 One Fair Wage is a campaign set up by the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) to encourage organisations to pledge their support for a Scottish Living Wage.  SYP believes everyone in Scotland deserves to earn at least enough to live on. We believe it's obscene for people to be working whilst still trapped in poverty. We believe a Scottish Living Wage can make a real difference to half a million low-paid Scots.  A Scottish Living Wage won't solve all the problems causing poverty in Scotland. But without fair wages which allow low paid workers a fair standard of living we’ll never beat poverty in Scotland.

 No one in work deserves to be in poverty - a Scottish Living Wage is enough for people to earn enough for a decent standard of living.  Everyone, regardless of how old they are, deserves to be paid the same wage for the same work.  There are five key reasons for supporting One Fair Wage

 SYP believe everyone deserves a fair wage which is enough for a reasonable standard of living  No one who is working full-time should be living in poverty  Currently there are more than 4 million people in the UK who are working but still living in poverty

 Young people are still legally discriminated against – a 16-year-old is only entitled to £3.72 per hour  A 21-year-old will earn £6.31 an hour. That’s still too low – but the 16-year-old doing the same work is only getting 60% of the money.  Women, young people and people from a minority ethnic background are the other groups most likely to be low-paid

 Pay freezes and high inflation mean more low-paid workers are living in effective poverty  But that means people have far less money to spend locally – harming local shops and local businesses  More workers receiving a fair Living Wage means they have more money to spend locally in more businesses – helping local shops and services

 SYP believe a Living Wage would encourage greater productivity, loyalty and industry from workers  An independent study of the business benefits of implementing a Living Wage policy in London found:  More than 80% of employers believe that the Living Wage has enhanced the quality of work of their staff  Absenteeism has fallen by around a quarter  60% of employers reported they found it easier to recruit and retain staff  70% felt implementing a Living Wage policy meant customers saw them as more ethical

 SYP believe working families in modern Scotland should not have children living in poverty  Currently over two-thirds of children in poverty come from working households  SYP believe a Scottish Living Wage is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty

 SYP’s Change the Picture youth manifesto saw 42,804 responses from young people  76% agreed that the Scottish Government should set up a Living Wage recognition scheme to tackle in-work poverty  78% agreed that there should be an equal minimum wage for all

 MSYPs have secured pledges of support from:  Over 50 Councillors;  25 MSPs and MPs; including Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Iain Gray MSP, Tavish Scott MSP and Patrick Harvie MSP  Save the Children,UNISON; and local businesses such as Govan Law Society and Money Matters Advice Centre.  Every Local Authority in Scotland has signed up to pay the Scottish Living Wage

 As part of the March Sitting, Andrew McGowan MSYP presented a petition to the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee on behalf of SYP, calling on the Scottish Government to set up a Scottish Living Wage Recognition Scheme.a petition to the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee  The petition will be discussed again by the Committee in September. They’ll also consider the views of a number of organisations representing local authorities and businesses and have written to them to find out what they think about the idea.

Andrew McGowan presenting to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee

 To get involved in SYP’s campaign visit  Or follow the campaign on Twitter at #OneFairWage