IT IS TIME FOR A LOW PAY KITEMARK

The issue of low pay has long concerned me. Seeing my mum work all hours she could when I was young, but still not able to make ends meet, broke my heart. From a young age work was something I was proud to do to help our family and start saving for university.
 
While at Birmingham University I worked two jobs - in later years behind the bar in the student union (we actually call it a guild at Birmingham) and the second as a marginal seat organiser. It’s all I could do to make ends meet. When I become chair of the Labour Club (BULS) my first act was to get in Labour MPs and a big charity cheque to promote Labour national minimum wage. One of my first acts as Guild President was to launch an assault on the low pay of our own staff - two inflation-busting increases and the job was far from done.
 
Today the Young Fabians are launching a new pamphlet, Ambitions for Britain's Future. I have written a chapter calling for - among other things - a 'Low pay kitemark'. A mix between the Fairtrade mark and the Duke of Edinburgh award, this kitemark, would reward employers who pay the living wage with bronze standard (the Living Wage foundation are already doing great work here); those who pay the living wage and implement Ed Miliband's idea of workers on remuneration committees with silver; and a gold award for those who also follow the John Lewis principle - that those at the top are not paid more than 75 times those at the bottom.
 
While Labour student groups around the country are making the case for both tackling systemic low pay and for the ‘squeezed middle’, mainstream causes making a real difference to those we are all in politics to help most, the national Labour party must back them up.
 
The creation of a kitemark of this kind would both allow consumers to vote with their purse to end low pay and provide a framework to deliver on social justice. In the same way that local, town and campus fairtrade committees are coalitions of economic justice campaigners for the third world, the Labour party would constitute the basis of 'fair pay' committees in our towns, cities and campus. Indeed, branch Labour parties should be encouraging their biggest employers locally to get accredited and show local voters we care.
 
In opposition we must show through our deeds - not words - what we really think it important. The 'fair pay' kitemark doesn't have to wait until we are in government; we can continue our attack on low pay now. Where Labour Students now leads the rest of our movement must follow.
 
---
 
Richard Angell is the deputy director of Progress and a former Labour Student sabbatical at the University of Birmingham and on the NUS NEC. 'Ambitious for Britiain's Future' is published by the Young Fabians and launched on Monday 21 November.