United and City told to pay living wage
Manchester United and Manchester City were last night facing political pressure to ensure all those who work for them are paid the “real” living wage.
Liverpool agreed less than a week ago to become only the third Premier League side to ensure everyone who worked on their behalf would receive the independently calculated living wage.
Now United and City have been targeted amid a campaign against the use of cheaper labour within British sport, the scale of which was exposed by The Daily Telegraph at the start of the season. Liverpool will increase pay rates for workers from June – at a cost of around £1million per year.
The Telegraph has learnt that Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, has spoken to City and that his office has also contacted United, to ascertain the extent of their failure to ensure all those who work for them receive a wage which this week rose to £10.20 per hour in London and £8.75 elsewhere, having previously been £9.75 and £8.45, respectively.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority was yesterday also set to announce it was becoming an accredited Living Wage Employer, with Burnham, the former culture secretary, expected to publicly urge every other employer in the region to follow suit. Premier League clubs committed two years ago to paying an independently calculated living wage to all permanent staff but an investigation by The Telegraph found that was being undermined by what campaigners branded their “immoral” and “obscene” use of cheaper labour at a time when they were generating billions in revenue.
That included United, who confirmed yesterday that not all casual staff received the independently calculated living wage, as well as revealing that security personnel provided by a third party were not guaranteed to be paid that much. City, meanwhile, said they were working towards ensuring all subcontracted staff were paid at least £8.75 per hour and that they would continue to do so irrespective of any external pressure.
Such pressure paid off in London in September when the operators of West Ham United’s London Stadium home agreed to pay all workers there the London Living Wage. That was after the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, ordered the change at the publicly owned venue, for which he is ultimately responsible.
Khan had written to West Ham, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace urging them to pay the London Living Wage. Chelsea and Everton remain the only Premier League clubs accredited as Living Wage Employers.
Michael Pugh of Citizens UK, which launched the Living Wage campaign in 2001, said: “It is shocking to hear Manchester United and Manchester City are still not paying a real living wage to all staff, despite earning a massive £972 million between them in revenue last year.
“Premier League clubs can easily afford to pay hard working cleaners, stadium staff and other low-paid workers enough to live on but are choosing not to, so we’re encouraging United and City fans to demand better from their mega-rich clubs.”