Campaigners Fight For Living Wage For All Council Employees

Local campaigners have taken to the streets of Wrexham asking for fair and equal pay for all Council employees in the borough.

TCC (Trefnu Cymunedol Cymru / Together Creating Communities) Community Leaders were out in force on Friday, delivering video messages to Wrexham Councillors and requesting that a Living Wage is paid to all employees of Wrexham Council.

Community Leaders visited Wrexham Councillors at their homes all across the county. They each received a video message, information about the Living Wage, and an invitation to support the North Wales Living Wage Campaign.

The campaign coincided with Living Wage Week; an annual event that aims to raise awareness of the Living Wage in the UK.

A Living Wage is an hourly rate, calculated every year as what is needed in order to have a minimum, socially acceptable standard of living. It was announced on Monday that the new rate outside of London is £7.85 an hour.

Wrexham Council has agreed to put together a task and finish group to look at how they could fund a wage increase for the lowest paid council employees.

It is believed at least 1,668 jobs at Wrexham Council don’t pay the Living Wage, and 90% of these jobs are done by women. Overall, one in four workers in Wales don’t earn a Living Wage.

A Freedom of Information request submitted earlier this year provides a breakdown on the number of staff / gender at Wrexham Council who are paid less than the Living Wage.

Lead organiser Kay Polley said: “We realise that it’s a difficult time financially for the council, but we think that this should be a priority. Almost one in four children in Wrexham are living in poverty, and we know that the majority of children living in poverty actually have parents who are working.

“Employees paid the Living Wage work harder, take fewer sick days and stay in their jobs for longer, so paying the Living Wage could actually save the council money overall, as well as having a huge positive impact for the people of Wrexham.

“Paying people enough to get by means that they will spend more locally, so it would put more money into the local economy, benefiting our high streets and local business owners too.”

This campaign has been backed by Ian Lucas MP, Llyr Gruffydd AM, and Bishop Gregory Cameron amongst others.