By: The Guardian
December 10, 2018
A group of City investors with assets worth more than £180bn has written to listed firms including Vodafone, Balfour Beatty and Severn Trent urging them to pay all employees a living wage.
The chief executives of the utilities firms Severn Trent and United Utilities, homeware retailer Dunelm Group and telecoms firm Vodafone have received letters saying that paying the living wage to all staff and key contractors is the hallmark of a responsible business.
Signatories to the letters, coordinated by the Share Action campaign group, include the Strathclyde Pension Fund, which is run by Glasgow city council, Hermes Investment Management and Nest, the state-backed workplace pension scheme.
The investors have also targeted construction firms, which are “particularly vulnerable to precarious work and low pay”, Share Action said. Along with Balfour Beatty, the chief executives of Bellway, Bovis Homes and Crest Nicholson have received the letters.