So if the Minimum Wage increases...

[missbunnyrabbit]

My own wage in a public sector job seems lower than ever. The article I read suggests the public sector pay freezes will end, but I doubt we'll get such a large pay rise!

Aibu to feel like packing my teacher job in to go and work a minimum wage job instead?

I love a lot of things about my job, but if I am to be paid barely peanuts more than someone in a supermarket, I'd rather do that! Life is not worth the stress (and yes, I have worked in a huge, busy supermarket and it was much much easier than my current job).

Do it then. Why would anyone else care?

I've worked as a carer for minimum wage (I also have a degree and qualifications) and it's bloody hard work
I earn min wage now but with commission added so yes I'll be happy to get a pay rise
I have loads of experience and qualifications coming out my ears but a management degree is of no use - they want management experience which funnily I can't get without well, management experience 🤷🏽‍♀️
People assume that carers etc don't have qualifications etc - I had worked for the NHS for a decade!

@drpaddington

The only way Nurseries will survive Is to opt out of the funding altogether, that way they can charge what they like. Which is what used to happen years ago and nursery fees were much more affordable before the 15 hours/30 hours funding was introduced.

If you can’t afford to pay your staff enough money for them to live on then your business isn’t viable. Sorry. Not the job of people on minimum wage to live in poverty to prop up businesses that can’t afford to keep going.

This. Oh my god this.

Seriously - you think people who do "unskilled" minimum wage jobs, the poor bastards who kept this country going through a pandemic, don't deserve a wage decent enough to keep them off benefits?

Seriously?

Well OP Amazon are recruiting so if it's so easy go for it.
Although in a highly physical manual job you probably wouldn't last five minutes!.

People on national minimum wage frequently have to claim benefits to get by. Thats fucking outrageous, you shouldnt work 40 plus hours a week and still not earn enough to live. You want to be annoyed, be annoyed at the likes of amazon and tesco relying on the tax payers to pick up the bill so they dont have to pay their workers enough to live on, and instead can enjoy their enormous profits

If nurseries cant survive the pay increase they need to lobby the government for higher funding, not expect people to earn less than it costs to live

And if you honestly think you are worth a wage you can live on but someone else should claim benefits because they "just" work in tesco or for amazon then I hope you arent passing that attitude onto the children you teach, the whole country would grind to a halt without minimum wage workers, and none of us is any better than the other. Im quite happy to earn the same as someone in tesco despite my training etc, why the fuck not. Lets all bring each other up together instead of pushing people down just to stand on them to make yourselves feel that much taller

@MilkTwoSugarsThanks

If you can’t afford to pay your staff enough money for them to live on then your business isn’t viable. Sorry. Not the job of people on minimum wage to live in poverty to prop up businesses that can’t afford to keep going.

This. Oh my god this.

Seriously - you think people who do "unskilled" minimum wage jobs, the poor bastards who kept this country going through a pandemic, don't deserve a wage decent enough to keep them off benefits?

Seriously?

Won't be much use to them if the nurseries/care homes etc close and they have no job.

This can only work if the gove/LAs pay enough money to these businesses, they can't have it both ways.

@HalfwomanHalfcookie

Oh it's happening again isn't it. This time it's hardworking people having a little dig at other hardworking people who might be getting a little extra in their wages next year. The little bit extra in their wages next year is necessary as otherwise they may not be able to afford to live.

This.

It’s a bit depressing tbh. I support adults with LD, we were around 80p over min wage. We have so much paperwork and legislation to abide by, mountains of record keeping and we administer medication, we deal with their finances, all alongside being a support worker, companion, housekeeper, cleaner etc etc it’s demoralising that it would prob be more lucrative to go work in a supermarket now.

If you can’t afford to pay your staff enough money for them to live on then your business isn’t viable. Sorry. Not the job of people on minimum wage to live in poverty to prop up businesses that can’t afford to keep going.

Yes. Amazing post!

