To disagree with the £10 minimum wage policy ?

[Spice22]

This is a genuine question - I've been reading some of the policies and I can't quite decide how I feel about this.

I have 2 key problems ;

1. Won't prices for everything just go up anyway, meaning there's no real change and people will still need tax credits?

1. My biggest concern if I'm honest. Will this not devalue professions? Currently, a cleaner may earn £7 and a programmer , for example, may earn £13 an hour. If the minimum wage rises to £10, there will be a £3 differential between someone who has gained qualifications and someone who is in a MW job. I really don't see many companies increasing the wage of the professional when they are faced with a huge bill to increase the wage of the MW worker. So why would anyone go to uni? Especially when they can work overtime and easily outearn the ones who did?

AIBU and why?

As a nurse I earn £11.49 per hour, gross. I pay £17 per month in union fees, and £130 per year in registration fees. I'm attending a top up academic course at the moment which I have to do as part of my registration. It's costing me £30 per week in child care I wouldn't have because they run it on my day off. I work hard, get exposed to all sorts of very distressing things, and have an on call commitment that requires me to work 24 hours on the trot, and get out of my bed at 2am and drive to work in the snow etc to save someone's life.
I just worry that with the raise of the NMW to many people will look at my job and think 'No way! I'll get a job in Asda' etc. And then we're screwed. I really hope they raise our wage in reflection of this, but I think I know the answer to that already

If MW goes to £10/hr, then everyone else's wages will rise too. It will happen like that. That's why I don't believe in the "other jobs devaluing" problem.
Also the costs of all goods & services will rise, so that those on lowest wages struggle as much as ever.
We get much higher inflation which erodes the national debt and makes savers & property owners (the people most likely to vote) feel good about their returns.
Govt. is desperate to get the national debt down. Maybe that aim is real reason for MW rise.

I just worry that with the raise of the NMW to many people will look at my job and think 'No way! I'll get a job in Asda' etc

Then your wages would go up as the pool available goes down.

elendon
The employer can get most of that back though
please explain ?
Public sector bodies are income capped
how does a capped employer get it back ??

I'm on £7.50 an hour and tbh it works fine for me - but some people get £3 if they're apprentices which is disgusting

I don't think so many people will make that choice if they could work as an MCA/HCA for £10ph with no student debt and no responsibility.

As an HCA many of my colleagues want to do their nurse training because HCAs get a lot of the not so nice jobs. I know how hard nurses work but it's the HCAs who do the majority of the changing pads, washes, turns, the work that isn't always pleasant and is quite back breaking.

Of course nurses have a lot of unpleasant parts in their role and a hell of a lot of stress and they work awfully hard, but a lot of HCAs like the idea of having autonomy, responsibility and the ability to go up the bands, specialise and have many options to work in many different areas.

With the new nursing apprenticeship role coming out in Sept I am not so sure there will be much of a problem recruiting new nurses. HCAs are lining up in my trust to get onto it.

So no, I don't think raising the min wage to £10.00 an hour would stop more people training to be nurses if the apprenticeships turns out to be successful.

And darn right I think I should get £10 an hour for the job I do and so should everyone else. A pay rise isn't going to stop me from wanting a job where I can progress further , which is more interesting etc and I don't image it will stop other people either.

Haven't rtft but I'm in total agreement. Won't it just make inflation rise quicker. You up minimum wage, nursery fees, food etc goes up to accommodate it

I have not read all the thread yet, i will go back through

So sorry if this has been mentioned

But a lower minimum wage i have no real issue with

However

There is no leeway for seniority, experience or hard work in most NMW jobs

I read an article on Dominos drivers in the US starting salary was $10 going up to $15 . In the UK it was £7.50...forever. Work harder than anyone else £7.50. Years worth of experience £7.50

Disclaimer : i dont remember the actual figures and i cant be arsed to google...but they are about right

In the short term a rise in the minimum wage may lead to less people being employed, increase is shadow economy, in the long run it will increase employment as those who have the increased wage will spend their wages

crazycatgal
Oh calm down. I have a degree thanks.
So people don't have a great time at university
Are you sure?

Read my posts, don't take bits out of context and whinge about something that hasn't been said.

I agree mrsDV

Everyone i know who went to university had a great time, they loved it and want their children to have the same experiences

I wish I'd done something other than nursing especially if the minimum wage went up.
IT wouldn't feel worth it.
There are very few band 6 or higher jobs at my trust, so you remain on lower wages with little hope of progression. So it's not like the qualification opens doors it just doesn't for everyone, just the lucky few.

