a fair wage?

[IloveOreossx]

Hey everyone. Ive not long been a member and you all seem a lovely bunch so I thought id ask here (as I don't really have anyone I can ask)...
My partner works full time (9-3;30) as a automotive vehicle technician (mechanic). He works with cars and motorcycles (just throwing that in there as HGV mechanics are paid alot more). He qualified at 18 and has been working in his place of work now for 11yrs, its the only job he's had. He works at a small (but very popular) independent garage on the outskirts of abergavenny in south wales. His boss pays him an absolute pittance. £185 a week. It sounds a decent chunk but we live in blaina, a fair way away. So he's spending out £15 a day on fuel. Once you add that up for 5days a week he's only got £120 or so a week. Take out gas, electric, food and car insurance and he has nothing left! He is fully qualified as an MOT technician and a light vehicle automotive technician. so he can do everything, MOT's, services, repairs and diagnostics. He hates his job as he's so undervalued. he's never had a pay rise really his pay only went up as he got older as it was the basic minimum wage.
There are 3 of them there. My partner, the boss and the bosses son. The boss books in work for all 3 of them, then f**ks off for a "drive" for 2.5+hrs and the bosses son swans off when he feels like it. Once my partner had to stay in the garage until nearly 7 as the boss and his son left at 2 and didn't get back until then and partner couldn't leave the garage as he didn't have the keys to shut everything down, so if something had gone missing oe damaged partner would be liable. He was not paid for this "overtime" and never is even when the boss expects him to work until 6/7pm as the work needs to be done by morning. He's been paid for overtime (an extra £20 even if he did 4hrs overtime, less than min wage) about 5 times in 3yrs, and does overtime about 3times a month so you do the math. Partner asked outright for a pay rise, boss told him to f##k off straight away(yes, he actually said F off...).
Partner is now applying for jobs in places in England that were looking to relocate (Derbyshire, my home town, Yorkshire, his home town, stoke on Trent), my question is, what's a fair wage to ask for? We need about 2,000 a month to live comfortably(in my mind that means run the car, eat and not go cold and be able to save a bit a week) and my income is extremely variable.

[IloveOreossx]

*I'm a mobile professional atm and can make 1000 one month and 40 the next.
Any advice welcome

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

I make that about £5.69 per hour or £6.16 per hour if he has a half hour unpaid lunch break. That is below the NMW and his employer is breaking the law as I assume he is iver 24 as he has worked there for so long. Tell his boss he wants an increase in line with NMW at least.

[LaurieFairyCake]

That is minimum wage if he only works 6.5 hours a day right?

He will get much more somewhere else if he's qualified - I've seen Kwik Fit advertise at 24k where I live and they're not exactly known for paying a lot for staff

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

Minimum wage is £6.50 per journey so 6 and a half hours a day for five days a week would be £211.25. Or is my maths just very bad?

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

Journey = hour (I blame autocorrect and bad typing)

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

OP: as you live far out has your OH considered working for a recovery firm like the AA or RAC?

[cupofsneeze]

My DDs partner has a very similar job role and is paid 26K a year basic but earns a lot more doing over time.

We live in a very low paid area but thats definitely the going rate for his type of work with cars.

Your Dh needs to be applying elsewhere asap, his boss still seems to be treating him as the apprentice he once was.

[IloveOreossx]

Yes he's being paid around 6.20. He's 29(worked there part time while qualifying for a year then fulltime after qualifying) after researching I see he's being illegally underpaid too :( he refuses to put any complaints in against his boss for the behaviour of his coworker and his boss as he's afraid the garage will be shut down (yes. It is that bad) and he'll be left without a job as there's a lack of vacancies around here for mechanics, hence he's applying for jobs in our chosen areas in England where we know the costs of living etc(as if he's earning £12 per hour it'll be completely cancelled out if were renting a place that costs £1,500 a month). He has 2 interviews tomorrow in stoke on trent, due to distances he's having to take the day off work (his boss is fine with that). His boss will likely dock him about £45, as he has before as partner has no annual leave left.

[Inthedarkaboutfashion]

What about setting up as a mobile mechanic? I don't know what the inital outlay would be or if there is any funding you can apply for to help with start up costs.
He needs to speak to ACAS and when he gets another job he needs to take action to recover the money he has been illegally deprived of due to his wages being less than minimum wage.
Are there any other jobs locally: factory work, call cente work etc? At least he will get NMW in another job even if it is in a different type of role.

[IloveOreossx]

There are few jobs around and even fewer he has qualifications to do. He's tried applying for part time jobs, fulltime jobs and even seasonal jobs in the area but got nowhere. I believe where we live (blaina) has one of the highest unemployment rates in south wales and places that are further away (Cardiff, Cwmbran, Newport etc) have so many applicants that he doesn't even get a look in, he's applied for over 300jobs and not had any calls, emails etc (except for the "you've been unsuccessful" calls). Hence were looking to relocate to a place where there's a bit more value for mechanics. hes going to put a complaint in when he leaves. He just cant afford to while he has no other options if you know what I mean.