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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

106 replies

PlayOnWurtz · 31/03/2017 08:23

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?

OP posts:
PerspicaciaTick · 31/03/2017 09:45

It sounds to me as though people think that NMW workers need to be kept firmly in their place at the bottom of the pile - how can you feel superior to other people with your "nicer things and more treats" if NMWers can afford a tiny bit extra too?

museumum · 31/03/2017 09:53

National minimum wage is the bottom of the pile in an organisation though. It's "minimum". Any big organisation should have jobs ata variety of levels and the bottom Ines no less than NMW. Of course other wages need to go up in relation to stay above nmw.
Otherwise you'll get a situation where a nmw retail assistant is promoted to supervisor with no increase in pay, assistant manager on same pay? Manager?
It's not ridiculous to suggest that jobs that would constitute a promotion from the nmw position should be paid more.

ispentitwithyou1 · 31/03/2017 09:53

Yabu if you think a job at a garden centre will not be stressful. It may not be,but I've done plenty of retail jobs that are very stressful. Not to mention unsociable hours. I love my job but I have targets and expectations to meet like anyone else.

Nettletheelf · 31/03/2017 10:02

I don't understand you position at all, I'm afraid, OP.

The point of the living wage is to pay people enough to afford to live decently and reduce inequality for people in the lowest paid jobs.

If you decide that you should have more as well, just because you deserve to be paid x% more than the poor people, then prices will go up. Where does that leave the poor sods on the minimum hourly rate?

scaryclown · 31/03/2017 10:04

Are Freddos 30p yet? Have we just been given eight Freddos a day..6 after tax??

BillSykesDog · 31/03/2017 10:09

The problem is, that more and more people have been placed at the bottom of that pile or just above it and have seen their job devalued from one which can support a family to one which can only provide poverty level subsistence. People's work has been constantly devalued over the last 20 years. My DH works in one of the sectors worst hit by this. I work in the public sector and have watched sanctimonious colleagues opining for years that people like my family must suck it up for the greater good. But for some reason they always thought the devaluing of labour would always just stop short of their job and it would always be someone else seeing their labour devalued and their standard of living plummeting. Suddenly now they're all spluttering and saying 'But I didn't mean MY job. It's other people who have to live in poverty to make us globally competitive, not ME'.

Pfff. I think it's hilarious. So long telling other people that it's good enough for them, but suddenly when they're falling into that bracket it's a major tragedy and injustice?

Jux · 31/03/2017 10:13

Any job that exists represents a job that needs to be done. All work should be paid the same.

Kittymum03 · 31/03/2017 10:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

shovetheholly · 31/03/2017 10:18

I don't think the laudable thing to do when you are suffering is to wish to inflict greater, wider suffering on a whole load of other people. How could that ever be a moral principle by which to live? It's psychopathic.

I am absolutely NOT letting people off the hook for ignoring the plight of people who have seen their wages and living conditions stagnate over the last 10 years. I absolutely agree that they have been ignored by large swathes of the middle class, in a way that is reprehensible, self-involved and selfish. But the answer to a lack of care can never be hatred and wishing ill on others. It's so ugly. It has to be working together to build a new and far fairer society.

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 31/03/2017 10:22

YANBU, i am a nurse and the 1% pay rise we have been given is insulting, the unions are beyond weak.

This week I have cared for patients who are within the last hours of life and eased distressing symptoms, dressed complex wounds, liaised with a multitude of agencies as well as a million other tasks that really matter to people.

My pay has not gone up by more than 1% in 8 years Angry

19lottie82 · 31/03/2017 10:26

When the last NMW increase came into play, my friend worked in a bar and it meant that the bar workers were now on just 20p an hour less than those with chargehand responsibilities, so although they resisted at first they had to give the latter an in line increase also.

2014newme · 31/03/2017 10:26

I think you will find that your pension, Sick leave and opportunities for flexible working are less favorable at the garden centre. But yes go for it if it makes you happy. Nobody had to do the same job their whole life.

