The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) will today (Wednesday 3 September 2008) join the Campaign to End Child Poverty. STUC General Secretary, Grahame Smith, said:
“The STUC is proud to add the voice of Scottish trade union members to this vital campaign. Child poverty in Scotland is not confined to families blighted by unemployment - 57% of children living in poverty are in working families. The level of low pay, particularly amongst women, is a major factor in the level of child poverty in working families. Four out of ten children living in poverty are in single mother households, and a further three out of ten children have a mother on low or no income. This places the issue of child poverty firmly within the Scottish trade union movement’s priorities.”
Irene Graham, Save the Children's Head of Child Poverty in Scotland said: “We are delighted that the STUC General Council has agreed to become signatories to the Campaign. The support of the trade union movement and our other signatories in Scotland will be invaluable the campaign to eradicate the blight of child poverty in Scotland and throughout the UK.”
Recent research into poverty by the Campaign has suggested that: Children living in disadvantaged families are more than three times as likely to suffer from mental health disorders as those in well-off families. Children under three years old living in families with an income of less than £10,400 are twice as likely to suffer from asthma as those earning over £52,000. Such inequalities account for 47% of children with asthma. Adults who suffered from poverty as children are 50% more likely to have limiting illnesses, such as type II diabetes and heart failure.
ENDS
For further information contact Ann Henderson – STUC - 0141 337 8100 Beverly Kirk Media Officer Save the Children 0131 527 8200