The Living Wage: Advancing a Global Movement PDF
Preview The Living Wage: Advancing a Global Movement
i The Living Wage As wealth inequality skyrockets and trade union power declines, the living wage movement has become ever more urgent for public policymakers, academics, and – most import- antly – those workers whose wages hover close to the breadline. A real living wage in any part of the world is rarely its minimum wage: it is the minimum income needed to cover living costs and participate fully in society. Most governments’ minimum wages are still falling short, meaning millions of workers struggle to cover their living costs. This book brings new, vital insights to the conversation from a carefully selected group of contributors at the forefront of this field. By juxtaposing advances across sectors and countries, and encompassing many different approaches and indeed definitions of the living wage, Dobbins and Prowse offer a rich tapestry of approaches that may inform public policy. By including the experiences and voices of those workers earning at, or near, the living wage alongside the opinions of leading experts in this field, this book is a pioneering con- tribution for public policymakers as well as students and academics of work and employ- ment relations, public policy, organizational studies, social economics, and politics. Tony Dobbins is Professor of Work and Employment Relations at the University of Birmingham, UK. He is Visiting Professor at the University of Limerick, Ireland; the Centre for Labour Studies at the University of Malta; and president of the British Universities Industrial Relations Association. His research interests include the living wage and decent work. Peter Prowse is Professor in Human Resource Management and Employment Relations at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. His research interests include the living wage in care homes and football clubs, negotiating, work-l ife balance, and HR performance. He is a member of collaborative international research groups on the living wage. ii iii The Living Wage Advancing a Global Movement Edited by Tony Dobbins and Peter Prowse iv First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Tony Dobbins and Peter Prowse; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Tony Dobbins and Peter Prowse to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Dobbins, Tony, editor. | Prowse, Peter, editor. Title: The living wage : advancing a global movement / edited by Tony Dobbins and Peter Prowse. Description: New York : Routledge, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021014348 (print) | LCCN 2021014349 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367514907 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367514877 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003054078 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Minimum wage. | Living wage movement. | Cost and standard of living. | Working class. Classification: LCC HD4917 .L578 2022 (print) | LCC HD4917 (ebook) | DDC 331.2/3–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021014348 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021014349 ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 51490- 7 (hbk) ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 51487- 7 (pbk) ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 05407- 8 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003054078 Typeset in Bembo by Newgen Publishing UK v Contents List of figures and tables vii List of contributors ix Acknowledgements xiv 1 Introduction 1 PETER PROWSE AND TONY DOBBINS PART 1 The living wage in the UK: sector studies 11 2 The Living Wage Foundation’s ‘Real Living Wage’ campaign 13 DANIEL HOWARD 3 The real living wage and ‘the good employer’ in UK football clubs 25 PETER PROWSE AND TONY DOBBINS 4 Outsourcing and the Real Living Wage: evidence from the United Kingdom 39 EDMUND HEERY, DEBORAH HANN AND DAVID NASH 5 Employer experiences of the living wage in the higher education, hospitality and construction sectors 52 CALUM CARSON 6 What about care work and in- work poverty? The case of care workers in the UK 65 JULIE PROWSE, PETER PROWSE AND JEREMÉ SNOOK 7 Making the living wage work in SMEs: evidence from accredited employers in the UK hospitality sector 79 ANDREA WERNER vi vi Contents PART 2 The living wage in international comparative contexts 91 8 The living wage and the European Union 93 JOHN HURLEY 9 Wages and working conditions in outsourced services in Europe 107 MATHEW JOHNSON AND KAREN JAEHRLING 10 Are collective bargaining models in the Nordic countries able to secure a living wage? Experiences from low- wage industries 120 KRISTIN ALSOS AND KRISTINE NERGAARD 11 The living wage, Fight for $15, and low- wage worker campaigns in the US 135 STEPHANIE LUCE 12 The living wage movement in Canada 146 DANIELLE VAN JAARSVELD, SAMANTHA CORONEL, AND REED EAGLESHAM 13 The belated return of an Australian living wage: reworking ‘a fair go’ for the 21st century 162 JOSHUA HEALY, ANDREAS PEKAREK, AND RAY FELLS 14 Employer and employee perspectives on the living