We need to talk about power
There’s a phrase circulating at the moment: “build back better”.
I’m not sure I like it very much. It sounds more like wishful thinking than a serious plan. I don’t see much evidence that we are in fact ‘building back better’ in the UK – it looks more like a mad rush to get ‘back to normal’ instead.
But ‘normal’ isn’t a great place for many people in this country – especially those on low and precarious incomes, including many of our key workers. Just over 5 million workers in the UK earn less than the Living Wage (that’s about 1 in 5 of all jobs).
If we are serious about making this country a fairer place, then we will need to make it happen. And that requires power.
Big Business rules?
Doesn’t power just belong to Government and big business? People often talk about ‘big business’ as though it was an untouchable and unmovable object – something we don’t have any power to influence.
But power is just the ability to make things happen. And it turns out that we have significantly more power than we realise.
We need to learn to talk about ‘big community’ not just ‘big business’, because it turns out that when communities get organised, they can have significant impact.
Consider this story about Tate & Lyle Sugars.
Tate & Lyle Sugars
Founded in 1878 and still based in the Royal Docks in East London, Tate & Lyle Sugars is one of the UK’s oldest and largest businesses. In November 2020, after a community organising campaign by Citizens UK, they agreed to become an accredited Living Wage Employer, paying all of their staff the Living Wage or more.
Gerald Mason, Senior Vice President of Tate and Lyle Sugars, said:
“Tate & Lyle Sugars is proud to have been formally accredited as a Living Wage employer. It has been the cleaners, security guards and catering staff who have kept our factories clean, safe and well-fed over the last 6 difficult months. We’re pleased to recognise their value and role in helping us feed the nation.”
One of the local community organisers in Newham who helped to negotiate with Tate & Lyle, is Caroline Verdant, who is a mother and a local teacher. Afterwards, she wrote a moving Blog about what it felt like, as a black woman, to sit in Tate & Lyle’s offices and help to bring about fairer pay for their workers.
“Being the only black person sitting at the table with the leaders in the UK’s sugar industry (since 1878), Tate & Lyle’s commitment towards paying the Real Living Wage speaks volumes to me. Their accreditation is far more than just a positive step towards economic equality, but very much also a step towards racial equality—a step towards reversing a cycle that has lasted for centuries by ensuring every worker is lifted up from in-work-poverty, and given back a sense of dignity.”
Social movements work
Tate & Lyle Sugars have joined over 7,000 other employers in the UK who are Living Wage Employers – all committed to paying the Living Wage. It is a national movement, bringing hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty. It was borne, 20 years ago, out of community organising in East London.
Joining the Living Wage Movement is also entirely voluntary. Organisations join because they want to. In some cases, it is because their local communities have persuaded them to do so.
Who would have thought that a bit of community organising in a deprived part of London might lead to the formation of a national movement that is delivering a significant impact on poverty across the UK?
Clean for Good itself emerged out of the same process of community organising. A community organiser working for a church in the City of London listened to the stories of low paid workers there. This provided the momentum to establish a new business that would deliver fair pay and dignified work for London’s cleaners.
‘Big Community’ drives social change
It is entirely possible to deliver significant social change in the UK today – if we work together. When we work together in our communities – even across divides – we can become a Big Community and, as we have seen, that is a very powerful thing.
I am certainly not against business (I run one after all!) or even big business. At its best, business can deliver great social outcomes. Every business needs to recognise that it has a social purpose and a social responsibility. The best businesses already know this and act on it. The rest sometimes need to be reminded of this.
We see in the UK’s Living Wage Movement a great example of how Big Community can hold Big Business to account, workt with it, and deliver change.
So, if we really want to ‘build back better’, it means that we need to organise and make it happen.
If you’re a business or a charity, then consider joining the Living Wage Movement, it is an important statement of values
If you’re an employee in a large organisation which isn’t a member, work with your colleagues to push for change – don’t be afraid to ask
If you’re a member of a local community organisation or charity, why not join Citizens UK and get involved?
As a business we continue to work for the day when every cleaner in the UK earns a fair wage and has dignified work.
But we recognise that to make this happen, we also need to work with others, including our communities, for a bigger impact. Let’s work together.
Blog by Tim Thorlby
About us : Making fair pay and dignified work a reality
Clean for Good is an ethical cleaning company for London, cleaning offices and workspaces across the city. We are a Living Wage Employer, we directly employ our cleaners and we train and manage our cleaners professionally. Founded in a church in the City of London by a group of churches and charities, we launched in 2017 and continue to grow.
For more information and to get a free quote for cleaning your offices, go to www.cleanforgood.co.uk
Follow us at @clean4good.
Tim Thorlby is the Managing Director of Clean for Good. You can find him at @TimThorlby