Citizens UK
At the heart of Arsenal FC’s philosophy lies the club’s historic Latin motto: ‘victoria concordia crescit’, or ‘victory grows through teamwork’. But how far down through the club does that idea really run? The players need to work in harmony on the pitch, but what about the people off the pitch who work hard to make the club what it is?
In the last six months, Arsenal fans, with support from Citizens UK, have been campaigning to make sure the club lives up to its values and extends its collective spirit not just to players and directors but to all the cleaners, catering staff, stewards and security guards who help make every match day at the Emirates so special.
In 2001, the ‘Living Wage’ campaign was launched by Citizens UK, an alliance of community groups working together to tackle social injustice. The campaign was started by parents in the east end of London who found that despite working two or more minimum wage jobs they were struggling to make ends meet and had no time left for family or community life. The Living Wage is the amount of money that someone needs to earn in order to get by. It is calculated each year according to the basic cost of living. Nationally there are already more than 600 accredited Living Wage Employers who pay all their staff at least the Living Wage.
The Premier League has the highest revenue of any football league in the world, with club revenues collectively totalling over £2 billion and the average Premier League footballer earning more than £1 million each year. Even off the pitch, salaries are disproportionately high. The average turnover of a Premier League football club is around £249 million. The average Chief Executive’s salary at a similar-sized company outside of football is £150,000, but in the world of football it is £215,000 – an inflation of more than 30 per cent.
However, those at the other end of the pay scale, who keep the stadium secure, run the turnstiles, provide the catering and clean up after the game, are paid little more than the basic minimum.
Hafiz Kyril is a 19 year-old A Level student studying at St Charles RC College in west London and working both weekend and weekday shifts at the Emirates. Since moving to London from Malaysia at the age of 13, Hafiz has dreamed of becoming a businessman and furthering himself and his family. He works several catering shifts for the Arsenal to help his family and to save enough money to fulfil his ambition of studying business at university.
Hafiz says, “The job itself is very interesting and has equipped me with skills that I will be able to use later in life. But the hours are uncertain and the wages are low. This is beginning to take its toll. At the moment, I am trying to balance studying and working antisocial and irregular hours. I usually get to sleep about 2.00am because the travelling is long and I am committed to completing my studies. The Living Wage campaign is important because everyone who works should be able to earn a decent living. If we were paid a Living Wage, we wouldn’t need two or three jobs and we could afford to use the tube rather than the bus for long journeys. These little things are really important because it means we could spend a bit more time with the people we love.”
Arsenal is the fourth most profitable football club in the world. Its committed fans pay some of the highest ticket prices in the country. Yet its cleaners, catering staff, security guards and others remain trapped at or around the minimum wage, which may just about be enough to survive on, but is certainly not enough to really live on in London today. At the moment, workers like Hafiz are paid around £6.50 per hour, just above the minimum wage of £6.31. At this rate, it would take Hafiz over a decade working full-time without a holiday to earn what Mesut Ozil earns in just one week. The Living Wage in London is set at £8.55 an hour. This small increase can make all the difference and can help lift families out of working poverty.
Chris Harrington, a member of Citizens UK, and a committed Arsenal supporter for over 60 years, attended the Arsenal FC Annual General Meeting and asked Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis to raise the pay for all contracted workers at the Emirates to the London Living Wage. Gazidis, whose remuneration package exceeded £2 million for the 2011/12 season, replied, “The London Living Wage is well intentioned but the issue is complex and political and, in any case, the Arsenal benefits packages are generous in market terms.” But many fans don’t think this is acceptable. Chris Harrington says, “Arsenal must be made to realise that the Living Wage is right, just and economically sound and it’s a public policy that is here to stay. We in Citizens UK will not give up and go away.”
Fans around the country are beginning conversations with their clubs about the Living Wage but no team has been crowned the first Living Wage football club... yet. In the words of the club’s original English motto, if you want Arsenal to take the ‘forward’ step of making work pay, then please tweet @Arsenal and @LivingWageUK to express your support for Arsenal to become the first Living Wage football club in the UK. If you would like more information or a chance to get involved in the campaign, please email [email protected]
