I'm a boss and I pay minimum wages to some because all they want to do is the minimum requirements of the job! Turn up, work and go home! If the government puts this up a pound or more then all it will do is drive up prices, close small businesses or put people out of work! No one is picking on the low paid but you can't expect your pint to stay the same if the person pooring it is on £7.80 an hour.
The article posted is not about your business, its about the billion pound football industry. Even a ****ty premier league squad player earns what 10 15 20 grand a week and there are clubs paying there backroom staff less than mimimum wage. do you think that is acceptable ? As for your business, i understand and agree with the point your making.
So when a company fails to pay someone a living wage, it's the welfare system that has to pay the difference to allow them to, well, live. Now there may be some small businesses that will struggle to pay it, but when only 18 of the FTSE 100 companies pay a living wage it's a total piss take. Big business stealing from the tax payers...again.
Fully agree. When I raised the point, I was only making the point that the workers on minimum wage would be no better or worse off on the living wage.
Be careful what you wish for. Australia has the highest national minimum wage in the world (in terms of dollars per month). It also has one of the highest costs of living in the world with prices that would make you wince (a pint is about GBP6.50 in a run of the mill pub, a loaf of bread is about GBP2.50). It also has a collapsing manufacturing industry that can't compete with regional alternatives, and even the "go to" mining industry is currently cutting investment in new projects because it is too expensive to employ staff. That said, there are some curious observations. In the OECD, Australia has the lowest unemployment rate. Also, the vast majority of industries in the major cities pay far above the min wage. The min wage is currently at AUD16.87 (about GBP 9.50 or so), but I have seen bar jobs in Sydney paying AUD29.95 for experienced staff (about GBP 16.50). GBP16.50 per hour for tending bar - not even bar manager!
There's much higher minimum wages that Australia's, particularly in Scandanavia, though they're not called a minimum wage as they're not set by government, they're agreed between unions and employers, but there's are about £13-14 per hour, in fact I think Norway's is much higher than that.
I'm replying to the headline " a living wage " it really pisses me off when people want high wages but low prices! You can't have both its simple maths! And any one complaining should keep their heads down and carry on working whilst either looking for a better paid job or try and get better qualified to command a better wage! It's easy to pick on the multi millions footballers earn but it won't be them or the owners who'll be getting less to pay the workers at the stadium an extra pound or so it'll be the fans or the paying public if it's someone at macdonalds or Starbucks.
What about low wages but high prices? Low wages are supplemented by tax credits, paid for by the tax-payer. So employers are receiving a subsidy for maintaining low wages. Meanwhile, prices are still rising due to inflation. The nurses who are dealing with my condition have not had a pay increase for 3-4 years.....
Norway has the highest cost of living on the planet, and the Scandinavian countries have high taxes overall. The higher wages compared to the UK and other countries balance things out. It works in Norway, but would the average Brit want to pay income tax at a flat rate of 27% if it meant they got higher wages? Possibly.
I did! But I'm talking about the big picture, people want low prices in the shops but want the people working the shops to have higher wages and the two don't go hand in hand! Like I said earlier there will always be people who'll be willing to work and put up with a low wage! I've done it when I was younger and that's whats drove me to get on in life! There are too many people handed money for doing nothing in this country and are willing to carry on taking benefits so I take my hat off to the low paid workers, but it's up to them to better themselves and move on.
Chelsea have just announced that they, and all their outside contractors, will guarantee to pay the living wage as a minimum. They are the first club to do so.
I read yesterday, it was Luton. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/10/luton-town-living-wage-minimum-pay
I know you've got a blind hatred of all things Luton OLM, but to disregard there league status is a bit OTT
