Trade unionists meet Low Pay Commission and call for £15 per hour living wage

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Trade unionists in Derry have met with the Low Pay Commission to insist that every effort should be made to introduce a £15 an hour minimum Living Wage rate.

Derry Trades Union Council held a meeting with the LPC on Tuesday.

The LPC are an independent body which advises government on National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage hourly rates of pay.

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Niall McCarroll, chair of the DTUC, said: “At present if you are aged between 16-17 your employer only needs to pay you £4.81 an hour, whereas for any worker aged 22 and over you can expect to receive by law at least £9.50 an hour.

A delegation from DTUC with members of the Low Pay Commission after a meeting at the Bishop’s Gate Hotel.A delegation from DTUC with members of the Low Pay Commission after a meeting at the Bishop’s Gate Hotel.
A delegation from DTUC with members of the Low Pay Commission after a meeting at the Bishop’s Gate Hotel.

“This is an unacceptable situation and one which opens the door to any employer who chooses to covertly select workers based on their age and in doing so unscrupulously increasing their profit margins.

“Increasingly, this can be witnessed in the retail and hospitality sectors, in which young workers make up the bulk of the workforce.”

Mr. McCarroll said the Derry TUC ‘impressed upon the commission that they should begin the process and make recommendations to government to remove the various age rates across the National Minimum Wage - creating a single Living Wage rate - which would be payable to all workers no matter their age or chosen career, including apprentices’.

The council has called for £15 an hour minimum Living Wage rate.

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