by Cary Gee
THE Wage Concern campaign has won its first battle in its fight to protect the national minimum wage from the Private Member’s Employment Opportunities Bill. USDAW, the shopworkers’ union, and Unison joined forces with Tribune to lobby Parliament on May 15, the day the bill was scheduled to receive its second reading in the House of Commons.
Labour’s “new media cyber warrior” John Prescott launched Wage Concern’s online campaign with the two unions in a bid to kill the bill proposed by Christopher Chope and backed by 10 other senior Tory MPs. But Mr Chope withdrew the bill – which would have given employers the right to negotiate a lower rate of pay than the current minimum wage – fearing defeat and after receiving an invitation to debate its contents with USDAW’s general secretary John Hannett on BBC’s Today programme.
It was Mr Hannett who kicked off proceedings in the House on Friday. He was followed onto the podium by lifelong anti-low pay campaigner Rodney Bickerstaffe and Kevin Curran of Unite who speaks on behalf of hotel workers, among the lowest-paid employees in the country.
Also speaking at the meeting was young Labour activist Alex Ross, who started the campaign when he wrote to Mr Prescott asking for his help after noting that his local Conservative MP, Philip Davies, was backing Mr Chope’s bill.
Mr Prescott gave a barnstorming performance, defending Labour’s record on the issue and saying that the minimum wage was much too important to the millions who have benefited from it for the future of the minimum wage to be trusted to the Conservative Party.
One hundred and two Labour MPs signed an Early Day Motion, within four hours of its being tabled, calling on David Cameron to distance himself from the bill. At Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown called for the bill to be defeated.
Mr Prescott, who has vowed to keep up the campaign until Mr Chope’s bill is defeated, said: “Cameron’s refusal to publicly denounce this bill for what it is, a thinly disguised attack on the minimum wage and those who have so far benefited from it, is damning.”
He added: “This is a clear sign of where a future Tory government’s priorities lie. Inheritance tax cuts for the very rich. Wage cuts for the very poor.”
John Hannett, who voiced his regret at being unable to debate the bill with Mr Chope, nonetheless praised what he described as “great victory for people power” and reiterated his intention to “continue to fight to defend the minimum wage from all who seek to destroy it.”
The bill is scheduled to be heard late on a Friday afternoon, a time traditionally reserved for private members’ business. Before its hearing the campaign will continue to lobby members in the strongest possible terms.
One of the original signatories, Nigel Evans, appears to have already dropped his support. He failed to put his name to an Early Day Motion defending the bill and
is reported to have told campaigners he did not fully reallise its implications.
