The Living Wage campaign in the UK
| Published date | 02 October 2017 |
| Pages | 800-814 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-04-2017-0083 |
| Date | 02 October 2017 |
| Author | Edmund Heery,Deborah Hann,David Nash |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
The Living Wage campaign
in the UK
Edmund Heery, Deborah Hann and David Nash
Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Abstract
Purpose –This paper presents an account of the UK campaign for the voluntary Living Wage,
an example of civil regulation. The purpose of this paper is to identify and characterize the actors
involved in the campaign, describe methods used and examine direct and indirect consequences of the
campaign.
Design/methodology/approach –A mixed-method design is employed, reflecting the broadly framed
purpose of the research. The research used semi-structured interviews with campaigners, union
representatives and employers, observation of campaign activities and the creation of a database of
Living Wage employers.
Findings –The campaign originated in the community organizing movement, but has involved a broad
range of labor market actors, both “new”and “old.”A continuum of campaigning methods has been used,
stretching from community mobilization to appeals to employer self-interest and corporate social
responsibility. The campaign has recruited 3,000 employers, led to wage increases for thousands of workers
and registered indirect effects by shaping the policies of governments, employers and unions.
Originality/value –The research presents a novel account of the UK’s distinctive Living Wage campaign,
a notable example of the civil regulation of the labor market.
Keywords Trade unions, Civil regulation, Civil society organization, Living Wage, Low pay
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
At a ceremony at the British Library in October 2016, Sadiq Kahn, Mayor of London,
announced the new rate for the London Living Wage of £9.75 per hour. Simultaneously,
Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Wales, and Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland,
announced that the out-of-London Living Wage was rising to £8.45 per hour. All three
announcements were jointly arranged by Citizens UK and the Living Wage Foundation
(LWF), the associated civil society organizations behind the UK Living Wage campaign.
The announcements themselves were examples of what has been described as “civil
regulation”(Williams et al., 2011), the unilateral formulation of standards and norms of good
management practice by civil society organizations that they seek to have adopted by
employers. Regulation of this kind has attracted growing attention from researchers as a
rising feature of developed economies (Freeman, 2005).
This paper aims to provide an account of the Living Wage campaign. To this end, it
considers three issues. First, it identifies and considers the nature of the “new actors,”which
have generated the Living Wage campaign, noting their distinguishing characteristics and
the types of relationship they have developed amongst themselves as well as with
traditional industrial relations actors. Second, it examines campaign methods, drawing a
distinction between pressure tactics on the one hand and pro-business methods eliciting
positive employer support on the other. Third, the paper presents original data on the
outcomes of the Living Wage campaign, including evidence on the growth of the campaign,
Employee Relations
Vol. 39 No. 6, 2017
pp. 800-814
Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-04-2017-0083
Received 12 April 2017
Revised 26 May 2017
1July2017
Accepted 6 July 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
© Edmund Heery, Deborah Hann and David Nash. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This
article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may
reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article ( for both commercial and
non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full
terms of this licence may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
800
ER
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