Mayor presses top London clubs over low-paid staff

London Mayor Boris Johnson has urged the city's top Premier League football clubs to ensure all their staff are paid at least the minimum wage for living in the British capital, a report said on Wednesday.

Johnson has written to bosses at Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham — whose top players get multi-million pound salaries — urging them to pay all workers at least 7.45 pounds (11.92 dollars, 9.34 euros) an hour.

“Concerns have been raised with me about low-paid workers at London's five Premier League clubs,” he wrote in the letter, cited by The Guardian newspaper.

“It would set a superb example for your club to agree to pay your low-paid workers — shop assistants, catering staff and cleaners — the London living wage, and I urge you to do so.”

The national minimum wage in Britain is 5.52 pounds (8.83 dollars, 6.93 euros) an hour.

However, as prices are higher in the capital, the “London living wage” — currently calculated at 7.45 pounds per hour — is the minimum amount it is thought someone could live on in the city.

The Greater London Authority pays its staff at least 7.45 pounds an hour.

The issue is all the more pressing as the cost of basics including food and fuel have risen, while the global downturn is threatening job cuts and hardship for millions.

A spokeswoman for Arsenal, cited by the newspaper, said the north London club already pays its permanent staff the “London living wage,” but said they are not responsible for sub-contracted part-time cleaning and catering workers.

Campaign group The Fair Pay Network welcomed the move by Johnson, a member of England's main opposition Conservatives who ousted veteran Labour mayor “Red” Ken Livingstone in City Hall elections in May.

“We strongly welcome the mayor's initiative,” said its campaigns director Matthew Pennycook in a statement.

“The irony is, in these turbulent economic times, the measures the mayor supports will not only help alleviate poverty in the capital but are also proven to actually save the clubs money,” he added.

Johnson agreed that paying more to lower-level staff was in the clubs' interest. “Staff who are paid at a level that can reasonably sustain them tend to be more productive, loyal and committed,” said the mayor.