Living wage pledge

I’ve issued the following statement of support in response to the pledge issued by Unite on the Living Wage.

“Greens have long supported struggles for the Living Wage and better terms and conditions. I support the work by Unite and other unions in Hackney to get the Council to act on poor pay and conditions for contracted workers in Hackney schools. If elected, I will work with unions, schools and the contractors to restore working hours and ensure decent pay and conditions for workers. In the long-term I would also seek to bring those services back into public ownership.“ Samir Jeraj — Hackney Mayoral Candidate

The original pledge from Unite is here:

Dear Mayoral Candidate

Unite The Union has over the last two years been fighting to secure the London Living Wage (LLW) for workers in schools in Hackney who are employed as cleaners by contractors. We have now secured the LLW for those employed by OCS who have the main contract negotiated by the Council and which is recommended to schools.

We have now unfortunately been notified by our members that OCS are proposing to reduce contracts from 52 weeks to 39 weeks. Therefore having been forced to introduce the LLW, the company will now recoup the money back by reducing the number of weeks it pays over the year. This is a company, let me remind you, that has the main Council contract. I hope you will agree that the companies actions are more in line with Sports Direct than Hackney Schools.

We also now have to take action to ensure that schools who do not use OCS ensure that their contractors are paying the LLW.

I am therefore writing to you, as a Mayoral candidate, to ask that you pledge that if elected you will work with the trade unions to ensure that the LLW is fairly implemented across Hackney, in particular contractors in Hackney schools and that you will work with Unite to ensure that companies such as OCS, especially as they have the Council contract will not simply pass the cost of implementing the LLW by reducing the number of weeks it pays it’s staff over the year.

Onay Kasab

Regional Officer

Unite the Union