Comrades in Tower Hamlets Labour Group last night showed real local leadership last night by tabling a resolution at full Council, which won near unanimous support, to implement the London Living Wage. (The London Labour Party backed the idea, actively promoted by former Labour Mayor, Ken Livingstone, at its biennial conference in 2006.)
Labour-controlled Tower Hamlets Council recently elected leader Cllr Lutfur Rahman proposed the motion telling himself to get on with it. The resolution reads:
This Council:
• supports the establishment of the London Living Wage, set at a level calculated
by the Living Wage Unit to avoid poverty wages being paid in the capital;
• abhors the fact that around 400,000 Londoners continue to fall into a ‘working
poverty trap’ because their families are paid less than required to fund the basic
costs of living in London;
• calls on the Leader to review Tower Hamlets Council’s procurement, contract and
best value policies to ensure that, as far as possible within UK and EU law, the
London Living Wage, at the level set by the GLA’s Living Wage Unit, is the
minimum paid by Tower Hamlets Council and by its contractors and that all
temporary workers employed by the council are paid at least £7.45 an hour by
their agency;
• calls on the Leader to seek commitments from Tower Hamlets’ partners in the
Local Strategic Partnership to pay no less than the London Living Wage; and
• calls on the Leader to ensure that the Council’s commitment to the London Living
Wage is clearly displayed on Council headed paper, the Council website and
other appropriate locations
To the best on my knowledge Tower Hamlets is the first Labour-controlled Council to implement the London Living Wage not just for its own staff, but agency and temporary workers as well as commit to seek contract compliance as Best Value contracts come up for renewal. I believe that this latest development in promoting the 'living income' concept is the next step in Labour's commitment to end poverty in the UK. It could be used by Labour Groups in every local authority in the country to mobilise members and supporters.
I live in the City of London. It is a scandal that the Corporation has refused to become a London Living Wage Employer. If Tower Hamlets can afford to, the City has no excuse.