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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Argos/Sainsburys - Scrooging bastards!

160 replies

Ruffian · 13/12/2017 17:05

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??

OP posts:
Original poster
Ruffian · 13/12/2017 21:19

Thanks for that doyawanna, I have been saying the same to him Smile They are certainly getting their money's worth out of him and like you I remember a different, fairer time.

I stand by my assertion that they are scrooges (that's the polite version) but I'm happy to include all the other bunch of bastard retailers in there if people think I'm being unfair!

OP posts:
nancy75 · 13/12/2017 21:21

Minimum wage & Sunday trading laws have done retail workers no favours. When I got time & a half at 16 I was working for Sainsbury’s, I also got extra if I worked past a certain time in the evening. 25 years ago Sainsbury’s were paying me more per hour on a Sunday than they pay people now and that is bloody disgusting

doyawannabuildasnowmaaaaaan · 13/12/2017 21:21

The trouble is once one company starts opening bd they all do because they are missing out. If the law allows it they are going to do it. And now it's the norm so no going back.

doyawannabuildasnowmaaaaaan · 13/12/2017 21:22

He's your son and you don't want him being taken advantage off I get that. But you see the positives also x

Westiegirl3 · 13/12/2017 21:26

He will be getting minimum wage for his age, so he’s not getting paid less that it
I’ve worked in hospitality for almost 20 years and I’ve never been paid anything other than normal rate of pay for a bank holiday.
Bank holidays are just a normal working day’s including Christmas Day, of which I’ve worked every single one since leaving school.
I think it’s very lucky to be getting paid time and half Hmm

LightastheBreeze · 13/12/2017 21:28

Actually when DS worked at Waitrose he used to like to work Sunday and Bank hols as it was time and a half, he didn’t moan about it

nancy75 · 13/12/2017 21:31

Just checking everyone knows minimum wage for 16-18 is£4.05 & 18-20 is £5.60, neither are a sum I would feel luck earning.
Just because there is a lower rate for 18 year olds doesn’t mean they company should only pay the minimum - maybe they could be decent and at least pay all of their staff the adult minimum wage ( the princely sum of £7.50 per hour)

Ollivander84 · 13/12/2017 21:31

I've worked every Christmas except for one for the last 16 years. Including Christmas Day, Boxing Day, NYE etc. Never been paid any extra in any of the jobs I've done
4 years in a row I was down to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, NYE and NYD. Just how the rota fell

cdtaylornats · 13/12/2017 21:42

If you work in Air Traffic Control they are just like every other day. If you are rostered on Christmas Day you work for your standard rate. If Christmas Day is on a Sunday you might be off on Boxing Day.

You do get a free meal left out in the canteen though.

SlothMama · 13/12/2017 21:43

When I worked for them on a dual store contract if I was working at a local (small convenience store) they didn't pay any bank holiday premium. If I worked at my original superstore I got it.

Now that's unfair!

youarenotkiddingme · 13/12/2017 22:02

I know oeople paid triple time once in a while for any BH or overtime. This was when you had a contact and had hours you worked.

I've worked in retail - for a very good company IMO. They went bust Sad
I think this indicates a bigger reason why 0 hours contracts and no overtime now happen.
It's a coincidence that when employees hit 18 and cost more their hours get reduced yet they take on more 17 yos Wink

HerbsAndStewedRabbit · 14/12/2017 07:55

Argos used to pay double pay for bank holidays. We used to have a sign up sheet because so many people wanted to work them. I loved working Boxing Day. Shop was only open for 4 hours but 8 hours pay and there was a paid break included in that time. This was 15 years ago now. I don't think I'd want to do a longer day on Boxing Day or New Years for only time and a half.

WetPaint4 · 14/12/2017 08:14

Wow, I got triple pay on Boxing Day one year, 12-13 years ago, never realised how things had changed. I remember it being an incredibly quiet day, no way did my department make enough to cover the wages.

Allthebestnamesareused · 14/12/2017 08:40

I find it quite interesting that those that are saying well I get paid double time etc are those in cash strapped, financially failing entities (Woolies, Royal Mail, NHS).

My DS ( aged 16) will be working a shift on Boxing Day as a lifeguard. He got a choice of Boxing Day or New Year's Day. Just his regular rate but as a 16 year old is happy to earn whatever he can and in fact it is in addition to his regular shifts.

ThunderboltsLightning · 14/12/2017 08:58

This was exactly me over 10 years ago working at woolworths. They'll g

ThunderboltsLightning · 14/12/2017 09:00

Urgh!

They'll give as many older permanent staff the bank holidays off as they can, partly because they sometimes have older contracts with better terms but also because of goodwill and acknowledgement of families.

peachgreen · 14/12/2017 09:01

I started in retail in 2000 at 16. I got £5.40 an hour (way above minimum wage for under-18s at the time), double time on a Sunday or for overtime and triple time on bank holidays. By the time I left retail in 2007 I got normal pay on Sundays and bank holidays and no overtime.

You're right OP, things have changed massively for retail workers and it's pretty unpleasant.

Original poster
Ruffian · 14/12/2017 10:44

And those who have sneaked these changes in would never dream of working in, or letting their kids work in, such conditions I'll bet.

Times have seriously changed when someone is considered 'lucky' to get any extra pay for a Bank Holiday and the name I chose of Scrooge best describes it - a mean, obsessively penny-pinching attitude to employees that permeates the whole working culture for those on the bottom.

OP posts:
Categoric · 14/12/2017 11:17

Laughing at the idea of Minimum Wage be raised so high... 😂 It doesn’t feel high if you are trying to live on it.

I think it all come down to expectations, society as a whole wants cheap so retailers squeeze down the staff costs.

Everyone wants discounts, uses Amazon or the internet to buy things lower than high street prices and therefore retailers cut costs even more.

AsMenDclaredWomenTheirInferior · 14/12/2017 15:19

If the minimum wage had kept in line with the rate of inflation, the minimum wage would now be
£19.50 per hour.

Yeah not a lot of people are aware of that?

and now you are supposed to be grateful to the rich for the few scraps they condescend to throw you from their over flowing rich men's table.

Ta1kinPeace · 14/12/2017 15:38

asmen
If the minimum wage had kept in line with the rate of inflation, the minimum wage would now be £19.50 per hour.
Untrue
fullfact.org/economy/factcheck-minimum-wage-has-not-been-going-real-terms/

Yesanothernewusernamecosstuff · 14/12/2017 15:53

I believe The Entertainer toy shop still closes on sundays! Smile
Good for them.

AsMenDclaredWomenTheirInferior · 14/12/2017 16:29

If you want people to be financially independent, then first you must pay them enough to be financially independent with.
and £19.50 per hour is what people need, it is a necessity not a want, not a whim.

Where is this starting block, when did it begin to state a specific amount of wages is what is sufficient for people to be financially independent with and enough to live on?

And who decided that amount and on what evidence did they base it on, to come up with that figure in the first place.?

The minimum wage is a poverty wage and set at a poverty level and it's been set by the rich because the poor would never have set it there.. not ever.!

The rich
"Throw the peasants a few scraps and tell them they should be grateful for working their hearts out for receiving a fucking measly pittance."

Biggreygoose · 14/12/2017 16:51

@asmen stop pulling numbers out your arse.

19.50 an hour is approx 35k a year.

You can be financially independent on much less.

nancy75 · 14/12/2017 18:08

Minimum wage should be enough to live without needing a top up from benefits. If you do a full time job you should be earning enough to live on, 40 hours a week on minimum wage is less than £16k a year - who can live on that? Rent on a 1 bed flat is £950 a month where I live.