TUC singles Rahman Administration out for praise

Our London Living Wage boosts women’s pay

Tower Hamlets Council has been praised by the TUC for being a London Living Wage employer.

The national body, which represents trade unions and campaigns for a fairer deal at work, said that low paid, female part-time workers in London are subject to a “growing scourge of in-work poverty.” The TUC is urging other councils to follow the lead of councils like Tower Hamlets in paying the London Living Wage.

Research released this week by the TUC has found that part-time women workers in London can receive just over a third (34%) less per hour than the London Living Wage, which is currently calculated to be £8.80 an hour. Across the UK, the union found that two in five part-time jobs pay less than the living wage. The TUC has said that one of the main reasons for this huge gender pay divide is the large concentration of women doing low-paid, part-time work.

The Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said: “I am proud that we were one of the first local authorities in London to support the London Living Wage. We will continue to do all we can to tackle poverty at every level in the borough.”

TUC Regional Secretary for London Megan Dobney said: “This research blows a massive hole in the myth that all workers in London are well paid. For many women, work is a route into poverty rather than a route out of poverty.”