Dundee Heritage Trust has become a Living Wage Foundation accredited employer.
The organisation, which is an independent charity?that runs the Verdant Works and the Discovery Point museums in Dundee, will join 165 others that have received this recognition.
According to the trust, it was heavily affected by the lockdown due to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic as the majority of its revenue is amassed from admission fees, events and retail income.
As a result, the executive management team took a voluntary 20% pay cut and the CEO reduced her own salary to the living wage for four months to ensure all employees who were working and furloughed could be paid that amount as well. The trust has now committed to paying each of its employees the living wage, which is £9.50 an hour.
HR adviser for the trust Denise Clark, who was in charge of the process,?said: “Against all the challenges of the past year we are delighted to be awarded living wage status and proud to be doing our bit towards Dundee’s ambitions to become the UK’s first living wage city.”
In 2019, the Dundee Living Wage Action Group launched a three-year action plan to begin making Dundee a living wage city, with the trust becoming one of more than 80 employers who committed to the foundation.
Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance, commented that the living wage accreditation of Dundee Heritage Trust is a signal of their commitment to raise awareness of the importance of the real living wage and helps set the standard for businesses in Dundee.
“Too many workers in Dundee and across Scotland are locked into poverty. Paying the real living wage loosens the grip of in-work poverty and helps ensure workers can meets their every day needs,” he said.
