£8 an hour minimum wage?

[Tommo68]

I have opinions on minimum wages and zero hour contracts.

 

There are other things that need putting in place to kelp employers too.

 

Lets see an end to people choosing to take time off work at their employers expense who has to both pay them and their replacement, if no replacement needed then the person who's off could be layed off instead.

 

If it's potentiall too expensive then employers will not take people on.

 

The whole of sick pay should be paid by the employer for the first (lets say a month) and claimed back by them off the state.

 

People make life choices. personal self inflicted life choices which is fine .. but why should an employer have to foot the bill. Paid maternity leave financed by the employer should be stopped or reimbursed by the state and Paternity leave should be stopped...even unpaid.

 

Unless of course either are by some agreement with the employer.

 

Small employers are reluctant to take people on because they can't afford them to be off. The really big employers just use these potential expenses to justify exploiting people particulary when it comes to zero hours contracts. When you employ thousands you can afford to retain a legal team to keep expenses down, not so for the small business.

 

An example; A 30 yr old woman with 3 kids that works a regular 20 hours a week, same hours the same times every week for Tesco but her contract is for one hour a week. If she is off for any reason tesco pay her 1 hour a week at minimum wage. Normally her hours would not be reduced long enough for her to apply for benefit to cover the shortfall of the expected money she has lost.

 

When she is off later this year for maternity leave (if all goes well) she will get 1 hrs maternity pay a week from tesco which is rather pointless. Tesco will just employ someone else or pay some other people a few more hours to cover for her. Small employers are just not in a position to do that.

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[GerryBooth]

I have noticed this in recent years. The NMW has gone up every year but wages have been static. You then get the labourer not far behind the tradesman. But the damage has been done in the building trade, most bricklayers I know have quit and those that have survived are naming their own price now.

[loraward]

Why should my taxes subsidise big businesses that refuse to pay their workers a living wage?

 

If you give low-paid workers more money in their pocket, they'll spend it and keep the economy growing.

 

Yet currently the opposite is happening as we ordinary taxpayers are subsidising big business, who shift the money overseas.

 

Looks like the Greens are getting my vote.

 

Unless you are in the top 10% and earning over £150,000 a year your tax doesn't subsidise big businesses,its the tax they pay that subsidise the services you use. You only subsidise big business by using their business, which is something you do not have to do.

[Slikkwiver]

Hasn't it always been like this, and isn't it the reason some 'employers' are worth £20 billion, and in many parts of the world, a billion people haven't got £1,000 between them?

 

You've answered your own question.

 

We are standing helpless on the sidelines Hotmale - witnessing the insane race for the bottom as the super-rich thieve every cent they can lay their sticky fingers on in the desperate hope that they will be able buy their way out of the imminent war for resources that looms large on the near horizon.

 

Be afraid for your children/grand children if not for yourself.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Slikkwiver

[bigsexydoug]

You know what...I would be totally against this usually, but when the nmw was introduced it didn't do a great deal to inflation, yes prices rose but not like 20%, but also if this is done too quickly it could do a massive jump, sloly slowly catchy monkey maybe raise it by a pound per year would be the safest bet

[Bonzo77]

Why should my taxes subsidise big businesses that refuse to pay their workers a living wage?

 

If you give low-paid workers more money in their pocket, they'll spend it and keep the economy growing.

 

Yet currently the opposite is happening as we ordinary taxpayers are subsidising big business, who shift the money overseas.

 

Looks like the Greens are getting my vote.

 

I like this post a lot!

 

Give people more disposable income, the economy will grow!

[sgtkate]

Unless you are in the top 10% and earning over £150,000 a year your tax doesn't subsidise big businesses,its the tax they pay that subsidise the services you use. You only subsidise big business by using their business, which is something you do not have to do.

 

But you are subsidising business. Every tax payer is. The taxes you pay in are handed out in tax credits to people working full time but due to low wages still do not earn enough money to meet the minimal income line set by the government. Pay people above that line and instantly you've just saved millions if not billions in tax credits and admin costs.

[loraward]

But you are subsidising business. Every tax payer is. The taxes you pay in are handed out in tax credits to people working full time but due to low wages still do not earn enough money to meet the minimal income line set by the government. Pay people above that line and instantly you've just saved millions if not billions in tax credits and admin costs.

 

I doubt very much that I pay enough tax to subsidise anyone, and if a business increases its costs by paying higher wages it will increase its prices, so you will continue to pay the same tax but end up paying more for the things you buy.

[ubermaus]

Is it me or what?

 

Miliband is pushing for £8 an hour minimum wage.

Sturgeon is pushing for £10.

 

If the minimum wage is increased to, say, £9 an hour, what good will that do for anyone?

 

The big companies will raise their prices, Gas prices will go up, Electricity prices will go up, bus fares will go up, petrol costs will go up, air fares will go up, childcare fees will go up, and all the lower paid will be back where they started.

 

In fact, they'll be worse of than they are now, because if a firms costs go up £1 a man, they'll put their prices up by £3 a man.

 

Hasn't it always been like this, and isn't it the reason some 'employers' are worth £20 billion, and in many parts of the world, a billion people haven't got £1,000 between them?

 

Spending power goes up and burden on the welfare system comes down. Not all bad.

 

---------- Post added 05-05-2015 at 19:05 ----------

 

As someone else said why should the tax payer subsidise big business which doesnt pay its workers properly and in many cases dodges tax?

[ANGELFIRE1]

I think if a bloke starts his own business, becomes very successful and pays his staff the minimum wage or a few coppers more, why should they crib about it. He has met his obligations, and it's no one else's business how much brass he makes.

 

Take Richard Branson for instance, multi millionaire - and self made.

 

Angel1.