GMB welcome increase of UK Living Wage
GMB welcome increase of UK Living Wage to £9 per hour and £10.55 per hour in London and call on employers to start paying it. “It’s time for more employers to start paying it, in particular contractors in the public sector and the NHS who should be forced to pay it”, says GMB Southern
GMB have welcomed the news that the voluntary ‘Real Living Wage’ has risen to £9 per hour across the UK and £10.55 per hour in London.
The figure, independently calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, and announced today (November 5), is based on what people need to live, and has risen by 25p in the South East from £8.75 per hour.
In London, the Real Living Wage is £10.55 per hour, an increase of 35p from £10.20.
GMB have called on all employers in the South East to pay the voluntary UK Living Wage which is currently £1.17 higher than the statutory National Living Wage, and the Real London Living Wage, which is £2.72 more than the National Living Wage.
Paul Maloney, GMB Regional Secretary said: "GMB welcome the increase of the Living Wage to £9 an hour in the South East and £10.55 per hour in London.
"Now it’s time for more employers in the South East to start paying it. In particular, contractors in the public sector and the NHS who should be forced to pay it.
"These pay increases are badly needed. Earlier this year, GMB showed that across the South East as a whole the real value of average wages for workers resident in the region in 2017 was only 87% of the buying power they had in 2007 when inflation is factored in. In London the figure was 84.6%.
"Last week GMB Southern showed that rents on two bedroom flats in South East have risen by 27.5% since 2011 with the median rent standing at £875 a month."
Contact: Michelle Gordon 07866 369 259 or GMB Southern Press Office 07970 114 762
Notes to Editors: ‘GMB study into private rental costs’ (1 Nov 2018) https://www.gmb-southern.org.uk/news/gmb-study-into-private-rental-costs
