Argos/Sainsburys - Scrooging bastards!

[Ruffian]

Ds is working at Argos who apparently are now owned by Sainsburys. He gets less than minimum wage due to being 18 despite being expected to everything that an older person would be doing.

He has been put on the rota to work Boxing Day 7 hours. For this he will get time-and-a-half pay so it works out as an extra £20 for coming in on one of the most important public holidays of the year.

AIBU to think this is taking unacceptable advantage? Surely it should be double pay at least??

Most people don’t get paid extra for this. He is lucky.

Poor kid it's hard but it's what consumers want.
I worked xmas day for 4 years in a row before having kids - as a restaurant manager I was salaried (18k a year 3 years ago ffs) and got no increases or bonuses for working 9am - 6pm xmas day.

In places I've worked they've been phasing it out. People who have worked there for years got double pay on bank holidays and Sundays. Then all new employees were introduced it was normal pay on Sundays and time and a half on bank holidays. Now it's just standard pay all year round. They've been tried to buy out old contracts from employees to get rid of their double time. And your Christmas bonus are £1 off when you spend a fiver, so you still have to spend money with the retailer as part of your bonus.
It's retail, it sucks.

If i had my magic wand i would return to the days when stores were closed on Sundays and major bank holidays.

We need more family time, more peace, more quiet time without vulgar capitalism being rammed down our throats.

I blame the shoppers for shopping. They are complicit in the exploitation of retail and hospitality workers.

Sainsbury market worth £5.2 Billion
Most recent operating profit £642 million

The problem is of course that retail and hospitality are incredibly competitive.

Partial answer? Make sure you and all your colleagues are in a good TU.

Complte answer-avoid working in retail/hospitality

it's not just retail. I work for a local authority who are looking to change my team's contract from Mon-Fri to Mon-Sun so that we can extend our service over the weekend and just have a weekend in the week if we are rota'd to work on Sat/Sun. Just a normal working day

I got £4.50 an hour when I worked for Currys when I was 16 in 2006. It went up to £5.50 when I turned 18.

Annual Leave was banned for the whole of "Peak" - which in reality extended from mid-November until mid-January - and weekends off were also cancelled for the full time members of staff.

Boxing Day in our store was a 6am start, taking your break was "frowned upon" and they put shitty buffet food in the staff room fridge which you were allowed to go and pick at throughout the day to justify not needing to leave the premises to eat. In reality, the food was always gone by 11am.

TDHManchester I agree with you, I think it’s a sorry state of affairs when the best thing people can find to do on Boxing Day is go shopping

Many people only have a sunday off TDHmanchester. Personally I work Monday to Saturday normally. I shop late night.

Dh is on call on Boxing Day with no extra pay. Don't like the terms and conditions don't do the job.

There's one thread complaining about teaching about Jesus and Christmas in schools and this one saying how important Boxing Day is. Seems people's opinion varies depending on how they are individually impacted rather than a bigger picture.

I’m working Christmas Day and Boxing Day. But getting 3x basic if they paid any less they can jog on. It’s bad enough it’s for a scrounging bstard that thinks it’s ok to sue the nhs because he didn’t get his own way

Now the Minimum Wage has and will be hiked so high
*
LOL, what planet are you on?*

Quite, Wiz!

I must've missed that boy where the minimum wage was hiked to £2500 per hour

Yes because Royal Mail has such a strong business model

YANBU I won't shop on boxing day online or in store out of principle. Is 2 days family time ever really too much to ask.

I work in retail and we get paid nothing extra for bank holidays or Sundays. Times have changed (it wasn't like that when I started there)

I am old & foreign. I never got special rates on any special days. It's kind of weird to me think you do. Xmas day maybe, nothing else.

TDH I agree. I never shop on boxing day. I've also pretty much stopped shopping on Sundays, maybe three/four times a year in an emergency.

You have obviously never worked in retail OP this is standard and has been for years. I never get anything over normal pay for working any day even Boxing Day and New Years . This has been this way for ages . He is lucky he has a job . I'm sure plenty of people out there would take his place if it's not good enough

It's pretty standard to work boxing day in retail. I worked for primark many years ago, worked boxing day and new years day, don't think i received any extra pay

I won't shop on boxing day, retail staff need a Christmas same as anyone else.

We get double pay or a day in lieu for bank holidays (I work in retail) but I know this is not the norm. I've worked in retail since about 1996, I worked in a big shopping centre and it was closed on boxing day. I wish this was still the case, no one needs to buy anything on boxing day! My company also pay the same rate (above nmw) for any age group. It is a decent company to work for in many respects, I do feel for others working in the same sector that don't have such a good time of it.

30 years ago we got triple pay for bank holidays.

Well I think he is doing well to get time and a half. And he is getting minimum wage, but at the rate for 16-17 year olds, which is lower than other ages but set by govt, not the shops!

My DS worked in Primark at 6th form, he had to work every bank holiday as standard, and never got more than his standard rate (which was slightly above the relevant NMW rate).

DD is now working in another retailer just till xmas, she is 17 but does get more than NMW as standard and time and a half on Sundays.

I do think time and a half is very unusual these days, so he should be grateful he gets that.

Whilst I dont agree with shops opening on all bank holidays, I do think for teenagers, it is good to have these retail jobs, and have to work unsociable days, if only to encourage them to study and be able to get a different job after college/uni.

I don’t understand why adults who are doing as much work and very possibly more than people seven years older than them are paid less. Older people wouldn’t be paid less on be grounds they were likely to be less productive.

My understanding is that now that you get paid for 8 days bank holiday on top of your normal holiday entitlement (22 days plus 8 for example) can be taken or paid for. You are actually already being paid for that day with the extra holiday days so it would in effect count as double pay still if you worked that day, although it doesn't seem that way. Years ago those 8 days were not added to your holiday days and that's why it was nice to be paid double. Those workers who are not working the bank holiday have it deducted from their 8 day bank holiday entitlement / those who do work get paid for the days work and still have the days holiday to take at another time. I could be wrong though

@sunshinexx it depends on the company, my holiday entitlement is exclusive of bank holidays so they do not count towards my holiday days and are extra.