Equal pay for equal work.. at any age
MY COLLEAGUE David Linden, the SNP MP for Glasgow East, is stepping up his campaign to change the law so that all workers are entitled to a real living wage – currently £8.75 an hour in Scotland.
The power to set the minimum wage is reserved to Westminster and successive Tory and Labour governments have stubbornly refused to introduce a mandatory real living wage.
Worse still, the UK Government discriminate against younger workers, who aren’t even entitled to the basic minimum wage.
Those over 25 get £7.83 an hour but those aged 21 to 24 get just £7.28, 18 to 20-year-olds get just £5.90, under 18s get a measly £4.20, and apprentices get just £3.70.
It’s not right that two people doing the same job should get different levels of pay purely because one happens to be younger.
As someone who left school and started work at the age of 16, David knows what it’s like facing this discrimination.
It penalises workers to the tune of thousands of pounds a year just because of their age, and takes no account of their needs, responsibilities and living costs.
The SNP will keep campaigning for equal pay but if the UK Government won’t change the law then they must devolve the powers so that the SNP Government can introduce a real living wage for all workers in Scotland.