London’s mayor Boris Johnson has a bone to pick with the four Premier League clubs in London. Whilst they may be bringing in the money by the truckload, they sure as hell aren’t giving any of it back to the employees that make the club, stadium and other various areas run on a daily basis. That’s apparent by their current wage rate per hour.
Boris Johnson has written to Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Fulham and West Ham urging them to pay all of their staff a “living wage” after a survey found Premier League clubs paying cleaners, catering staff and programme sellers at or just above the minimum of £5.52 an hour.
The survey, by Fair Pay Network, found jobs advertised at Manchester United and Liverpool at £5.52, vacancies at Fulham on £6 per hour, Spurs looking for warehouse staff for £5.75 per hour, and similar rates at other Premier League clubs.
Fair Pay Network cites research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that a “living wage” for a single person starts at £7.45 an hour in London, £6.80 outside it. A policy begun by Johnson’s predecessor as mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, sees all Greater London Authority staff paid at least £7.45, the London living wage. (Guardian)
This is an absolute joke. These clubs have loads of funds to spend on the help. Talk about looking skint! Every club is trying to save a couple quid when they can, but when it comes to employees that give their heart and soul to the club for a couple quid an hour, that’s when the teams need to wise-up and make things right.
Do football supporters agree with Johnson’s assessment?