Carmarthenshire County council Labour Group Press Release

The Labour Group on Carmarthenshire County Council announced today that it will explore the implementation of the ‘living wage’ for County Council employees and contracted staff.

Group Secretary, and Councillor for Tycroes, Cllr Calum Higgins said:

“We believe in the living wage and want to explore the introducing it to Carmarthenshire. We will look at the impact on the Council budget and the impact on people’s benefits before we implement it, but we do want to help the poorest in the county get by”

The living wage outside of London is calculated by the Centre for Research and Social Policy at Loughborough university, and currently stands at £7.20 an hour.

Labour group Chair, Councillor for Tyshia, Keri Thomas said:

“We hope that implementing the living wage would give the local economy a boost. We need to look at the living wage in full before implementing it, but we believe there is a strong moral case for it. I look forward to working with the other parties on this, so it doesn’t become a political football”

The Labour group are focussed on working with the Unions to help those on the minimum wage as the Westminster government’s austerity cuts bite. The Group also hope to work closely with other Council’s, the Welsh Government, and the WLGA, to create a National strategy for the living wage.