A minimum wage of 25s. ($6.08) a week for all able-bodied men will
henceforth rule, says _Life and Labor_, in the municipal service in
Glasgow. It is now many years since the corporation of Glasgow
acknowledged the principle of a minimum wage, the rate then introduced
being 21s. ($5.11). Since that time improvements have brought the wages
up to an average minimum of about 23s. ($5.60). so that the proposal for
a minimum of 25s., which was carried in the town council, means an
advance of about 2s. ($0.48 2–3) weekly to many of the lower-paid
workmen. To give effect to the proposal an additional expenditure of
$41,365 will, it is estimated, be involved.
The position in Manchester is better, from the workers’ point of view,
than it will be in Glasgow even when the minimum weekly wage is raised
to 25s. ($6.08). Seven years ago the Manchester city council raised the
minimum wage to 25s. Early in the present year there was an agitation
for an increase of 2s. ($0.48 2–3) a week in view of the increased cost
of living. A special committee reported in favor of an advance to 26s.
($6.33) a week, and this the council agreed to. This sum is paid to all
the laborers (as distinct from skilled workers in the several
departments) throughout the city.