wage in New Zealand 178 JAMES ARROWSMITH, JANE PARKER, AMANDA YOUNG-H AUSER, DARRIN HODGETTS, JARROD HAAR, STUART CARR, AND SIAUTU ALEFAIO-TUGIA 15 Living wage initiatives in the garment sector: insights from Southeast Asia 191 MICHELE FORD AND MICHAEL GILLAN 16 Conclusion 206 TONY DOBBINS AND PETER PROWSE Index 211 vii Figures and tables Figures 8.1 Longer term trend of development of statutory minimum wages relative to median wages of full- time employed workers 98 8.2 Share of European Union employees earning less than 60 per cent of median full time hourly pay, percentage by sector (NACE 1d) 100 13.1 Evolution of the real minimum wage in selected OECD countries ($US 2019 PPP) 167 13.2 The relationship between minimum wages and median earnings by country 168 13.3 Incidence of low pay (less than two-thirds of median earnings), by country and decade 170 13.4 Median hourly earnings by industry and industry size category in Australia, 2019 171 Tables 3.1 Direct and indirect employment related to club activities 27 3.2 Respondents of the Luton Town FC study 28 3.3 Pay differences between Luton real living wage (RLW) rates and national living wage (NLW) hourly comparative rates 2020 30 4.1 The impact of the Living Wage on contracting 43 4.2 Gender composition of occupations benefiting from the Living Wage 46 4.3 Characteristics of employers with contract employees gaining from the Living Wage 48 6.1 Yorkshire and Humberside gross weekly pay for care workers and senior care workers in UK 2017 69 8.1 Breakdown of living costs (%) by expenditure category 101 10.1 Unionization rates, employer organization rates, and collective agreement coverage in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Last available year (%) 121 10.2 Characteristics of traditional blue- collar workers, office workers, and service personnel (ISCO- 08 level 4- 9). Norway 2018 125 10.3 Minimum wage rates in various industries and individual rates for comparison. Norway 2018 126 12.1 Minimum wage rates by province and territory 148 viii viii List of figures and tables 12.2 A comparison of living wage levels in British Columbia (2018– 2019) 150 13.1 Determining minimum wage rates in Australia 164 15.1 The garment sector as a source of revenue and employment in Southeast Asia 193 15.2 Examples of living wage initiatives in the garment sector 195 ix Contributors Siautu Alefaio- Tugia (Samoan lineage of Matautu-T ai, Sasina, Manunu ma Fagamalo) is Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, Massey University, New Zealand. Her research specialty is Pacific- indigenous humanitarian psychology and she combines extensive practice and academic experience to reinform psychology from Pacific- indigenous knowledge frameworks. Siautu has been awarded major research grants from, and acted as adviser to, various New Zealand bodies including the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), the Ministry of Education, the Counties Manukau Police Pacific Advisory Board, and the Department of Corrections. She has published exten- sively on issues concerning Pacific well- being for over ten years. Kristin Alsos is Research Director at Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research in Oslo, Norway. Her research interests include employment relations and collective bargaining, labour law and collective agreements, as well as labour migration (https:// fafo.no/ en/ staff/ fafo- management/ kristin- alsos). She is currently leading a Nordic comparative project on the future of work, financed by the Nordic Council of Ministries (https:// fafo.no/ en/ project- home). James Arrowsmith is Professor in the School of Management, Massey University, New Zealand. He has published over 50 articles in top- ranked journals and been awarded over $1m in grant funding in New Zealand and from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Jim has acted as a consultant for employers, government agencies, and trade unions, including a recent series of projects for the International Labour Organisation advising Pacific Island countries on labour reform. He is co- director of MPOWER – the Massey People, Organisations, Work and Employment Research group. Jim is on the editorial board of five leading HR and employment relations journals; is co-e ditor- in- chief of Labour and Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work; and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Human Resource Management. Stuart Carr is Professor of Psychology, Industrial and Organizational (I/ O) Psychology Program, Massey University, New Zealand. Stuart co- facilitates the End Poverty and Inequality Cluster (EPIC), which includes a focus on transitions from precarious labour to decent work and living wages. Intersecting with EPIC is Project GLOW (Global Living Organizational Wage), a multi-c ountry, multigenerational, interdis- ciplinary study of the links between decent wages (in purchasing power parity) and sustainable livelihoods for the eradication of poverty – the primary UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG1).
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