Dundee has become the first city in the UK to be awarded recognition for a plan to become a Living Wage City and will be implementing their approach as part of Living Wage Scotland’s ‘Making Living Wage Places’ scheme, which recognises and encourages city-level approaches to tackling low pay.
An alliance of prominent employers in Dundee have today launched an Action Plan setting out how they will work together on “Making Dundee a Living Wage City” in partnership with Living Wage Scotland. They become the first city to adopt a new, place-based approach to driving uptake of the real Living Wage by local businesses.
The launch event is being hosted by DC Thomson, and the alliance includes major local employers such as Dundee City Council, Dundee Voluntary Action, Dundee & Angus College, Xplore Dundee and Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce.
Over 50 Dundee employers have already voluntarily committed to ensure all their staff and subcontracted staff receive a real Living Wage of £9.00 an hour, significantly higher than the government minimum of £7.83.
The 50 Living Wage employers already accredited in Dundee cover the equivalent to a quarter of all workers in the city. The Action Plan launched today sets out how the alliance intends to double the number of workers covered by Living Wage accreditation in Dundee over the next three years.
The Action Plan includes commitments to:
- Sign up other major employers in the city
- Encourage employers in retail and hospitality to commit to the real Living Wage
- Support and celebrate small businesses who join the Living Wage employer movement
The Scottish Government’s Fair Work Minister Jamie Hepburn said:
“It is fantastic to see Dundee setting out its ambition to become the UK’s first ‘Living Wage City’.
“The significance of the Living Wage cannot be overstated. Evidence shows that paying it leads to increased productivity, better morale and lower sickness absence. It also demonstrates to the world that an organisation is committed to treating its workforce well.
“While Scotland is making good progress in becoming a Living Wage nation, and punches well above its weight in terms of the proportion of people paid at least the Living Wage, more remains to be done. The Scottish Government is committed to doing everything in our power to put fair work and equality at the heart of our labour market.”
John Alexander, Leader of Dundee City Council who are part of the alliance said:
“In Dundee we are incredibly proud to be championing the real Living Wage and implementing this new approach to encourage more local businesses to pay the real Living Wage.
“The city council is one of the largest Living Wage employers in the city, ensuring that all our workers receive a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work.
“I am aware that there is still more to do and we will work with partners to encourage and support more employers in the city to pay the real Living Wage.”
