Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “While the cost of living is rising sharply, wage growth has been sluggish.  The minimum wage needs to increase significantly to address the squeeze on living standards.

“We are urging the LPC to at least continue with increases that will take the National Living Wage (NLW) to the target 60% of median earnings by 2020. Usdaw’s aspiration is for £10 per hour and we continue to campaign for that.

“We have very real concerns about hours of work as well as the rate of pay. Insecure work is a real problem for many. Those who are on zero-hours or short-hours contracts find it difficult to plan their finances as their income can vary week to week and is not guaranteed. Their employment is insecure and we want workers to have the right to contracted hours that match the average hours they work.

“Usdaw is also extremely concerned about the pay gap for young workers, so we also call for NLW to be paid from the age of 18. NLW only covers workers aged 25 and over, which means that almost a third of retail staff are excluded from it.

“For many young workers, being denied this minimum pay rate reinforces the already desperate position that they are experiencing. They work just as hard as their older colleagues and have many of the same responsibilities outside of work, such as housing costs, transport costs and bringing up families.

“We know that the Low Pay Commission make evidence based decisions and we welcome them giving us a hearing today. Low pay is one of the biggest issues facing workers and world of employment today.”

Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest and the fastest growing trade union with around 435,000 members. Membership has increased by more than 28% over the decade. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion