Meeting of the Parliament 05 November 2014
I think that Mark McDonald should be a bit more cautious in calling for minimum wage powers when the Government cannot even use the powers that it has to give Scottish Government cleaners and subcontractors working in Scottish Government locations the living wage. The Government should use those powers first, before asking for more powers.
One of the disappointing things about the Scottish Government’s attitude is that it is not providing proper leadership. One of the big challenges is that 93 per cent of the people who are not on the living wage are in the private sector. If we are going to encourage private sector organisations to pay the living wage, we need more leadership from the Government and we need the Government to be more aggressive in promoting the living wage. We saw in the referendum campaign that the SNP was quite aggressive in promoting independence. Why do we not see the same energy and aggression around the issue of the living wage?
In sectors such as retailing and catering, workers need the support of the living wage, but the momentum is building on it. Only last week, Heart of Midlothian Football Club declared that it would pay the living wage. Organisations such as KPMG have also said that they would pay the living wage. Paying the living wage has real advantages for businesses in terms of falling absenteeism, staff retention and increased recruitment. All that means an improved bottom line and improved performance for the business. There are real opportunities, but the Government should be doing more and be more up front about the living wage.
What is required to take the issue forward is a proper living wage unit that will monitor wage levels in the country and the sectors that need attention. We need a living wage strategy from the Government that it can bring to the chamber for debate; we need proper consultation on it, and regular updates to Parliament.
It is absolutely right that people are entitled to fair wages. It is time that this Government got serious about the living wage. The Government needs to take on its responsibilities and provide leadership. The living wage is an idea whose time has come, but let us see the Scottish Government play its part in its delivery; let us see the Scottish Government stand up and be counted; and let us see the Scottish Government roll out its activities so that we can see some of the 400,000 people who are currently not on the living wage being taken out of the poverty trap and taken forward on to decent wages.
I move,
That the Parliament welcomes the rise in the living wage to £7.85 per hour; believes that payment of the living wage should be the expectation, not the exception, and notes that more than 400,000 workers in Scotland still earn less than the living wage; recognises the benefits to both businesses and their staff of paying the living wage; believes that the payment of the living wage in the private sector should be supported and actively promoted; welcomes the pledge from the Department of Energy and Climate Change that all of its staff, including sub-contracted staff, will be paid at least the living wage, and calls on the Scottish Government to pledge the same and extend the payment of the living wage to all public sector contractors.
16:02