CSSA NEWS
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Press Release from the CSSA – 25th March 2010
Released on 26/03/2010
CSSA responds to the BUDGET REPORT AS THE NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE IS SET TO RISE TO £5.93 AN HOUR
The CSSA today officially responded to the Budget report and the revelation that the National Minimum Wage is set to £5.93 per hour in October. This represents a rise of 2.2% from the current wage level at £5.80 an hour.
Andrew Large, Chief Executive of the CSSA commented that
“The CSSA is concerned that too high a rise will damage the interests of all parties concerned. This increase risks ultimately harming the interests of low wage cleaners who see their hours reduced, thus having less take home pay. Cleaning clients will not allow this increase to be passed on to them, which will leave cleaning businesses out of pocket and with no option but to reduce hours and make redundancies to preserve their wafer thin margins. Everybody loses.”
In the Budget speech on Wednesday the Chancellor Alistair Darling laid out his plans for economic recovery. He laid out several plans to provide assistance to small businesses as part of a strategy to consolidate the recovery before fiscal tightening begins in earnest. The CSSA is concerned that the main thrust of the economy recovery plan hinges on substantial economic growth being realised in the coming years, which is far from certain. The CSSA believes that such a rise in the minimum wage will adversely affect businesses that are still reeling from the effects of the recession.
The CSSA’s position has been to support reasonable increases in the minimum wage. The CSSA has supported London Citizens in their London Living Wage Campaign, which resulted in cleaners in the city receiving improved pay conditions. The principle of the campaign was based on a package that links better pay to better motivation and staff performance and thus better quality of service provided.
In this context, a blanket 2.2% increase that is not linked to improvements in productivity or changes in working practices flies in the face of the wage freezes that have been experienced in many businesses as the price for retaining jobs. Andrew Large also commented that “We believe that substantial growth should precede any substantial rise in the minimum wage and not the other way round. Too high an increase at this stage will damage the employment prospects of many potential employees as businesses would be forced to further tighten their belts and this would threaten to derail the Chancellor’s recovery plans.”
Notes for Editors
Established in 1967, the Cleaning and Support Services Association is the UK trade association for private sector employers in the contract cleaning sector. CSSA members are among the leading providers of out-sourced cleaning services to the NHS.
If you would like to know more about the benefits that the association can bring to your business or are interested in becoming a member of the CSSA, please contact Andrew Large on 020 7920 9632 or email alarge@cleaningassoc.org. Alternatively, further information can be found on the website at www.cleaningindustry.org
Contact
Mahriar Hussain / Andrew Large
Email: mhussain@cleaningassoc.org
Telephone: 020 7920 9632
