Inverness councillors call on firms to increase pay to reach the national living wage but debate sparks acrimony
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A debate about how to move Inverness closer to living wage status has ended in acrimony after a heated debate at the local area committee.
Councillors Ken Gowans and Glynis Campbell-Sinclair tabled a motion that sought to get the council to “undertake” a programme to deliver living wage designation
But it foundered on whether the local authority had the power to do so and a "severely weakened" counter proposal was agreed instead.
The committee agreed to have the "ambition" to establish the living wage in Inverness, after this was proposed by Cllr Carolyn Caddick and Cllr Duncan Macpherson.
Cllr Gowans was left in “disbelief” as he feels the issue will now be kicked into the long grass.
“Achieving the status would enhance the city’s reputation, it would make the area much more attractive for people coming here to work, something we desperately need, given that we are a few weeks away from a no-deal Brexit,” he said.
“And some of the areas that are the most affected by low wages are the very ones we have here – tourism, hospitality and the retails sector.
“We should be showing support for people, the very vulnerable, who find themselves in very uncertain times and this would have been a really positive move.
“This underlines that the city committee in general and this administration have shown one thing during their tenure and that is overall lack of ambition.”
But his ward colleague Cllr Andrew Jarvie said he backs the living wage but could not back the motion as what was being asked was unclear.
“A huge variety of businesses and employers who have taken part in the voluntary scheme have reported increases in productivity, increases in happiness and wellbeing, a lot of great things," he said.
“There is a lot to shout about with the living wage but the issue at hand with the motion is what were they asking for, what were they asking the city committee or the council to do?
“There is no power the council has to force people to pay the living wage.
The city committee on its own cannot demand the council does one thing for Inverness only – and if you promote it for Inverness then why only Inverness?
“Then people started nit-picking over whether it was an aspiration or an ambition. I mean for goodness sake – what difference does that really make?
"The benefits are clear, the reason for businesses going into the living wage are clear and we are left to what is the difference between ambition and aspiration.
“And then we were left with something that I have no idea of what was actually being asked nor do I have any idea how this would help anybody at all. It is completely frustrating for something that I support because of the most pedantic nonsense.
“I wouldn’t want to abstain but for all the reason I said there – is this the righ time to go promoting such a thing when people are a lot more concerned about outright having jobs.
“I think when you go pushing something like this in the middle of a recession you miss having a good buzz launch, good PR, and getting some action as a result and it instead just fades away because it was launched at the wrong time.”
Provost and leader of Inverness committee, Cllr Helen Carmichael, claimed the debate illustrated there was a desire among all members to establish the living wage in the city.
“Members have agreed to the principle of aspiring to achieve living wage designation status for Inverness.
The motion put forward by Cllr Ken Gowans and Cllr Glynis Campbell Sinclair and amendment by Cllr Carolyn Caddick and Cllr Duncan MacPherson is a measure of support from City of Inverness Area councillors towards the ambition to achieve living wage designation status for Inverness.”
