The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter has celebrated its second anniversary, and now reaches 450 employers and over 230,000 workers in the city-region.
The Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter Supporters’ Network was first launched on the 22nd of July 2019.
The concept of a Good Employment Charter, to address the quality of work in the city region, was developed by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and other local authority leaders. With more than a fifth of jobs in the city region paying less than the real Living Wage and many others facing insecure work, it was clear that for many, wages were not meeting the basic cost of living. The Independent Prosperity Review, led by leading economists in the UK and US, recommended that the Charter should be used as a mechanism for raising productivity and wages.
Since its launch, The Charter reaches over 450 employers. This includes over 180 supporters and 29 full members. In total, over 230,000 employees in Greater Manchester now work for businesses meeting or working towards the standards set out in the Good Employment Charter.
Joanne Roney, GMCA Chief Executive Lead for Economy and Business, said:
We are incredibly proud that during these challenging times, Greater Manchester employers are focused on growing the good employment movement. Through the Charter more businesses are paying their employees a real living wage, improving security at work and, through these actions, improving productivity right across the city-region. Greater Manchester is fast becoming a beacon of good employment for the whole country.”
Since his re-election earlier this year, Andy Burnham has also commited to plans for Greater Manchester to become the UK’s first Living Wage City-Region. A new real Living Wage City-Region action group, headed by Local Enterprise Partnership chair Lou Cordwell, are setting out plans to achieve the aim of all jobs in the city-region paying the real Living Wage by 2030. The Good Employment Charter is a key tool in fulfilling this ambition.
