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International banking giant Barclays may start guaranteeing a living wage to workers worldwide. This is something it already does for its employees and contract workers in the U.K., where the bank is headquartered.
Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins announced at a recent shareholders meeting that he would work with the international labor union UNI Global to look into increasing pay for the bank’s lowest-level workers all over the world. The bank has about 132,000 employees in 50 countries.
“We are very proud of our certification as a living wage employer in the U.K.,” Jenkins said at the meeting. “We are willing to get started and to discuss this global initiative with UNI Global Union.”
Way back in 2003, Barclays implemented a living wage initiative for workers and contractors in the U.K. By 2013, the company had received official accreditation from the UK’s Living Wage Foundation.
Although the bank has not said how many workers will be affected by its new plan, the living wage move would most directly affect bank tellers, mailroom workers and contract workers who do cleaning and security services.
The average bank teller in the U.S. earns $12.81 an hour, according to the Labor Department. Due to such low wages, nearly one-third of bank tellers receive some kind of public assistance, according to a 2014 UNI Global report.
“Paying people that work for us a wage that supports a decent standard of living makes good business sense and is in line with our values,” Barclays said in an email statement to The Huffington Post. “Currently, this is a UK-specific commitment but Barclays is aware of international efforts to combat wage inequality in other countries, and we are gathering information on how this can be implemented.”
