Workers are set to benefit after Dundee City Council was today officially recognised as a living wage employer.
The local authority has become one of more than 600 official living wage employers in Scotland, following a special ceremony in the City Chambers.
The move will also see sub-contractors of the council obliged to pay the rate to their employees too.
Keith Brown MSP, cabinet secretary for the economy, jobs and fair work, was in attendance to give the council the accreditation as a living wage employer.
Meanwhile, trade union Unite issued a statement saying it hoped other Dundee employers would follow suit.
A spokesman for the union said: “It’s welcome news that Dundee City Council has taken the extra step of becoming an official accredited Living Wage employer.
“We hope other employers in Dundee take a lead from the council, so that every worker in the city has a decent standard of living.”
Ken Guild, leader of Dundee City Council, who was on hand to receive the recognition from Mr Brown, said: “Last year we began the process of investigating what it would take to become an accredited living wage employer and now I am delighted to be here to accept the honour on behalf of the council.
“We were already ensuring that all council employees were paid the living wage but the other parts of it, such as extending the requirement to contractors and sub-contractors who regularly deliver services on our behalf and the obligation to put plans in place to extend it into our procurement processes, could have had implications.”
Kevin Keenan, leader of the opposition Labour group on the council, said he hoped the move would benefit care workers in particular — a traditionally poorly-paid sector.