Kittymum03 · 31/03/2017 10:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OdinsLoveChild · 31/03/2017 10:37

When the nmw first came in I had my pay immediately cut to match it. I had been earning £9.50ph and it dropped to £2.20ph. That job is still only paid at the nmw so still short of what was considered a basic wage back in the 1990's.
Unfortunately once 1 large national company cuts wages everyone else does too. The lower wage then becomes the industry standard.

Businesses no longer value their staff and no longer pay to keep them. A complete shift in the attitudes of businesses is whats needed where staff are treated well and supported well with the intention of keeping staff for decades rather than thinking they will pay less because everyone leaves anyway and they will have to pay for more training anyway. Its all about making profit unfortunately.

upperlimit · 31/03/2017 10:42

You should go and work in the garden centre OP. Enjoy.

Is there any particular reason that don't you work in the garden centre?

ShotsFired · 31/03/2017 10:54

I don't think anyone should value their job as more worthy than others, because that is just pointless.

So person A works with the elderly in public sector social care, whereas person B works for commercial multinational corporation. Person A may indeed get more societal value and worth or whatever, but that doesn't make the world go round, money does. So Person B's contribution is valid for that aspect. Both are needed, for different reasons.

We might like it to be unicorns and all the feels, but it isn't.

mickeydobbs · 31/03/2017 10:57

My issue is the reliance on the minimum wage rather than paying what the job is worth.

IMO any job that asks for anything more than 5 GCSEs and 6 months experience is worth more than the legal minimum that can be paid. But there are jobs out there asking for over 2 years experience and several qualifications and still only paying minimum wage. Eg care work or childcare roles. Its a disgrace.

Softkitty2 · 31/03/2017 11:02

I agree with you OP, why should I work in a highly stressful job, pay registration fees, yearly educational update that I MUST do in order to stay relevant, going to university and incurring university fees for the pittance I get paid which is not far from minimum wage.

What is the point?

SoonToBeMrsJ · 31/03/2017 11:08

OP, you need to think about it from the perspective of the employer.
I work in the private sector and can tell you that in my place of work the wage bill has increased by around 15% in the past 2 years purely due to rises in the national minimum wage. This has meant they are not financially able to increase the wages of staff on a higher wage.

Softkitty2 · 31/03/2017 11:09

At the end of the day we can't all be equal because society wouldn't function like that. That's why some people go into medicine because they have the brains for it, some are more hands on and work in those types of jobs.

We can't be all neuro surgeons or astronauts and we can't all work in supermarkets or be carers.

To suggest that we should all be paid equally is ludicrous! I mean why would a consultant heart surgeon do what he does, pressure of the job, study for so long etc etc and be paid the same as someone who works in a shop?

It's harsh but people need to be paid their worth in terms of what they do and responsibilities they undertake.

RedBlu · 31/03/2017 11:15

My DP is in the same sort of situation, in his job he had to train to get a particular driving licence and was always paid slightly more than those he worked with who didn't hold this licence. Then the minimum wage got put up, his employer refused to put anyone else's up so he now earns the same as those who don't have the licence.. so he is now looking for another job as it looks like the problem will never get fixed.

Lilmisskittykat · 31/03/2017 11:21

I absolutely agree I feel the same. The gap between the stressful jobs and the less responsibility jobs is getting closer and closer...

I'm public sector and have often said it's getting to that point

Lilmisskittykat · 31/03/2017 11:23

'excellent benefits and security that people in private would gasp at.'

Not sure what benefits and security you are talking about.

There is no job security (up north that's for sure I know down south local government hasn't been affected by cuts) and the only Benifit seems to be flex time (would could be more flexible)

PerspicaciaTick · 31/03/2017 11:29

I know down south local government hasn't been affected by cuts

Ha, ha, ha.

Really?

Nettletheelf · 31/03/2017 11:31

Somebody upthread described the civil service pension as 'dire'. Hahahahahahaha