Call for wage boost to help stimulate Wearside economy hit by pandemic

Wage boosts for some of Sunderland’s lowest paid workers could give the North East’s flagging economy a shot in the arm.

Earlier this year (September) Sunderland City Council was officially named a Living Wage Employer after promising to pay all its staff above the Real Living Wage.

But city leaders hope that extending this further could see even more families lifted out of poverty and speed up spending in the wider region.

Graeme Miller, the leader of the city council, said: “Obviously this year is extremely challenging for workers and businesses alike, so it’s a difficult time to be asking others to push forward with the Real Living Wage.

“But it remains the right thing to do now more than ever because we know the pandemic has disproportionately affected the lowest paid workers, many of whom are struggling to keep their heads above water.”

He added: “Work should pay, or at least pay enough for people to live on, but this isn’t always the case as we witness people with multiple jobs having to resort to using foodbanks.”

The Real Living Wage is calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, based on a family’s estimated living costs, and is currently set at £9.50 per hour, outside London.

Almost 7,000 UK employers are currently signed up to the scheme, which is different from the National Living Wage, which is the minimum pay level set by the government.

This is currently just £8.72 per hour, but for over-25s only – bosses can pay younger workers and apprentices even less.

Cllr Miller will use a speech tomorrow (Wednesday, November 11) to the North East’s Living Wage Week online event to call for more companies to sign up to the campaign in the hope of seeing Sunderland declared a Real Living Wage City.

Local authority chiefs on Wearside started paying staff the Real Living Wage in 2014 and this year (2020) became the first North East council to be given formal accreditation.

It now hopes to extend the pledge to its contractors, which could see hundreds of extra workers in the city benefit.

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