While we wait for the Mayor's office to provide me with more detail about the "£3 billion-worth of contracts within the GLA Group" that "have within them clauses related to London's minimum wage" (Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes AM at Mayor's Question Time last week), here's Neil Jameson of London Citizens, the campaigners who got Boris to publicly commit to "ensure that London's hotels and hospitality sector pay a Living Wage by the 2012 Olympics":
London Citizens members voted in 2001 to initiate the UK's first Living Wage campaign because of concern about the pressures that an unregulated market was putting on families and neighbourhoods. We won better wages in four east London hospitals, then focused on our new neighbours setting up their stall in Canary Wharf and the City. The global banks and finance houses, had the profits to pay a just and living wage – and, to their credit, that is what they have now done, with just a little nudging and negotiation from the natives.
The principle of building a Living Wage obligation into procurement has now become mainstream across most of the capital's banks and law firms, and has been picked up by major charities such as Barnardo's, students – who, with workers and academics, have successfully lobbied for it on university campuses – and local authorities. Last weekend, London Citizens launched the next phase of the campaign in Oxford Street, to encourage the hospitality and retail sectors to catch up.
I'm sure Boris won't want to get left behind. Now read on.
