50 signatures reached
To: Ed Miliband
Fairer Pay now
Change the Low Pay Commission's name to Fair Pay Commission and give it an additional remit and resources to make recommendations to Parliament on curbing pay inequality in the UK through actions such as caps on pay ratios in the public sector and requirements on medium and big companies in the private sector to publish their pay ratios
Why is this important?
The Labour Manifesto rightly says it is important to strive for greater equality in the UK. It commits to raising the National Minimum Wage to living wage levels by 2020. But this will not deal with rising pay inequality in the public sector - where taxpayers' money often gives the top more than 10 times the wage of the lowest paid. Nor does it deal with huge and unjustified salaries and bonuses in large private sector firms - many of which receive huge amounts of public money - and where top incomes are often several hundred times greater than those at the bottom. A renamed Fair Pay Commission would examine both low and high pay. It would make recommendations to Parliament to reduce income inequality and will monitor progress on a year by year basis. Curbing excessive high pay is not only fair, it is also important for the economy. It will encourage longer-term investment, raise middle and lower incomes across the board and reduce the fizz at the top of the housing boom.
