News

"People are not being fairly rewarded for their work. The living wage is a rally cry for the working poor who are in dire circumstances." This was the message UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings sent to business leaders in a wide ranging interview with the Guardian this week.

To read in full, click here:
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/un-global-compact-leaders-union-busters-wage-gap

"There is a new phenomenon of the working poor. The living wage is a rallying cry for the working poor who are in dire circumstances," Jennings said.

"The wage is calculated on the ability of a wage to enable an adequate material form of life. In the face of a growing gap between the highest and average wage – in the United States, it's around 450 times – it has become a rallying cry for those at the wrong end of the scale. It is making headway in local procurement policies. The global labor movement will push for this. My simple idea is to make it a new principle within the UN Global Compact."

As well as Jennings' impassioned plea for the UN Global Compact to adopt the living wage as one of its key principles, the interview also described how the UNI chief's years growing up in a working class area of Cardiff in South Wales had led him to a career in the labour movement..

"It was a labor environment [filled with] labor voters and union families, and you could not fail to have a sympathetic view of working to improve the lives of your community," he said.