Glasgow City Council is planning to become an accredited Real Living Wage employer to ensure workers carrying out jobs for the local authority are paid a “fair wage”.
Councillors have backed a motion from Cllr Ruairi Kelly, SNP, which asked council officials to “use all legal means to require companies doing business with the council pay the Real Living Wage”.
“My hope would be that this will send a message to companies across Glasgow and Scotland that paying poverty wages is not an option if you want to do business with us,” Cllr Kelly said. “Those who won’t do it voluntarily should be weeded out of our procurement process.”
The Real Living wage is currently £9.90 an hour, higher than the UK Government’s national living wage, for over 23s, which is £9.50.
Officials have also been asked to look at how “pay disparity policies”, which “mandate that the highest paid employee’s salary cannot be more than an agreed multiplier of the lowest paid”, could be used by the council.
Cllr Kelly’s motion, with amendments from the city’s Green group, received unanimous support. He said the council, which spends hundreds of millions a year on goods and services, was “blessed with the best corporate procurement unit in the country”.
Of that spend, 68% is in either Glasgow or Scotland and another 18% is across the rest of the UK. “Unfortunately, there are 20% of the businesses that we do business with that don’t yet pay the real living wage,” Cllr Kelly said.
“Whenever you look at the amount of money we spend on goods and services, it makes us one of the largest procurers in the city, quite possibly in the country, and puts us in a position of considerable influence when it comes to affecting the pay and conditions of those who work in our city.”
He said one of the “main stumbling blocks” to mandating the real living wage had always been “a legal one rather than the political will”. “I can understand officers' hesitance to take risks on that matter, it is their job,” Cllr Kelly said. “But what we need to do is look at the legislation, see what ways around it there are and do what is in our power at the minute.
“My opinion on the matter is it’s not illegal until a judge rules it is as such and if any company wants to take us to court because they don’t want to pay their staff the real living wage then I will be more than happy to stand up and defend our position on a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.
“We should use all our financial and political might to ensure the people who work in Glasgow are paid a fair wage.”
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