Glasgow City Council leads pleas for public sector staff to get 'living wage'

Glasgow City Council was the first in the country to introduce the measure, which guarantees its employees an hourly rate of 7.

To date, however, no other local authorities have followed its lead, a situation described as "disappointing" by unions, who say some 700,000 workers across the public and private sectors earn less than the proposed rate.

Now, Steven Purcell, Glasgow's council leader, is to lobby ministers to introduce the living wage for all directly and indirectly employed workers in the government and associated public sector organisations.

He will also ask health secretary Nicola Sturgeon to roll out the scheme across the NHS.

Mr Purcell's move has been backed by a senior figure at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde – the largest health board in Britain – who has called on the health service to implement the new wage.

Dr Linda de Caestecker, the board's director of public health, believes employers have a responsibility to help "mitigate the effects of the economic downturn" on their staff.

However, CBI Scotland dismissed the idea as a "worthy aspiration" that could not be afforded at a time when local authorities were facing budgetary pressures.

Mr Purcell, who will announce his intentions at a council meeting on Thursday, told The Scotsman: "The public sector has a crucial role to play in alleviating in-work poverty, so I am delighted that the director of public health for NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde has endorsed our campaign and recommended that the NHS adopts a similar initiative."

The scheme was introduced in Glasgow last March, benefiting some 681 staff. It meant the basic salaries of the council's lowest-paid workers increased from 12,200 to 13,340. The move is said to have cost the local authority about 1.2 million.

Last spring, West Dunbartonshire Council considered introducing the policy, but it eventually decided the 3.6m annual cost would prove too heavy a burden.

At present, 140 employers have signed up to the living wage campaign, covering more than 46,000 staff. They include major firms such as Dell and BAA Scotland.

But the number of public-sector bodies involved is minimal, with most linked to Glasgow City Council, such as the "arms-length" bodies Culture & Sport Glasgow and City Building (Glasgow) LLP.

The lowest pay point in the NHS is 6.76, but that is set to increase to 6.98 from April under the terms of a three-year pay deal that runs until 2011.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said minimum wage levels were determined by the UK government, but that the lowest hourly pay rate in the Scottish Government of 6.53 was set to increase to 7.23 come August.

"The most recent pay deal for Scottish Government staff had a particular emphasis on assisting our lowest-paid staff," he added.