Greater Manchester Citizens lay down Living Wage challenge to University of Manchester

Leaders of Greater Manchester Citizens are taking action today to call on the University of Manchester to join others in the region in paying a real Living Wage.

The real Living Wage is based on the cost of living and has risen to £9 per hour this week.

1 in 5, or 22% of all jobs in the UK – pay less than the real Living Wage, according to new research from accountancy firm KPMG revealed this week

• But nearly four in five Universities including the University of Manchester are not paying a real Living Wage to all employees and sub-contracted staff.

Greater Manchester Citizens, the local alliance of community organising charity Citizens UK, joined with the University of Manchester Students Union, Unison, Manchester Central Methodists, local Councillors, students and university staff to challenge University Registrar Patrick Hackitt to do the right thing and sign up the University of Manchester as an accredited employer with the Living Wage Foundation.

The University has confirmed it pays the real Living Wage to in-house staff but not to sub-contracted staff. Accrediting with the Living Wage Foundation ensures that every year, pay of both in-house staff and sub-contracted staff rises with the cost of living.

Students, staff and local people have gathered at 12 noon outside the University of Manchester's Office for Social Responsibility to deliver a letter asking University Registrar Patrick Hackitt to discuss the University signing up with the Living Wage Foundation, guaranteeing all employees and sub-contracted staff the real living wage and showing moral leadership to other employers in the city.

Will Ranger, a Living Wage campaigner with Greater Manchester Citizens said: “What better signal could the University send to the people of Greater Manchester that they take their status in the community seriously than to become a real Living Wage employer? Everyone in our city deserves to live in dignity and security and students, academics and local people all agree that it’s the right thing to do.”