- Target:
- Vice Chancellor, The University of East London
- Region:
- United Kingdom
- Website:
- www.citizensuk.org
The Vice Chancellor of the University of East London announced that the University will be signing up to the Living Wage Campaign. Thanks for your support!
The London Living Wage is the minimum hourly wage that a worker needs to receive in order to have the minimum acceptable quality of life in London. The figure currently stands at £7.85 per hour, as announced by Mayor Boris Johnson in June 2010. The figure reflects the fact that the National Minimum Wage, currently £5.83 per hour, is not enough to survive in London and is calculated annually by the Living Wage Unit at the Greater London Authority.
Living Wage campaigns have been successful at Queen Mary University, LSE, SOAS, Birkbeck, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and most recently Goldsmith’s and The Institute of Education.
At Queen Mary, not only do the cleaners now get paid a Living Wage, but the University decided to stop using service companies and to re-employ all the cleaners in-house. Wages increased to £8 per hour; cleaners were all given access to a pension, given sick pay and paid annual leave. The legacy of the campaign is that the cleaners report having greater job satisfaction, feel proud to wear the university logo on their uniform, and that they no longer feel ‘invisible’ on campus.
The campaign is calling on the University of East London to become a Living Wage Employer. A Living Wage Employer recognises the responsibility it has for all the people it employs (directly or indirectly) and makes sure they are paid a Living Wage. This means making sure that all staff, including externally contracted support staff, are paid at least the London Living Wage (currently £7.85.)
We, the undersigned, call upon the Vice Chancellor of the University of East London (UEL) to implement the London Living Wage.
UEL is one of the few remaining universities in London where cleaning staff are paid as little as £6 per hour and receive no sick pay. It is inconsistent for a university with the values of UEL not to implement the London Living Wage. We call upon the Vice Chancellor to act immediately to prevent any damage to the reputation of the University.
The London Living Wage at UEL petition to Vice Chancellor, The University of East London was written by Tim Hall and is in the category Justice at GoPetition.