TUC calls for new minimum wage

Today's meeting between the TUC and the Low Pay Commission, (LPC) which advises the government on wages, will focus on the minimum wage.

The trade union body will recommend that the LPC should push to raise the adult national minimum wage (NMW) next year to £6.14 an hour, an increase of 21 pence an hour.

The LPC is currently deciding upon the wage levels for the period between October 2011 and September 2012, and has been told by the TUC that an increase of 3.5 per cent in the NMW is 'sensible and affordable.'

The TUC argues that the 21 pence increase would benefit almost a million workers and help address the gender pay gap, as two in three of those benefiting would be women.

The union also says that a rise in NMW is required to make sure that those workers on low pay do not see their earnings falling behind the rest of the country.

TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, said, “The minimum wage has already helped hundreds of thousands of families without any negative side effects.

“Its success has shown that the UK economy can easily cope with sensible labour market regulation that makes life at work fairer. Indeed, the UK's economic problems seem to have been caused by too little regulation rather than too much.

“A rise in the minimum wage is needed to ensure that working families are not left in poverty, and most business organisations now agree that an increase of some sort would be affordable,” he added.