The National Minimum Wage has woven fairness into the fabric of our society. It’s helped make work pay and it has shown just what good the trade unions and Labour can do when they work together.
A few weeks ago, we celebrated the Minimum Wage’s 10th anniversary. And while it remains an important step forward, there’s still more to do. We need to make sure that we build on ten years of success, to make it stronger, fairer, and to ensure that no-one is left unprotected by it. But does your MP support these goals?
While the trade unions celebrate the Minimum Wage, we’re also campaigning to improve it. We want to see apprentices covered by the minimum wage. We need to end the discrimination that lets employers pay young people less just because of their age. We need to make sure that the law is enforced – with tough penalties to make sure that no employer can wriggle out of paying it. And, of course, we want to make sure that the Minimum Wage keeps increasing. We need the Minimum Wage to go up in real terms and as a proportion of average wages each year – and that includes an increase this year too, as in the current climate fair pay is more important than ever.
10 years ago, there were many who said the Minimum Wage would never work – that it was a step too far. But we have proved them wrong, and shown the good that government can do by acting boldly to make work fairer.
Yet despite all the good the Minimum Wage has brought – there are still those who oppose it. So, on the Minimum Wage’s 10th birthday, we want our supporters to contact their MPs and ask them if they will commit to strengthen and support the Minimum Wage over the next 10 years too.
It’s an important question to ask, and that’s why we’re asking union members to get in touch with their representatives in parliament and ask them some specific questions about the minimum wage – not just ‘do you support it?’, but ‘will you commit to support and strengthen it into the future?’.
Because, even after 10 successful years, the Minimum Wage is under threat. Not many people know this, but senior Tory MP Christopher Chope is trying to introduce a new law that would allow people to opt-out of Minimum Wage payments – effectively killing the legislation. He would drag us back to the days when many people were left on poverty pay. And we all know that, for low-paid workers, being offered the ‘choice’ to opt-out out of the protection of the Minimum Wage would be no choice at all.
And the Tories have a track record here. Did you know that David Cameron actively campaigned against the Minimum Wage – even when some people were earning as little as £1.20 an hour?
We think that this is such an important issue that MPs need to be candid with their constituents – are they committed to supporting and strengthening fair wages, or do they want to take us back to legal poverty pay?
We are asking MPs to commit to the following measures to build on ten years of the minimum wage:
- extending the minimum wage to apply to all apprentices;
- ending the age rates that discriminate against young people;
- action by government to stop rogue employers refusing to pay the minimum wage, including stronger penalties and more resources for HMRC to investigate and take action;
- an ongoing commitment to the minimum wage continuing to rise both in real terms and as a proportion of average earnings, as it has done for the last ten years – specifically, including an increase this year
And we are also asking them to oppose Tory MP Chris Chope’s efforts to make the Minimum Wage a ‘choice’ and not a guarantee.
Ask your MP now if they will commit to support and strengthen the Minimum Wage.
A decade ago, trade unions and our Labour government fought for the Minimum Wage, while the Tories mounted a whole-hearted campaign against it. We won that battle – but does your MP support the Minimum Wage now? Please take two minutes of your time to email your MP to find out.