TUC calls for minimum wage increase to £15 an hour ‘to end low wages in the UK’ | Business newsletter

The Trade Union Congress said the minimum wage should be raised to £15 an hour, as it declared it was time to “end low wages in the UK”.

Currently, workers aged 23 and over are entitled to a minimum wage of £9.50 with lower wages for younger workers, but the TUC says all workers should have the same benefits , regardless of age.

Since the minimum wage was introduced, its rate as a percentage of the average wage has increased – starting from 47% in 1999 and is expected to reach 66% by 2024, although the TUC considers an ambitious target of more than 75% as the “reasonable next step”.

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said: “Every worker must be able to afford a decent standard of living.

“But millions of low-wage workers live on the wage package, struggling to make ends meet – and they are now pushed to the brink by tearful bills and skyrocketing prices.

“Workers have long been told businesses can’t afford to pay them more. But time and time again the evidence shows that companies are still making profits and increasing jobs – we can pay better wages. .

“And higher wages are good for the economy – more money in the pockets of commuters means more spending on our high streets.

“It’s time to end low wages in the UK. Let’s raise wages everywhere in the country and move towards a minimum wage of £15 an hour.”

She said ministers should come up with fair pay arrangements to boost wages and productivity in low-paid sectors; promote decent work above the interests of shareholders; and invest in good jobs all over the country.

“That’s how you push pay packages and put England on a direct path to a £15 minimum wage.”

The proposals also include corporate governance reform and a “lifelong skills and learning strategy” designed to address labor shortages.

Call comes later inflation reached 10.1% in July and the energy price limit is forecast to exceed £5,300 a year in April.

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Those two issues are the main drivers of the cost-of-living crisis that has forced workers in some sectors to resort to industrial activities because their wages haven’t kept up.

The TUC says the UK has experienced a “historically proportional wage loss” due to the “heavy failure” of successive Conservative governments to encourage wage increases.

Last week, the Office for National Statistics said workers suffered a record real wage drop of 4.1% after inflation in the three months to June.

When inflation is not factored in, regular wages, excluding bonuses, rose 4.7% in the three months to June.