as in Poverty.
“Hundreds of studies have shown that the bigger the difference between the lowest paid and the highest paid in a country, the worse that country fares on health, violence, social mobility and many other measures of well-being.
“Those earning the least should not have to suffer the most because of a financial crisis caused by the banking sector. We desperately need a living wage to restore the balance of fairness and to help to stimulate growth across the economy.”
For more information, contact Paul Raybould on 07984568568.
