The Campaign for a Living Wage, run for 25 years by Citizens UK & its predecessors, is in many ways a great success; putting pressure on firms to raise the wages of the lowest paid.
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The Campaign for a Living Wage, run for 25 years by Citizens UK & its predecessors, is in many ways a great success; putting pressure on firms to raise the wages of the lowest paid.
But, without in any way gainsaying what they have achieved, this is really dealing with a symptom of the problems with the UK's low wage model of capitalism.... so while this is necessary & valuable work it remains sadly insufficient to really transform the UK's economy
#workers #economics
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/10/uk-living-wage-campaign-marks-25-years-of-success -
The Campaign for a Living Wage, run for 25 years by Citizens UK & its predecessors, is in many ways a great success; putting pressure on firms to raise the wages of the lowest paid.
But, without in any way gainsaying what they have achieved, this is really dealing with a symptom of the problems with the UK's low wage model of capitalism.... so while this is necessary & valuable work it remains sadly insufficient to really transform the UK's economy
#workers #economics
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/10/uk-living-wage-campaign-marks-25-years-of-success -
The Campaign for a Living Wage, run for 25 years by Citizens UK & its predecessors, is in many ways a great success; putting pressure on firms to raise the wages of the lowest paid.
But, without in any way gainsaying what they have achieved, this is really dealing with a symptom of the problems with the UK's low wage model of capitalism.... so while this is necessary & valuable work it remains sadly insufficient to really transform the UK's economy
#workers #economics
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/may/10/uk-living-wage-campaign-marks-25-years-of-successLiving Wage campaigns are certainly helpful in putting pressure on companies to boost the lowest wages they pay, and on the statutory minimum wage. Good to see this group turning their attention to pensions as well. There's also the issue of unemployment and disability benefits being far from adequate. Lots of work to do, but the most important is to change the culture to expect that all members of society are entitled to live decently.
We may not fully end inequality, but we can end poverty. If poverty is a policy choice, so could universal flourishing also be a policy choice. There may be a question of how best to get there, but a half century of the trickle-down experiment shows it doesn't work. Neither does the gig economy.
Decent pay, decent pensions, decent benefits are all a worthwhile start.
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Living Wage campaigns are certainly helpful in putting pressure on companies to boost the lowest wages they pay, and on the statutory minimum wage. Good to see this group turning their attention to pensions as well. There's also the issue of unemployment and disability benefits being far from adequate. Lots of work to do, but the most important is to change the culture to expect that all members of society are entitled to live decently.
We may not fully end inequality, but we can end poverty. If poverty is a policy choice, so could universal flourishing also be a policy choice. There may be a question of how best to get there, but a half century of the trickle-down experiment shows it doesn't work. Neither does the gig economy.
Decent pay, decent pensions, decent benefits are all a worthwhile start.
Yes, I'd agree with all of that
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Yes, I'd agree with all of that
@ChrisMayLA6 @alantperry I also agree with this sentiment the real question becomes ‘what do we do with the freeloaders?’ I know that under the current system there’s no end to the wanting (never enough money) but dealing with the ‘I deserve more’ crowd exists at both ends.
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
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@ChrisMayLA6 @alantperry I also agree with this sentiment the real question becomes ‘what do we do with the freeloaders?’ I know that under the current system there’s no end to the wanting (never enough money) but dealing with the ‘I deserve more’ crowd exists at both ends.
I think we can agree that there are no freeloaders receiving either wages or pensions, so living wages and decent pensions are a given.
The "problem" of freeloaders is often posited by right-wing politicians as a reason not to increase benefits for those who can't work (disability) or currently don't work (unemployment). The reality is that these benefits are so far from adequate that no-one would choose to live on them given an alternative. And there are already eligibility criteria that must be met to receive these benefits.
The narrative that there are large numbers of benefits cheaters is simply false. It's not zero, but it's vanishingly small, and not a valid reason to keep benefits at destitution levels.
Better in my view to have a few people taking advantage of a good system, than to have people falling through the cracks of an inadequate system.
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Your first Q. is the key one... and of course each in a sense reinforces the other over time, but it does get to the heart of the causes of our travails, even if supplying an answer is not easy but would help with thinking about a way out of that situation....
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I think we can agree that there are no freeloaders receiving either wages or pensions, so living wages and decent pensions are a given.
The "problem" of freeloaders is often posited by right-wing politicians as a reason not to increase benefits for those who can't work (disability) or currently don't work (unemployment). The reality is that these benefits are so far from adequate that no-one would choose to live on them given an alternative. And there are already eligibility criteria that must be met to receive these benefits.
The narrative that there are large numbers of benefits cheaters is simply false. It's not zero, but it's vanishingly small, and not a valid reason to keep benefits at destitution levels.
Better in my view to have a few people taking advantage of a good system, than to have people falling through the cracks of an inadequate system.
I completely endorse this characterisation of the benefits system:
'Better in my view to have a few people taking advantage of a good system, than to have people falling through the cracks of an inadequate system'!
Absolutely right!
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I think we can agree that there are no freeloaders receiving either wages or pensions, so living wages and decent pensions are a given.
The "problem" of freeloaders is often posited by right-wing politicians as a reason not to increase benefits for those who can't work (disability) or currently don't work (unemployment). The reality is that these benefits are so far from adequate that no-one would choose to live on them given an alternative. And there are already eligibility criteria that must be met to receive these benefits.
The narrative that there are large numbers of benefits cheaters is simply false. It's not zero, but it's vanishingly small, and not a valid reason to keep benefits at destitution levels.
Better in my view to have a few people taking advantage of a good system, than to have people falling through the cracks of an inadequate system.
@alantperry @ChrisMayLA6 while I agree that the number of people who would benefit from adequate support far outweighs the cheaters - it is this group that makes GIS such a hard sell. Personally I see many advantages to it, what is needed to get it accomplished is the concern. Many people problems could be resolved with less costs and more humanity. The transition phase will take be a challenge- the devil is in the details?
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
