The Living Wage Advancing a Global Movement

As wealth inequality skyrockets and trade union power declines, the living wage movement has become ever more urgent for public policymakers, academics, and ? most importantly ? 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 contribution for public policymakers as well as students and academics of work and employment relations, public policy, organizational studies, social economics, and politics.

1. Introduction, Part 1: The Living Wage in the UK: Sector studies, 2. The Living Wage Foundation’s ‘Real Living Wage’ Campaign, 3. The Real Living Wage and ‘The Good Employer’ in UK Football Clubs, 4. Outsourcing and the Living Wage: evidence from the UK, 5. Employer experiences of the Living Wage in the higher education, hospitality and construction sectors, 6. What About Care Work and In-Work Poverty? The Case of Care Workers in the UK, 7. Making the Living Wage work in SMEs – Evidence from accredited employers in the UK hospitality sector, Part 2: The Living Wage in International Comparative Contexts, 8. The living wage and the European Union, 9. Wages and working conditions in outsourced services in Europe, 10. Are collective bargaining models in the Nordic countries able to secure a living wage? Experiences from low wage industries, 11. The Living Wage, Fight for $15, and Low Wage Worker Campaigns in the U.S, 12. The Living Wage Movement in Canada, 13. The Belated Return of an Australian Living Wage: Reworking ‘A Fair Go’ for the 21st Century, 14. Employer and Employee Perspectives on the Living Wage in New Zealand, 15. Living Wage Initiatives in the Garment Sector: Insights from Southeast Asia, 16. Conclusion

Tony Dobbins is Professor of Work and Employment Relations at 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-life balance, and HR performance. He is a member of collaborative international research groups on the living wage.