UNIONS are calling on Dorset County Council to ensure its staff are paid a living wage.

Members of the Dorchester, Weymouth, Portland and District Trades Union Council are set to lobby councillors over figures that show 500 staff at the authority are receiving less than the living wage of £7.65 per hour.

They are also concerned about the 621 of the council’s 6,000 employees that are working on zero hours contracts, claiming the situation is a ‘disgrace’.

Tim Nicholls, secretary of the Trades Council, said: “We simply cannot believe the figures that have been given to the unions by the county council. “Can the council really justify potentially up to one sixth of the staff living on either low pay or with uncertain contracts?”

Carl Wainwright, chairman of the local Trades Council, added: “It is difficult for people on zero hours contracts to do something as simple as get a mobile phone contract due to the instability of their pay, let alone put food on the table and a roof over their head. “This is a disgrace.”

The Trades Council also wants to highlight recent figures that show Citizens Advice Bureaux consultations in West Dorset alone have increased by 21 per cent over the last year in relation to employment, housing and benefits issues.

The organisation is continuing its campaign for a living wage in Dorset, which has been boosted by Dorchester Town Council being the latest body to agree to implement it.

TUC members will be lobbying councillors from 9.15am today as they arrive at County Hall for a full meeting of the council where a report on the implications of adopting the living wage will be considered.

DCC director for corporate resources Paul Kent said: “Dorset County Council employs staff on zero hours contracts as part of a flexible workforce.

“By drawing on trained staff to fill gaps arising as a result of annual leave and short-term sickness we can maintain critical and frontline services.

“A zero hours contract applies where there are no guaranteed contracted hours but there is an ongoing employment relationship between the county council and the individual.

“A person holding a zero hours contract is an employee of the council and is subject to the council’s policies, local agreements and national conditions of service.

“The number of zero hours contracts across Dorset County Council, excluding schools, is 621 based on a total number of 6,154 employments.”