@HalfwomanHalfcookie

Oh it's happening again isn't it. This time it's hardworking people having a little dig at other hardworking people who might be getting a little extra in their wages next year. The little bit extra in their wages next year is necessary as otherwise they may not be able to afford to live.

Whist I don’t disagree with you, if I was able to charge the price I thought was correct to make my business work I’d be able to increase my staff wages and offer a good service. But to not be able to increase my fees but have my out going increase, the reality will mean we will close and 9 people will lose their jobs.

@Toomanyradishes

People on national minimum wage frequently have to claim benefits to get by. Thats fucking outrageous, you shouldnt work 40 plus hours a week and still not earn enough to live. You want to be annoyed, be annoyed at the likes of amazon and tesco relying on the tax payers to pick up the bill so they dont have to pay their workers enough to live on, and instead can enjoy their enormous profits

If nurseries cant survive the pay increase they need to lobby the government for higher funding, not expect people to earn less than it costs to live

And if you honestly think you are worth a wage you can live on but someone else should claim benefits because they "just" work in tesco or for amazon then I hope you arent passing that attitude onto the children you teach, the whole country would grind to a halt without minimum wage workers, and none of us is any better than the other. Im quite happy to earn the same as someone in tesco despite my training etc, why the fuck not. Lets all bring each other up together instead of pushing people down just to stand on them to make yourselves feel that much taller

I don't know about nurseries but with care homes they do their best to negotiate with LAs but the LAs don't have enough money. Private residents subsidise the funded places but there is a limit to how far that can go.

@Toomanyradishes

People on national minimum wage frequently have to claim benefits to get by. Thats fucking outrageous, you shouldnt work 40 plus hours a week and still not earn enough to live. You want to be annoyed, be annoyed at the likes of amazon and tesco relying on the tax payers to pick up the bill so they dont have to pay their workers enough to live on, and instead can enjoy their enormous profits

If nurseries cant survive the pay increase they need to lobby the government for higher funding, not expect people to earn less than it costs to live

And if you honestly think you are worth a wage you can live on but someone else should claim benefits because they "just" work in tesco or for amazon then I hope you arent passing that attitude onto the children you teach, the whole country would grind to a halt without minimum wage workers, and none of us is any better than the other. Im quite happy to earn the same as someone in tesco despite my training etc, why the fuck not. Lets all bring each other up together instead of pushing people down just to stand on them to make yourselves feel that much taller

Very well put!

@Animood

If you can’t afford to pay your staff enough money for them to live on then your business isn’t viable. Sorry. Not the job of people on minimum wage to live in poverty to prop up businesses that can’t afford to keep going.

Yes. Amazing post!

That only works if you don’t have a cap on what you can charge. If they removed the cap then great no probs.

@HalfwomanHalfcookie

Oh it's happening again isn't it. This time it's hardworking people having a little dig at other hardworking people who might be getting a little extra in their wages next year. The little bit extra in their wages next year is necessary as otherwise they may not be able to afford to live.

Yep!!!!!

If nurseries cant survive the pay increase they need to lobby the government for higher funding, not expect people to earn less than it costs to live

Childcare providers have been trying this for years and haven't got far.

@Magicalwoodlands

effort doesn’t seem worth it

But you have already made the effort.

Do you seriously think that working as a care assistant, stacking shelves in Tesco, working in an Amazon warehouse, is somehow stress free and ‘easy’?

It isn’t. It’s hard, gruelling work, it often involves anti social hours (nights, evenings, weekends) no sick pay, no god forbid death in service benefit, no pension, no enhanced maternity pay, often dealing with very difficult situations and people.

I know there is a lot wrong with teaching and that it’s hard work, but as a minimum you’re on nearly 26,000. Minimum wage on a 40hour week isn’t that.

