Skip to content

GMB – Making Work Pay

In the private and public sectors GMB demands enough hours of work and high enough wages from employers to enable our members to live free of benefits while at work. At the moment for a full time working week GMB calculates this t be no less than £10 an hour for mots members. But for many paid at or juts above the National Minimum Wage the current “living wage” of £7.65 or £8.80 in London would be a good first step.

As of June 2013 of the 400 councils in England and Wales there are now 110 committed to pay their staff a living wage. In addition all 32 councils in Scotland describe themselves as living wage employers and are committed to paying their staff at least a living wage. GMB is now asking all 32 Scottish councils to extend that commiment to include the employees of all private contractors bidding to run council services. GMB is committed to making sure these councils put their money where their mouth is. We will act to hold them to their promises and demand they give part time GMB members – working in schools for example – the hours of work they need and a decent hourly rate of pay to make ends meet.

The councils in England and Wales are:

Allerdale, Ashfield, Barking & Dagenham, Barnet, Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Birmingham, Blackpool, Braintree, Brent, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Bromsgrove, Burnley, Caerphilly, Calderdale, Cambridge City, Camden, Cardiff, Carlisle, Cherwell District, Chorley, City of London, Colchester, Copeland, Coventry, Crawley, Croydon, Dartford, Deal Town, Derby City, Doncaster, Ealing, East Devon, Eastleigh, Enfield, Epsom & Ewell, Exeter City Council, Gedling DC, Gloucester City, Gravesham, Greenwich, Haringey, Harlow, Harrow, Hounslow, Hyndburn, Ipswich, ,Islington, Lambeth, Lancashire, Lancaster City Council, LB Merton, Leicester City, Lewisham, Lincoln City, Malvern Hills District Council, Manchester, Mansfield, Melton Mowbray, Monmouthshire, N Kesteven DC, Newark & Sherwood, Newcastle City, Newcastle under Lyme, Newham, Newport, North East Derbyshire, North Dorset, Norwich, Nottingham City, Nottinghamshire, Oldham, Oxford City, Plymouth, Preston, Redditch, Richmond, Rochdale, Rossendale, S Tyneside, Salford, Scarborough, Sedgemoor, Sheffield, Slough, South Gloucestershire, Southwark, Stevenage, Stockport, Stoke on Trent, Stroud, Surrey, Swansea, Thurrock, Tower Hamlets, Trafford, Tunbridge, Waltham Forest, Waverley, West Lindsey, Westminster, Wigan, Winchester, Wirral, Wolverhampton, Worcester and.York.

GMB’s campaign to win a living wage for 280,000 low paid workers in councils across England and Wales. See copies of campaign material in additional resources at the bottom of this page:

  • GMB Living Wage – Petition
  • GMB Living Wage – Workplace Poster
  • GMB Living Wage – Model Council Resolution

GMB has secured the support of Labour leader Ed Miliband and Shadow Treasury Secretary Rachel Reeves for higher pay for low paid council staff and other workers across the UK.
As a result of low pay and part time working hours, hundreds of thousands of council workers are forced to claim tax credits, free school meals, housing benefit and council tax benefit to make ends meet.

GMB is campaigning for a living wage – keep up to date with the latest GMB press releases.

But it is not just councils that GMB is calling on to pay a Living Wage, its private sector companies too.

GMB Protest For Living Wage At Next Stores

GMB, the union for retail workers, has been holding public protest outside NEXT to coincide with a national tour by Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott during May and June 2014. Paul headed up the Housemartins and together they headed up the Beautiful South in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

GMB is calling on NEXT to pay wages and provide enough hours of work for people to live on. GMB is seeking as a starting point £7.65 per hour and £8.80 per hour in London and a right to work the hours people need – reversing the recent cuts. As in Local Government our ultimately aim is to ensure staff in NEXT can earn enough to live free of in work benefits. NEXT employ 50,000 workers at over 500 stores, call centres and warehouses in the UK and Ireland.

In March NEXT reported a 12% increase in annual profits to £695m. NEXT says it expects profits in 2014 to rise by up to £770m. NEXT said January that it is generating more cash than can be invested in the business so it will pay a special £300m pay out to shareholders. NEXT currently pay £6.33 per hour to those 21 and over and £5.47 to those aged 18 to 20. GMB is aware of that many jobs are for12.5 hours per week or less in some stores. Some store staff may get a bonus which the company claim can amount to an additional 4% to 7% on hourly rates. Staff hourly rates will also increase by 37p from 1st June.

Posted: 14th June 2015

X Share