Crying Out For a Living Wage

By Katie Coyne

When the head office of the 'world's local bank' ignored a polite invitation from a neighbour to discuss the treatment of cleaning staff at its East London premises, the HSBC made a huge mistake.

The corporation had just moved its UK headquarters to Docklands in the East End of London. The EastEnders were organised; The East London Communities Organisation (Telco) made sure of that.

Telco wanted to talk about the decision by HSBC to contract out cleaning and catering, a practice that leads to poorer pay and conditions. They won HSBC's attention when they interrupted the bank's AGM and a church affiliated to the organisation brought the Oxford St branch of HSBC to a standstill by paying in its candle money in small change.

Telco is an alliance of churches, mosques, a Buddhist centre, community projects, schools and colleges. It is currently campaigning energetically for a living wage at a rate of £6.80 - calculating this is necessary to keep people above the poverty line in London. The current minimum wage is not high enough for the costs of living in London. In March Telco co-hosted a conference on the living wage with the London School of Economics based research group the Centre for Economic Performance. The conference brought together many academics and specialists, but it is clear that Telco recognises that 'people power' is essential for change. Individuals who might be ignored command a powerful presence when they come together.

(Red Pepper. April 2003, no. 106)