£10 Minimum Wage

[ExtraPineappleExtraHam]

I work in a shop. It's an independent shop with two stores, 30 members of staff, if Labour raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour this will result in staff cuts, cut in hours and perhaps an increase in our prices.
I'm a leftie but I can't see how this new minimum wage would work, it will make many small businesses face very difficult challenges. What about people on slightly more than the minimum wage, like supervisors, assistant managers. The employer won't put their money up as well so where's the incentive to go for promotions?
Also what about people who do difficult jobs like care work, nursing, work in the complaints department, empty bins. Won't they all just switch to doing something stress free and easy (like my job selling olives to middle class people) rather than do what they currently do?

[RortyCrankle]

Don't worry, Labour have as much chance of winning the GE as I have of winning the lottery and since I don't buy a ticket that's nil

[P1nkSparkles]

I have to be honest... I'm worried that constantly raising the minimum wage is just going to raise inflation & bearing in mind public sector wages have not risen by more than 1% in ages it's not going to be long until there is going to be a negligible gap between trained professionals such as teachers and nurses and entry level positions.

I don't really understand (although I'm sure others more educated can explain) why they don't look at ways of bringing the cost of living down instead??

[RufusTheRenegadeReindeer]

Its my understanding that the tories want to raise it to £9

If thats the case surely thats going to have the same sort of effect

[LightYears]

I'm not sure why people keep using low earners as the scapegoat. Look towards the cutting of profits.

[ExplodedCloud]

Rufus yes that's correct. They're aiming for 60% of the average wage as minimum wage which is expected to be £9ph by 2020. So all the fuss is about a £1 difference.

[Heratnumber7]

What business is going to take a cut in profits though Light?
For small businesses this could put them out of business, for larger businesses their shareholders would be affected and likely take their money elsewhere.

[LightYears]

Tough shit, the workers at the bottom have took this crap for far too long.

[HoneyDragon]

I don't want to get jumped on as Labour bashing as I'm not. This is purely an anecdote but left me frustrated after talking to a Labour rep.

I expressed my concerns about the raising of corporation tax. As a company we follow the genuine Living Wage as our base rate and at it regardless of age etc.

If the company is struggling the only people facing a pay cut are directors and management.

His solution was we pay our staff less as £10 per hour is perfectly acceptable as a wage and then we can pay more in corporation tax. As benefits will top up anything else.

As a responsible employer that's left me somewhat disillusioned

[LightYears]

Right small businesses out there, what are you profits, are you willing to say what your profits are now and what they'd be if £10 mw came in.

[HoneyDragon]

Light is not as simple is it? Cash is king, you need profits to put aside as a safety net for a bad month or lack of confidence in the market so you can still pay wages when there is less work rather than lay people off. We need smaller company's to be able to make good profit margins to keep their staff through lean times. Some smaller business may we'll be buggered by it.

[unicornpoopoop]

Yes we barely break even most months. Not sure how we'll cope with the increase in wages. Especially as it's forced. What it generally means is that the newer inexperienced staff end up on the same pay as the long term staff.
We would like to be able to offer pay rises to everyone fairly as and when they deserve it but this is taking that option away.
We just do not have the funds.
In an ideal world (in my own opinion), new starters would have lower wages and then get a yearly payrise on review.
The problem is lots of big companies, that can afford to pay more, take advantage of the minimum wage by only ever paying that, and they ruin it for everyone.
Of course everyone should be paid fairly, but I can see a lot of people deciding not to get into skilled work as they pay gap between skilled and unskilled will be too small

[LightYears]

So if the profits are that low in companies that they can't afford to pay each employee a couple of quid more an hour, then I think they should give it up, it's not a viable business.

[LightYears]

unicorn why the hell do you bother then.

[HoneyDragon]

How do you suggest people start business then?

[HoneyDragon]

Actually we'll go with Light's plan and fold all the business that can only afford to pay £8.50 and hour that'll fix the economy....hooray.

[drwitch]

A minimum wage of £10 is probably too high - The provisionsal ASHE data (Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings) suggest that 40% of workers earn under £10.40 so it will affect a lot of people. In addition it is too low to lift people with high housing costs and families out of universal credit so will not make them better off.

The idea of the Low Pay Commission was to look at the evidence and see what minimum wage level you could have without causing unemployment. If you go back further you had wages councils which allowed firms and worker representatives to look at particular industries and decide the same thing. But sadly we are not in an era of evidence based policy anymore

[Two4One2017]

" Actually we'll go with Light's plan and fold all the business that can only afford to pay £8.50 and hour that'll fix the economy....hooray. "



Don't worry the state will now pay you benefits and just increase the taxes on the remaining businesses and people who work in them to pay for that. How does this story end?

[drwitch]

Draylon yes! - My fantasy manifesto would have a low pay commission and high rent commission and allow individuals to invest in local authority controlled social housing. Basically if you had a house that you want to rent out you can either do it through the private (but regulated) rental sector or lease it to the council

[LightYears]

Cry me a river. Still haven't offered up profits before and after increase, funny that.

[RufusTheRenegadeReindeer]

The problem is lots of big companies, that can afford to pay more, take advantage of the minimum wage by only ever paying that, and they ruin it for everyone.

That's exactly right unicorn

[HoneyDragon]

LightYears

What will it prove if cry does?

[Heratnumber7]

Shut up Light. You're being ridiculous.

[HoneyDragon]

And Heratnumber7 just got promoted to my all time favourite poster

[LightYears]

Sounds like you're having a tantrum in the playground.

Still no sign of profits before and after increase.