Call to raise national minimum wage
Updated on 10 November 2008
The surprise cut in interest rates should be followed by "bold moves" to increase the national minimum wage, a leading trade union has urged.
Unison said the Low Pay Commission should follow the example of the Bank of England and give a "significant" boost to the statutory minimum rate, currently £5.73 an hour for adults and £4.77 for 18- to 21-year-olds.
General secretary Dave Prentis will tell a conference in London: "The rising cost of living means that low paid workers pay out a large proportion of their income on basics such as food and fuel."
He said: "Many of these workers and their families face the terrible dilemma of heating or eating. When the minimum wage was introduced, the doom and gloom merchants predicted millions of jobs would go, but this didn't happen.
"By raising wages you cut the number of workers claiming in-work benefits such as tax credits and increase workers' spending power - stimulating the economy."
Unison is calling for the national minimum wage to rise to £7.45 an hour by October 2010 and is calling for 18- to 21-year-olds to be brought into line with the full adult rate.
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