we were invited by the rep to write down our concerns and that he would then present them in the meeting, which is today!!!
So this is what I wrote:
Dear ....
Operations Director - ............
I work as a warehouse operative at ... that is under your management. The people working as warehouse
operatives do the physical work of moving stock in and out of the warehouse, my
job involves packing books in to the boxes and get the boxes ready to meet the
lorries arriving at their allocated time slots. I’d like to take this opportunity to
communicate to management that warehouse operatives are people and that these
people deserve the dignity of being paid a living wage for their labour.
The fact is that the warehouse at ... is mostly run by people earning less than a living wage, let me take this opportunity
to explain what it’s like living on a low income– I avoid the expense of
running a car or using public transport and I cycle to work, last week I needed
a front light for my bicycle with enough power to enable me to see the road,
this was expensive, it cost £36, I earn £6.50/hour so I calculated that I
worked 5.6 hours to pay for a light for my bicycle – you see, the return I get
from my labour is really quite inadequate.
I could go off on a long rant about inequality and the cost of living
but that would be inappropriate in this context. However I hope the above
example illustrates the daily struggle of living on an inadequate income, it’s
challenging. I can however recommend you
read one of our titles ‘The Nearly Almost Perfect People’ by Michael Booth ISBN
9780224089623, it makes the point that Scandanavian societies are based on
principles of equality and that this produces basically happy people – that was
an aside.
So back to the main issue, we made a
request for a living wage to our employer ... through the
staff forum; the response was that the hourly rate of £6.50/hour was
legal. Point taken, the warehouse
operatives under your management on the ... site are paid the legal minimum set
by the government. But the government does
not pay our wages; we are working for a large and profitable corporation.
I
have a question.
This company is part of a large and
reputable coporation and a globally recognized brand, so surely this status
carries with it some social responsibility.
Considering the financial success of the company that runs in to 100s of
millions of euros and growing profits for the stakeholders don’t you think that
it might be damaging to the corporation’s reputation that workers in the
distribution warehouse at ... are paid less than a living wage?
