On the trail of the Living Wage: Suitpossum does Centrica
Last week Boris Johnson announced the Living Wage to be £8.30 for London . The Living Wage campaign, started by Citizens UK , recently celebrated its tenth year of trying to boost the incomes of those on the lowest rungs of enterprise. One way to speed up the campaign is through shareholder activism, buying a share and attending the annual general meeting of a company to raise the issue. On Monday, I attended the Centrica AGM on behalf of advocacy group FairPensions , to see if the board would be willing to commit to the Living Wage. Centrica are the guys that run British Gas, and they have a large number of employees in lower salary brackets, for example, all the call-centre staff. You’re playing to a tough crowd when you do shareholder activism. Think about who actually attends a three hour meeting starting at mid-day: Most are loyal supporters of the company and many are former employees, now retired. They have a slightly sycophantic edge, especially considering part of their self-...