ONE hundred residents joined a rally to speak out for the need to have a real ‘living wage’ in the city.

As Oxford City Council announced it was increasing its Oxford Living Wage from £9.26 to £9.69, campaigners came together on Monday night to discuss the need for increased pay for workers.

The Oxford City Living Wage campaign hopes to increase the number of employers who agree to pay the living wage.
Among the speakers at the rally was Callum Cant, a Deliveroo rider involved in industrial disputes to get better pay and conditions.

He said: “It is a basic right to be able to live.

“At the moment because of these low wages people can’t, people can barely afford to feed themselves and it is a disgrace.

“Especially when you hear in the news of all these people with their offshore tax havens, how greedy to people want to be?”

Those at the rally at the Town Hall also heard from Shaista Aziz, founder of the Everyday Bigotry Project and co-founder of the Oxford Labour

Muslim Network, Ronnie Draper, general secretary of the bakers’ union involved in wage disputes with McDonald’s and Lara McNeill, an ASDA shop steward.

Campaigners will host a street stall in Bonn Square from 4pm to 6pm on Friday and the group's next open meeting will be held on Thursday, November 30.