As you may have seen in this Saturday’s Guardian, Labour Students have this year embarked on a campaign to support the living wage. On campuses across the UK, David Miliband and Movement for Change will be helping in mobilising students to campaign with us for a living wage.
The Labour Students membership voted overwhelmingly to make the living wage our priority campaign. All three of us in the Labour Students’ national office were delighted with this choice.
The campaign aims itself are simple: we are going build relationships with workers who will lead our campaign to ensure that as many employers as possible pay the living wage.
The reasons are just as simple; we want to end Poverty Pay in Britain.
I believe a living wage is a campaign that the entire Labour Party can get behind. We are a broad church, but we can all agree that everyone should be paid a wage that allows them to afford their rent, food and childcare. Ed Miliband was very vocal in his support for the living wage during his Leadership Campaign as were many others and we hope to work with people from across the Labour movement to take our campaign forward.
A fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work is at the heart of what it is to be Labour.
Our party has gone further than any other in the fight to make work pay. The national minimum wage coupled with the New Deals are two of the things that make me proudest of being Labour.
At the heart of the last Labour government was a belief that work was better than a lifetime of welfare. The mission was to avoid work paying less than the dole.
This was in stark contrast to a Tory Government that was tough on the unemployed but pretty relaxed about the causes of unemployment. Too many young people were dumped on the scrapheap and lost to a lifetime on benefits.
Our party refused to let people waste their talents languishing on the dole. During Labour’s time in government huge improvements were made in closing the benefits trap and in getting people back to work. Young people, single parents, disabled people and over-50s were brought back in to the labour market. This was popular with the public and crucially, also helped support the economy.
We may now find ourselves out of government but we’re not out of ideas. I believe the living wage can be a significant part of Labour’s path back to power. With the living wage we can illustrate our progressive vision for Britain.
We can show that again, Labour is the party that believes that both believes in a fair day’s wages for a fair day’s work and that a hand-up is better than a hand-out.
Labour Students will be actively campaigning both on campuses and out with to make the living wage a reality for people. We will make a real difference because we know Labour is about getting things done to improve the lives of working people. Why not join us and be part of it?
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Follow Labour Students on Facebook and on Twitter @labourstudents to keep up to date with their living wage campaign
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Ross MacRae is national secretary of Labour Students