I UNDERSTAND that Warrington North MP Helen Jones has welcomed WBC plans to look at introducing the Living Wage.
If she is sincere then for once I am in agreement with her, as I believe some 848 staff at the council receive basic pay below the £7.45 per hour Living Wage.
Unfortunately I cannot help thinking she is trying once again to position herself politically, in view of the fact that the living wage campaign was launched in 2001, when both she and New Labour were in government. It is only now, 12 years on, she decides to start to a campaign for the living wage.
Ironically it was her party and Government that introduced the national minimum wage, currently set at £6.19 per hour for over 21s.
Her announcement comes at a time when the coalition announced that Warrington’s funding will be reduced by 5.6 per cent in 2013/14, meaning £12 million of savings.
Maybe when the council finally appoints a new chief executive, perhaps he or she will have the decency to turn down the advertised annual salary of £130k-£145k and go for a more modest approach of £50k per year, which translates into £1,000 per week or £200 a day – a lot of money in the public sector in Warrington, especially in times of austerity when families are turning to pay day lenders and food banks for survival.
TONY FOX
Stockton Heath
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