The Facts
The national minimum wage is too low
The adult rate for the statutory national minimum wage is currently £6.70 an hour. This has been proven to be too little for a person to make ends meet for themselves and their family.
The voluntary national living wage rate is currently £8.25 an hour, outside of London.
The voluntary London living wage is currently £9.40 an hour.
Some 4.8 million people, 20% of the working population, earn less than a living wage.
The taxpayer is subsidising poverty wages to the tune of £3.6bn a year, including £1.1bn in means-tested benefits.
"We won the minimum wage – I want to add a living wage to the list of the union’s achievements." - Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary
UNISON is campaigning for a living wage
UNISON is campaigning both locally and nationally for a living wage.
We are campaigning across the country with low-paid workers for individual employers to pay the living wage and campaigning nationally for a new, higher statutory minimum which reflects the living wage.
Over a parliament, steep increases to the minimum wage should be implemented to bring it into line with the UK living wage.
Andy Harrop, general secretary of the Fabian society, February 2012 The Economic Alternative
Resources
Social Media Graphic https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2015/10/22797_LW_graphic21.png
Profile Image https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2015/10/10425492_750676301671579_8351924067892889029_n.jpeg
A3 Living Wage Poster
https://www.unison.org.uk/content/uploads/2013/06/On-line-Catalogue205673.pdf