Addressing the conference, Rachel Reeves MP said: “On day one as Chancellor, I will write to the Low Pay Commission with a simple instruction: that the minimum wage will be set at a level that reflects the real cost of living.
 
“The last Labour Government delivered Britain’s first National Minimum Wage. The next Labour Government will introduce a genuine Living Wage. That’s how we will give working people respect; that’s how we will give working people security, and that’s how we will grow our economy too.
 
“That is Labour’s approach: proudly pro-worker and proudly pro-business. Supporting innovation, sharing opportunity, reviving our high streets. It is time for a government that is on your side and that government is a Labour Government.”
 
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Usdaw has long campaigned for adding the cost of living to the Low Pay Commission’s remit. The current remit of looking at average earnings is too narrow, particularly in terms of the so-called ‘National Living Wage’. A genuine living wage must surely reflect the cost of living. With average wages stagnating over the last ten years, this has impacted growth in minimum wage rates leaving the lowest paid struggling to make ends meet.
 
“Labour is clearly demonstrating that they have the answers to the cost of living emergency that is so deeply impacting low and middle income workers. They are set to tackle the scourge of low pay as set out by Rachel Reeves today along with a much needed revival of our high streets. Our members desperately need an end to this Tory Government and Labour back in power.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion