The St Anne’s JCR has unanimously passed a motion in support of furthering the Living Wage campaign at the college. The JCR body at St Anne’s now hopes to eventually join the likes of All Souls College, Green Templeton and Brasenose (who all paid the Living Wage last year) through lobbying the college to pay all staff the Living Wage.
The motion mandates the JCR president to lobby the college towards becoming an accredited Living Wage employer. It dictates that the college OUSU representative should attend the central campaign meetings and be a liaison between the central campaign and the college.
The Living Wage, a figure calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy, takes into account earnings in relation to the amount of money required to cover basic living costs and meaningfully participate in society. It stands at £7.65 outside of London, while the minimum wage is currently £6.31 for 21 year olds and over.
Medic George Gillett and Geographer Jo Hynes, both second years, proposed and seconded the motion respectively.
Hynes highlighted the campaign’s importance, especially in a place as expensive as Oxford, arguing, “Oxford is the 7th most expensive place to rent property in the UK and the cost of living is rising more sharply under this government than at any other time in the post-war era. Therefore, it’s vital that we pay people a wage which reflects the true cost of living.”
With the JCR body on board, support from relevant College authorities must now be sought. At the meeting, it was stressed that staff, such as scouts and catering team members, must be included in discussion at every level.
“It is important to note that we are not going ahead without consulting with the College staff that currently get paid less than the Living Wage,” commented Christina Toenshoff, JCR president.
“We are only starting the campaign if the people concerned want us to do so.” Such consultation will now proceed.
However, one student expressed misgivings about the economic implications of the Living Wage, saying, “If a Living Wage were to be enforced then the College could be forced to raise living costs for undergraduates or reduce the number of staff that it hires. Both of these have economic and moral costs; is it fair to fire workers so that others can be paid more? The motion does not question the fact that the staff have made no complaints about their wages. The idea of a Living Wage fails to consider differences between individuals, for instance the Living Wage assumes that everybody is supporting children which isn’t true.”
This motion follows the university’s commitment to pay all directly employed staff the Living Wage, although this does not include staff hired through third party agencies.
Andrew Grey, Chair of the Oxford Living Wage campaign, urged students to remember that many outsourced employees do not benefit. He said, “Some colleges may offer benefits to their staff, such as pensions or meals in hall, instead of paying a Living Wage. Therefore, college authorities need to be ersuaded of the need to pay their staff the full rate of £7.65 an hour, in addition to any benefits.”
He referred to the campaign’s social media and the OUSU website as sources of more information. He summarised his ultimate motivation for the Living Wage campaign to be that “No-one should face poverty whilst they are working”.
On Thursday night, members of the college met to discuss “the next steps of the campaign”. A Facebook campaign has also been launched to support the JCR’s efforts.
