THE STUDENT understands that Edinburgh University Student Association (EUSA) is close to deciding upon legislation that would grant all of its employees a living wage.

The Board of Trustees is due to meet on Wednesday, to vote on whether to pass the annual Strategic Plan. Including the Living Wage in the plan will make the measure formally part of EUSA policy.

However, sources close to the board have claimed that whilst the Sabbatical Officers of EUSA support the policy, members of senior management are exhibiting “definite resistance”, and are encouraging trustees – who are students of the University – to vote against the Living Wage’s inclusion in the Strategic Plan.

Introducing the Living Wage – estimated to be around £7.15 per hour in the United Kingdom – is the focus of a nationwide campaign spearheaded by student activists.

Stephen Donnelly, who is running the Winning the Living Wage campaign in Edinburgh told The Student: “EUSA is an organisation governed by its values, and I think it’s time that these are put into practice. Whether it’s student staff working late bar shifts to afford their education, or full-time staff struggling to support a family, these people are the beating heart of EUSA, and they deserve the dignity of a Living Wage.

“I imagine that there is some caution amongst senior management, which is perfectly understandable given the large financial commitment that a living wage represents, and it is also important that trustees vote with the welfare of the whole organisation, and not just a political campaign, in mind. However, what we’re pushing for is a commitment to medium-term (rather than immediate) implementation of a Living Wage- a perfectly attainable goal and one which EUSA would be cavalier to cast aside.”

The news that Edinburgh University pays all but five of its staff above or equal to the Living Wage will add further impetus to the local campaign for EUSA to do the same. Those five that are paid below £7.15 an hour, are listed as “trade apprentices” on the University’s employment records. The information was revealed by Movement for Change, a grassroots organisation supporting the nationwide pro-Living Wage campaign, through a Freedom of Information Request submitted to the university.

EUSA president Matt McPherson, who included the introduction of the Living Wage in his election manifesto in May, told The Student: “We’re a business and we’re also a charity - but right now we’re not in a in a position to make the change to the living wage. We simply don’t have the money to achieve that this year - but that doesn’t change our ambition to have it.

“The sabbatical officers and I are absolutely committed to putting EUSA in a position to adopt the living wage, and we’re delighted that the University of Edinburgh does so. We want to put EUSA in a place where it can act as an example to other student unions across the country.

”Asked about the apparent resistance by the senior executives of EUSA, he said “there’s certainly some reluctance to endorse it in the near future from Senior Management.

"However, all of EUSA still has total commitment to implementing the living wage at some point in the future. I will be the president to put EUSA on track to follow the University of Edinburgh in paying the Living Wage to all of our employees. Our staff are the backbone of EUSA.

”Even if the Board of Trustees passes definitive, binding wording in the Strategic Plan to implement the Living Wage, students plan to continue with their campaign to make sure that EUSA keeps its promises after the current sabbatical officers have finished their one-year terms.

“We plan an on-going lobbying campaign to make sure the Living Wage happens,” said Donelly.