The living wage campaign celebrated a further success this week, as a new pay rate for cleaners working in the OUSU buildings came into effect. Last May, then-OUSU President David J Townsend promised that staff working in their buildings would receive the living wage, after a Cherwell investigation revealed that cleaners in the OUSU buildings were being paid over £1.00 per hour less than the living wage at that time.
As of 1st May, staff working in the University buildings run by the Estate Services have recieved the living wage, now set at £7.65 per hour. The Estate Services manage some 235 buildings owned by the University.
Andrew Grey, Chair of the Oxford Living Wage Campaign, told Cherwell, “As the student-led Oxford Living Wage Campaign is an OUSU campaign, it is especially good news that all OUSU cleaners are now paid the living wage. OUSU have worked hard to ensure this happened, and it is very encouraging to see that the Living Wage is increasingly being implemented across the University.”
Grey continued, “Now that the University has made this significant step forward, the Living Wage Campaign hopes that the departments and colleges who do not yet pay the Living Wage will realise how important it is to do so.”
Posting on the OUSU blog, Dan Tomlinson, VP for Charities and Community wrote, “OUSU’s Living Wage Campaign has been out talking to cleaners in Wellington Square regularly this year. Their stories are what move us to campaign for the living wage. Working long hours, across multiple jobs, at unsociable hours and being paid less than the living wage is something no-one should have to do. We all deserve dignity in our work.”
He continued, “But the work goes on. As long as we keep meeting staff at our University who are being paid less than the Living Wage, we will be here. The University has a big decision to make this summer on the issue of the Living Wage so this is probably the most crucial time in the campaign’s history.”
The Oxford Living Wage Campaign has seen a series of successes this year, having secured the wage for workers at St Anne’s, Mansfield, the Balvatnik School of Government, as well as the Maths, Physics, Biochemistry, and Education departments.
The UK living wage is calculated annually by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University. The current wage is set at £7.65, up from £7.45 last year.
A spokesperson for Oxford University told Cherwell, “We are pleased that the living wage will now be paid to all contracted staff working in University buildings managed by our Estates Services. The University has made considering ethical matters in its procurement practices a priority, which includes the payment of a living wage.”
