Celtic Defends Living Wage Stance

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said it is up to politicians to take action on poverty after the club came under fire at its AGM for not signing up to the Living Wage. Mr Lawwell said "people who have got the power" should tackle growing poverty and inequality in society and stop "hitching their wagon" to Celtic. At its AGM today, the club was urged to pay employees £7.85 an hour, a national rate set by the Living Wage Foundation which is higher than the minimum wage of £6.50. The resolution proposed by the Celtic Trust was rejected at the shareholders' meeting at Parkhead. The club said it will enter discussions with its permanent workforce on the issue but not with part-time workers, zero-hours workers and external workers, including match stewards. Celtic chairman Ian Bankier said the proposal, supported by Labour MSP James Kelly, the STUC and the Scottish Living Wage Campaign, would cost Celtic in the region of £350,000 to implement. At a press conference following the meeting, Mr Lawwell said: "Our club has been used over this campaign by politicians and by others, who have hitched their wagon to Celtic for the profile, for own political agenda and it is quite disappointing that that is the case. "There is more and more evidence that there is more poverty and inequality in society and we would urge them, the people who have got the power, who have got the opportunity to change, to change it and not hitch their wagon to Celtic. "We are a football club. We do so much in the community but we can't change government policy. "If it is the minimum wage going up, we just have to look at that if that is the right thing to do." The chief executive said 180 staff are affected, most of them employed in retail, "which is a very competitive business, and ironically, a competitor of Sports Direct. And we are getting the spotlight." Sports Direct is owned by Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley. Labour leader Ed Miliband recently attacked the sportswear firm for its use of zero-hours contracts, where employers can hire staff with no guaranteed hours of work and no sick pay. Asked about Hearts' becoming the first football club in Scotland to commit to the Living Wage despite recently coming out of administration, Mr Lawwell said: "Hearts are a different business. It is a small business by comparison. "They won't have as many people. If that is what they want to do then good on them. We have to look after ourselves and do the right thing." Mr Bankier also called for government intervention. He said: "We think if we sign up to the Living Wage campaign we place an important part of our cost base into the hands of a third party-agency who has no electoral responsibility for price inflation, for unemployment and has no control over taxes. "We think that the correct device for controlling wage policy is with government. We want the government to do its job. We would call on government to sort this out. "We shouldn't be put in the position we are put in."