Olympics starts temporary workers pay race

It said salaries would rise by as much as 35% over the Olympics—using the example of a kitchen porter commanding an hourly rate of £8.30 per hour over the Games, instead of the more usual £6.08 per hour.

Berkeley Scott said the increase had been triggered by LOCOG’s decision to pay workers the London Living Wage rather than amounts linked to the National Minimum Wage—forcing many other operators to offer a similar scale of pay in order to compete for workers. Operations manager Mike Gardner said: “It is great that LOCOG sites have adopted the London Living Wage and are paying temporary workers this higher rate of pay. That has had the knock-on effect of pushing other brands and employers involved with the Olympic Games into altering their pay structure.”