WORKERS in East Lancashire deserve better treatment in 2015, a union has claimed.

The North West TUC has called for improvements in the quality of jobs, as well as their number, alongside pay rises across the region.

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Workers in the area were on average £90 a week worse off during 2014 due to pay staying below the rate of inflation, the union said.

Regional secretary Lynn Collins said: “All the evidence shows that workers in the North West who suffered during the recession are yet to see any benefit from the slow recovery.

“Pay increases have remained low or none existent and whilst unemployment has fallen in quantity, there has been a structural change in the labour market with more forms of casual, agency, temporary and low hours employment.

“This, alongside the average wage now worth £90 less than when the Coalition came to power, shows that workers are still paying the price.”

Since 2010, 71,000 full-time jobs have been lost in the north west, while 18 per cent of workers are now ‘underemployed’, the TUC added.

Lynn said: “We can end the scandal of in work poverty by putting pay rises at the top of the priority list for employers who want to increase productivity and invest in their most valuable asset – their employees.

“We will continue our campaign on the living wage, building on their work in 2014 which saw over 100 more North West employers become accredited and pay their staff a decent rate of pay.

“We will put pressure on those who can afford to pay it and won’t and work together with those who want to start paying it.”

The TUC will also aim its sights at improving working life for youngsters, and said it would celebrate East Lancashire’s ‘diverse communities’.

Lynn added: “There is a lot to be done.

“There are the key issues of the NHS, education and much more.

“But what is clear is that unions from across the region – and indeed the whole country – are ready to rise to the challenge, to call for a fairer and improved deal for workers and for our communities.”