Cllr Kitcat

Green Cllr Jason Kitcat said a report from the National Equality Panel is a "call to action" on ensuring fairer pay fo rall across the  UK .
 
Jason will ask Brighton & Hove City Council to back Green calls for the High Pay Commission to cap excessive earnings and link top levels of pay with those at the bottom of the scale.

Cllr Kitcat said:
"The income gulf between rich and poor has widened so much over the past 40 years that an employee working a 40 hour week earning the minimum wage now has to work foraround 226 years to receive the same reward pocketed by a FTSE 100 CEO in one year.

“The poorest 10 per cent of people in the  UK make do on little more than £50 a week, while the top 10 per cent take home almost ten times that at more than £542.
 
“Though these are extremes, there are millions of people in the middle affected by the massive gap in pay between different ends of the scale.

“Greens believe the size of this gap needs to shrink. The growing gulf between rich and poorcauses problems forus all, and there’s plenty of evidence that a fairer society would be a more sustainable, happier one – with forexample reduced mental illness, obesity, crime and disorder.
 
“We want to see levels of pay linked, with those at the bottom not allowed to fall off the scale into poverty even though they’re working.
 
“We need a High Pay Commission to consider what pay ratio is acceptable – top earners should restricted from earning excessively more than those at the bottom."

To view the report visit:
www.equalities.gov.uk

For more information about the Greens view:
www.brightonhovegreens.org