The leader of Wandsworth Council emphasised his commitment to fulfilling a manifesto pledge ensuring contracts guarantee the London Living Wage.
Labour’s Simon Hogg said all new town hall contracts signed with external companies will include requirements that they pay their staff the London Living Wage which is £11.05 per hour.
Earlier this month the Labour Party gained Wandsworth from the Conservatives for the first time since 1978 as they secured 35 councillors to 22 Tory councillors.
Hogg said: “We are committed to making sure that anyone working on a council contract in Wandsworth is paid a decent wage for a decent day’s work.
“This includes people who do some of the borough’s most difficult and challenging jobs, including those who clean our streets, collect our refuse and recycling and care for the sick and elderly in care homes.
“There is no moral justification for paying people less, especially at a time when household bills are going through the roof and families are struggling.
“Under my administration, any company that tenders for a council contract will need to guarantee that their workforce is paid the London Living Wage as a minimum.”
This message came on the day the new ‘Making London a Living Wage City’ project Steering Group was established to persuade employers to pay staff the London Living Wage.
The project aims to put £635m of wages into the pockets of Londoners and lift tens of thousands of workers out of in-work poverty.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan and a coalition of civil society, business and public organisations support the steering group that intends to boost the number of accredited Living Wage and Living Hours employers in London.
The steering group will be co-chaired by the Mayor, the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, Bishop of London, and Anna Purchas, London Office Senior Partner at KPMG.
The project, led by Citizens UK and the Living Wage Foundation, has already seen 450 newly accredited employers in London.
According to statistics, 700,000 Londoners still receive less than the London Living Wage as the number of employers committing to the London Living Wage increases.
Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “With Londoners facing the cost of living crisis, I’m determined to do more to support lower paid workers.
“That’s why I will ask the steering committee to adopt ambitious new Spring 2024 targets for the Making London a Living Wage City programme.
“This includes accrediting a further 1,000 new Living Wage Employers, which will ensure 50,000 more Londoners are uplifted to the London Living Wage each year.
“As Mayor, I’ll continue to do all I can to support lower paid Londoners as we seek to build a better, fairer London for everyone.”
Featured image credit: Eugene Regis via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.0 license
