We recently caught up with Councillor Jane Meagher, Chair of the Edinburgh Living Wage Action Group. Jane was elected as the Labour councillor for the Portobello/Craigmillar ward in May 2022. She is also the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener at the City of Edinburgh Council.
Tell us about your organisation and your role.
I’m the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council. The Council have over 19,000 employees providing over 700 services – helping to support more than 500,000 people who call this city home. Through our Edinburgh Guarantee we work hard to try and ensure that all our residents have the opportunity to work in a job that pays a real living wage. Using the Scottish Government’s Young Person’s Guarantee and No One Left Behind funding, we are supporting employers with a wage incentive funding to pay the real living wage when they employ a person who has barriers to employment. We have also been providing fully funded, six month paid work experience placements within the council and third-sector organisations. The individuals are paid the real living wage while on these placements.
Why is paying the real Living Wage important for your organisation?
All workers should be and feel valued. All of the research shows that the living wage helps to put more money into people’s pockets and increases employee retention too. Tackling poverty in Edinburgh remains one of the Council’s key priorities and no one should experience in-work poverty. We want to make sure everyone can take advantage of everything the Capital has to offer.
Why do you think committing to the real Living Wage is important for workers in Edinburgh City?
We all have a part to play in tackling low pay and insecure work. At a time of record inflation, the living wage is one step we can all take to make sure everyone in Edinburgh receives a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. It really is more vital than ever. Good working conditions are also important, including the right to belong to a Trade Union.
What do you think are the barriers that must be overcome to see more workers paid the real Living Wage?
It remains a challenging time for businesses, and they may wonder if they can afford it. Most employers want to pay this rate, but might find it hard to justify what is perceived as a higher cost for the business – but there are so many benefits to being a fair employer and providing workers with financial security and when you consider the costs to a business to recruit to replace and train up new staff it is actually often most cost efficient to pay the existing staff more. I actually think many employers have been inspired by Edinburgh’s new ‘Living Wage City’ status. We’ve doubled the number of organisations signing up in the city to become Living Wage Accredited, which is amazing. It would be great if that trend could continue.
What’s the best thing about your job?
I get to meet people living in my ward and from all over the city and hear their stories and ideas. Edinburgh has a great web of kind, passionate and inspiring people working together to improve the city and improve lives, and I’m able to drive forward a lot of that work.
What is your favourite view in the world?
The view from my office window at the City Chambers is a strong contender. I can see right across to the High Street and in August the buzz of the Fringe quite literally fills the room! That said, it’s hard to beat the scene of the sand and the sea on a sunny stroll along the Portobello Prom in my ward.
What are you most looking forward to?
We have a really strong pipeline of new, affordable and social homes we’re going to build and we’re investing in existing Council homes too. I’m looking forward to seeing all of those changes take shape. Everyone deserves a safe and warm welcoming place to live. It has often been said that Edinburgh is a city of two halves and I do think that we’re in danger of seeing that wealth gap widen rather than close. That’s why it’s so important that we prioritise tackling poverty and inequality,