UK TUC demands rise in minimum wage to £15 for all workers

The government, however, said raising the minimum wage too high or increasing it too quickly could raise the unemployment level. This year's April increase in the minimum wage was the largest ever rise, it said.

The government must deliver a macroeconomic approach that boosts demand and creates growth and come out with a plan to strengthen and extend collective bargaining across the economy, including introducing fair pay agreements to set minimum pay and conditions across whole sectors, TUC said.

A life-long learning and skills strategy should be formulated by the government to fill labour shortages, boost productivity, so that workers can update their skills throughout their working life, it said.

The government also needs to carry out corporate governance reforms to prioritise long-term sustainable growth, rather than short-term focus on shareholder returns, apart from formulating industrial and trade policies to promote good jobs and ensure that businesses compete on a level playing field, it said.

When companies are paying increased dividends to shareholders, it should be ensured that workers receive ‘their fair share’ by increasing minimum wage rates now, rather than waiting for the next expected uprating in April, TUC argues.

TUC said the government needs to achieve two key things to deliver a £15 minimum wage. First, it should set a new minimum wage ‘bite’ target at 75 per cent of median hourly pay. The bite of the minimum wage has increased throughout its history, beginning at 47 per cent and now on its way to 66 per cent by 2024.

Second, it should deliver a return to normal wage growth. Recent progress on the minimum wage has been dampened by stagnant wage growth. But it is only since the financial crisis that wage growth has stalled. From 1970 until 2007 real wages grew by an average of 33 per cent a decade before falling below zero in the 2010s.

Evidence from around the world suggests higher minimum wages led to higher wages overall, rather than job losses, TUC added.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)