TSSA calls for rise in minimum wage

TRANSPORT Salaried Staff’s Association general secretary Gerry Doherty has called for an increase in the minimum wage and a radical rethink of flexible working policies from the next Government.

Doherty is demanding an increase in the minimum wage of more than one-third for those aged 22 and over to £6.50 an hour. The current minimum wage is £4.85 an hour.

If elected, Labour has committed to increasing the minimum wage to £5.35 in October 2006. The Liberal Democrats say they will scrap the under-18s national minimum wage rate, while the Conservative Party has pledged to keep it.

Doherty also called on the next Government to “put pressure” on the industry’s employers to improve flexible working opportunities and to focus on pensions.