To think if the minimum wage has gone up all other salaries should too?

[PlayOnWurtz]

Because they haven't. I work in the public sector and My salary is now shit. For the stress I am under and the responsibilities I have my salary has become grossly devalued due to the NMW to the point I'm seriously considering jacking my job in and going to work in my local garden centre where I would probably enjoy myself more.

Aibu?

No YANBU. You should work at the garden centre if it'll make you happy

YANBU the management commitee I'm on has just raised everyone's wages from those on NMW up to managers. We thought it was important to keep the differentiation there.

No I get it, the cost of living has gone up for people on higher wages too, people who worked their way up to afford nicer things and more treats, which there will be less of if the basics have gone up in price

In an ideal world all employers would reassess and adjust but it won't happen.

Well work in a garden centre if it'll make you happy. Your life matey :-)

But YABU to think that care workers or whatevs aren't also doing extremely stressful jobs that deserve a rate of pay that's slightly more in line average wages.

If you're in the public sector then your union will be trying to negotiate an equivalent increase to keep the banding making sense in relation to relative skill and responsibility.
If you're not in a union then join - that's what they're for!

When the wage went up last year, the rest of us were adjusted accordingly. That's not happening this time - the one member of staff on minimum is going up, the other three are not, which means the gap between a member of staff who has been here 14 years and has more responsibility and the one who has been here 6 with very little responsibility is much smaller.

YANBU. Unfortunately, it won't happen in most places because most firms or charities paying minimum or not much more than minimum can't find the extra. The only choice is to increase the cost of product or services, which customers won't pay, so you lose money, so staff get laid off etc.

if you think the private sector has more appeal overall, then do it.

But remember that the public sector for all its faults does have some excellent benefits and security that people in private would gasp at.

For what it's worth, I'm in private and and off the top of my head I can count maybe 6 or 7 payrises since I started working in the early 2000s, and almost all of them were down to me changing jobs/employer and progressing my career, not in-job. And certainly there has never been anything like a guaranteed annual review, banding scheme or raise. My pension provision in most cases has also been shitty, and not so much as a sniff at a final salary scheme.

But I think I'd in in prison if I had to work in the stifling, process-bound regime that (for example) is my local council.

I work for the NHS and been on pay freeze for 5 years. My utilities have gone up, nursery fees, petrol.

Yanbu

The public sector no longer has the perks it used to. Those were eroded long ago. Our jobs are more insecure than ever, if you want to apply for an internal job you have to give up your permanent contract as all posts are fixed term only for example. Pensions are dire. I could go on...

Bit U really. I sympathise with the fact that wages are not rising in line with living costs but NMW is not necessarily a living wage for the region you live in and NMW workers are likely to be on zero hours contract. Working poverty is horrendously stressful.

If you are in the public sector it doesn't matter if you are in a union because our wage increases are capped at 1%

So I have effectively had a pay cut every year for the last 5... yay...

Oh and they keep fucking around with my pension so now I'm worried I need a private one too as I don't know how much more they will change the rules in the future

Thing is as great as the nmw is it does has this knock on effect. It raises the cost of living and it devalues other people salaries. Rather than making life better for everyone it will make life harder. Manufacturing costs will go up, public sector salaries will go up (or not if you're me and others like me!) pensions will go up...all it achieves is people having to pay more for things.

I sympathise (nhs admin here ) and honestly if you spot a job that you'll truly enjoy and the money makes sense then go for it.

I've looked around and honestly for the money I'm getting, with things like annual leave, sick pay and access to a decent occupational health department (I had physio through mine a few years ago) I can't justify jumping ship till I'm at a point of complete burn out or boredom.

I've done years of support working in the charity sector too so have an understanding of your role if it's patient facing, and think that kind of role is best rested for a while if you find yourself really resenting your conditions. I don't want to sound holier than thou, but pay is a small part of why you work in s role like that

Civil service here too, 4 years on the bottom of the pay grade and effective pay cuts every year. My organisation is the worst paid in our government department to rub salt in the wound. It's the worst. NMW is a bit of a red herring, it needed to go up and not really related to our situation, which sucks.

YANBU. For those of us on wages in the range £8 to £10/h, with no hope of a commensurate pay rise, it's incredibly demoralising. It's like running up a downward escalator

However, IMO the increase in NMW is long overdue and still not enough.

When looking at different job options it's important to consider the overall value of pay and benefits, eg pension, annual leave, flexible working.

Not sure if yabu or not OP. I don't want my salary to go up, and I am prepared to pay more for stuff so we are paying people decently. I don't think it devalues my job/pay but I am lucky to have a job a like which is well paid and not too stressful.

0% pay rise for last 2 years. 1% year previous. It sucks ad everything else goes up. I worked out with all the work I take home (lecturer) and all the extra I have to do at weekend just to keep afloat I barely make minimum wage. Very depressing

PlayOnWurtz The public sector no longer has the perks it used to. Those were eroded long ago. Our jobs are more insecure than ever, if you want to apply for an internal job you have to give up your permanent contract as all posts are fixed term only for example. Pensions are dire. I could go on...

So then leave? Not really sure why you are still there if its so entirely awful?

YANBU

No definitely not. If that happens economics will shift and the same problem will reoccur. Similar percentage gains across all wage bands sounds fair, but only if you are not very bright..It is the single biggest thinking error that magnifies and accelerates the unfair distribution of wages. Since it stretches the curve out faster and steeper at the higher ends. Of course that it's poor thinking is ignored and blustered about by the people who think they benefit, ..But that's because people like that look down the curve sticking their fingers up at the 'poor life choices' of those beneath, instead of looking up the curve at how much further they are drifting behind.

If you want more than your colleagues because you 'need' to feel you are better than them, then you are a pretty sorry human and shitty team player. I like my colleagues to do well and have nice lives as much as i want it for myself..

In the twentieth century, this was called 'eroding differentials' and was much opposed by unions.

Times have changed.

YANBU. I was flicking through some job adverts the other day and I noticed that a role I undertook post Uni was being advertised for a mere £500 pa more than when I graduated. In 1997. It's appalling.