It's why lots of teachers go back as TAs, you do almost the same job, so similar job satisfaction, but work less hours and have less responsibility. And you'd be getting more pay really as you wouldn't work so much at home.

I cannot understand the reasoning behind wanting to leave a job, not because of your low wages, but because of someone else's low wages

MrsDV 'Well done if you have a degree but don't tell me that you worked harder than me' makes it sound like you don't have a degree but now you say you do? And I'm disagreeing with you making out its all fun and there's no hard work.

ragged when the living wage was introduced, in the NHS only the very lowest earners salary's went up, everyone else's salaries most definitely didn't so I don't hold any hope that it would if it rises to £10. All they will do it have Band 1-3 staff earn the same as B4 which is essentially what they did before.

In response to the apprentice salary being disgusting, actually I think it's a pretty good deal, we have apprentices who are 16 or 17 and paid several hundred pound a month to study and get valuable work experience. They are often taken on in proper roles if any good. I would be very happy if either of my DC were to secure a good apprenticeship at 16.

And I'm disagreeing with you making out its all fun and there's no hard work
So you are disagreeing with something I didn't write?
I am guessing your degree isn't in English?

Because it makes you feel you are on low wages and therefore should do something else to try and earn more. It makes you feel that the extra effort and study you have done was for nothing.
Because like the teacher said, taking into account the extras you have to pay out such as professional fees or working longer hours unseen, you may end up with less money than someone on minimum wage.

The problem is that as the gap narrows it causes affordability issues for people who are relying on the services of people on lower wages.

I have two children in childcare, my nursery bill is £100/day, over £2,000/month.

Add to that my commute which is just under £500/month.

The nursery staff are on minimum wage. I've no doubt some of the rail staff maybe too (cleaners on the train for example). If their wages go up, the cost of those services go up and suddenly it will cost me to work.

We get no tax credits or help apart from child benefits, we are only just scraping by by the skin of our teeth at present and our house is literally falling apart. Costs increasing would be a disaster - we only just get by because of the gap between my wage and the services we rely on.

MrsDV It was implied as you mentioned that anyone completing a degree couldn't have possibly worked as hard as you.

Also, it's funny how you didn't reply to the first part of my comment.

Try to insult me again, all it shows is that you know that you're wrong

But your low wages don't get worse because someone you feel is less deserving than you also gets low wages.
That doesn't make any sense at all.

Your wages are inadequate. I am not going to argue with that.
But they are crap now and will be crap if the NMW goes up to £10.
You won't be worse off.
Other people will be better off.
Other people who also have responsibilities and bills to pay and who work hard.

I'm a qualified nursery nurse and I'm paid minimum wage. If our boss had to pay us more (which I feel we very much deserve!) she can't just get rid of staff like some businesses would because we have legal ratios to uphold. So either cuts have to be made elsewhere- less resources for children, cheaper ingredients for their meals etc. Or fees will have to go up- so any of our customers who benefit from a pay rise because of this new minimum wage are ultimately no better off because they'll be paying more for childcare.

The cost of living will go up in equal measures, yes. That's virtually inevitable.

The countries with the highest wages in the world also have the highest costs of living in the world, and vice versa.

I live in a country with a higher minimum wage, and the cost of living is also much higher, so people end up being in the same financial position.

MrsDV It was implied as you mentioned that anyone completing a degree couldn't have possibly worked as hard as you

Also, it's funny how you didn't reply to the first part of my comment

Try to insult me again, all it shows is that you know that you're wrong smile

My comment was that those who bang on about deserving more money than me because they went to university and worked hard when they were 18 shouldn't do so because when I was that age I was working 12 hour shifts.
I didn't comment that people who went to university didn't work hard. I said that they didn't work harder than people who didn't.
I do have a degree. I didn't go to a university.
Does that clear up the hilarity?
Did you mean that I was lying about having a degree? If so why didn't you just say 'I think you are lying about having a degree' instead of the and PA hints?
HTH

I've worked in hospitality for 7 years. My team members' wages have gone up every year pretty much but my salary has only slightly increased because of performance reviews. Junior managers in my organisation are now on very little more than team members despite the huge difference in responsibility. I do support the increase but, as others have stated, the issue will be the rate at which other salaries increase in relation to this.