OXFORD LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGN

Grassroots campaigning by the London CITIZENS alliance has established a London Living Wage of £7.20 an hour. Like London, Oxford is an expensive place to live. At the lower end of the housing market, house prices in Oxford are 64% higher than the national average. Rent, council tax, childcare and everyday goods and services are also expensive. The Oxford Living Wage Campaign wants to repeat that success here—securing an Oxford Living Wage of £7 per hour. The minimum wage means poverty pay in Oxford.

Next meeting of the group is on 29th April and will be in the Goodhart Room at University College at 3pm - Deborah Littman (UNISON & COF Living Wage Campaign) and Alice Brickley (COF / London Citizens) will both speak and answer questions on citizen organising - and how it might develop in Oxford.

If you'd like to get involved in this campaign please email
LW @ odtuc.org.uk

This material can be downloaded as a leaflet here.

TELCO The East London Communities Organisation website is here http://www.telcocitizens.org.uk

City Council elections are on May 1.
Please vote and support the 'living wage'.

We asked each party where it stood.

Would they...

Labour and the Greens successfully put forward a Living Wage motion in the old council. We asked each party how it would vote in the new one.

Their more detailed responses are below

GREEN PARTY: "The Green Party nationally is committed to the concept of a living wage - indeed, a Green government would implement a basic Citizens Income for all. We have worked within the City Council to establish a living wage for council employees, and will continue to push for this to apply not only to direct employees, but also to outsourced staff. We will strongly support advocacy and outreach work by the City Council to other employers, and will investigate the legalities of making City Council contracts to businesses dependent on proof of commitment to the living wage principle."
We believe they voted for the original resolution.

INDEPENDENT WORKING CLASS ASSOCIATION: "The IWCA is in favour of a Living Wage for everyone living and working in Oxford... If this funding were to come from increasing council tax, we believe this would be self-defeating as low-paid workers across Oxford, who are already worst affected by regressive taxation, would have their tax burden further increased. We submitted a redistributive amendment to a similar motion put to the City Council and asked that the wage increase for low-paid council employees be funded by reducing the salaries of higher-paid executives and councillors' expenses and allowances. Unfortunately, our amendment was defeated."
We believe they voted against the original resolution.

LABOUR: "Labour councillors and candidates support the Oxford Living Wage campaign wholeheartedly, building on the Labour Government's national minimum wage. This is why Labour councillors wrote and put forward a motion to the city council to campaign for an Oxford Living Wage, starting by making sure that no council employee is paid less than £7 per hour. If elected, we will ensure that all council staff earn a living wage and use the available legal powers to ensure that council contractors follow suit. We will use our influence to encourage other city employers to do the same."
We believe they voted for the original resolution.

LIB DEM: "The Liberal Democrats support a Living Wage. In accordance with our policy the Head of the Head of Human Resources is considering the implications of implementing the Oxford Living Wage. She is incorporating this as part of the implementation of the Single Status agreement. This has been factored into early pay modelling work, and discussions are underway with the Trade Unions.”
We believe they voted against the original resolution.

CONSERVATIVE: We are still trying to get information.