Perfectly put! I’m wondering how a teacher thinks that a min wage job would be better? I guess they are taking their annual salary, dividing by 52 and then dividing by 40. Completely forgetting that 13 weeks of that they are not due in work. I’m not going to get into the argument if Joe much teachers work it don’t work during the school holidays - my sister abd her husband both teach at secondary schools and I know how much time off they get. Even if you are marking it preparing for the be t term, it’s at your pace, on your terms, for your benefit. It’s not even close to stacking shelves or doing bed pans at 6 am.

Also, many public sector workers forget the job security that they have over the private sector. In the time That my sister has been a teacher she has been made redundant zero times. She’s even had promotions. I’ve been made redundant 5 times in the same period. And every private sector worker lives with the reality that the company could go bust tomorrow.

@drpaddington

As a nursery nurse earning a few pence over minimum wage, I have to say this announcement doesn't make me feel any better. Prices will go up in line with the increase so I won't see any benefit. Then there's the worry of how many nurseries will have to close because owners can't afford the increased wage bill along with increased prices for everything else.

The owner of our nursery drives a jag- she won’t struggle to keep afloat, she may struggle to make the same amount of profit across her 4 nurseries- at some point we need to find a balance. If you don’t pay people enough to live on you pay to subsidise with your taxes - it’s been a race to the bottom for a long time. At some point we (society) have to improve things, but that comes at a cost: income tax, ni, inheritance tax, higher wage bills, council tax.

Nurseries should never of accepted the funded hours in the first place tbh they were much to low.
Cost of living has increased so what would be the option? Leave people unable to pay their Bills or feed their families.

But to not be able to increase my fees but have my out going increase, the reality will mean we will close and 9 people will lose their jobs.

And those 9 people will be able to get one of those lovely 10 a penny easy minimum wage jobs like at a supermarket checkout or Amazon fulfilment centre and bask in the glorious stress free high life.

I don’t think the issue is wages going up for the least well paid at all. I think it’s more that teaching - like many jobs - is now depressing and very stressful in its requirements with extensive hours and difficult conditions at times, plus endless paperwork. Many teachers leave the profession, often suffer burnout, and some teachers only stay teaching due to financial considerations. If there’s less financial impact in job change then why wouldn’t you leave if your job drains the life out of you to one that has less overspill into your entire life. I’m not saying all jobs are like this but my relative loves Amazon as when she’s done, she doesn’t have to think about it again till clocking on unlike some jobs.
Ideally we would all earn a good wage, in a role we enjoyed, and jobs wouldn’t be ridiculously stressful due to low resource or employee/authority regulations- unfortunately we don’t live in that utopia and we have to weigh up what’s best for each one of us.

I work in a nursery. I am responsible for making sure a room full of toddlers are happy, cared for, have stimulating activities, have nutritious food to eat, have clean nappies, sleeps etc. Have been to college to earn my childcare qualifications, first aid, food hygiene and child protection trained. I do observations and write up reports for the parents on how their child is progressing. This just a small list of what is expected if me, and doesn't include all the demands and stress from those higher up.

I earn £8.91an hour. I feel thoroughly depressed that there are people who think I don't deserve any more than this because I am 'unskilled'.

Let's not turn against each other on this.

Absolutely minimum wage should rise as should other wages for non minimum wage roles if Boris wants to retain a skilled workforce.

We should all be coming together to fight for fairer wages for everyone in line with inflation/price rises. Public or private sector, minimum wage or non minimum wage shouldn't be the focus.

I am a nurse and have considered leaving for the past 3 years. I stay in the job because of many reasons & I won't be leaving the profession but I have reduced my hours significantly. I have a second minimum wage job for 12 hours a week and it's the best thing I've ever done. Many others are also planning to do the same & there's already a big staffing crisis. There becomes a point where it's just not worth the benefits anymore.

But we also can't be naive to think a better paid or less paid job is going to be the answer/easier.

If minimum wage goes up, all that happens is, those on minimum wage don’t need so much from the government in top up benefits, instead companies pay their staff a wage they can more easily afford to live on.

Which is as it should be.

Bloody hell. Don't leave teaching. The holidays are brilliant!