To think raising NMW is a good thing

[Kilot]

The poorest in society will earn more. Companies will have to pay more, benefits will drop.

Oh absolutely
I actually work in an NHS building, its crazy to think how much they are actually getting paid. Its money I could only dream of
I left a retail job as I got made duty manager, for a 20p increase in my hourly pay. Which was minimum wage.
I left a year ago, they haven't replaced me as they can't afford to so they are just running on bare bones staff and then customers wonder why retail workers are rude because we are being stretched thin 😩

Like the majority of shops / restaurant/ call centres etc. Or just the small businesses?

I genuinely don’t care that some businesses can’t afford to pay their workers.

Why are we more bothered by protecting business owners than the working class?

I believe it’s rising by 50p an hour? So for a full-time, 40hr/week employee (which most on NMW aren’t) is £20 a week or under £100 a month. If a business can’t absorb that, it’s not viable and being propped up by the state.

It’s not “forcing” them to do that either. There would be a number of different ways for a company to deal with increased salary costs, one of which is reducing profits, another is raising prices, another is cutting staff.

Exactly! It’s not all about neo-capitalists extracting billions of £ of profit by exploiting the backs of workers blah, blah, blah. It’s the garage / cafe / corner shop that employs one less person as a result.

This is exactly the sort of thing I mean

No, it will just add more pain for small businesses, charities, care homes, arts institutions and other valuable services. So even if they don't close down altogether, they will employ fewer people or offer fewer hours of work per week.
Anyone who thinks that this is all marvellous because Big Bad Rich Companies will get a hammering is completely deluded. Everyone pays, because we either lose jobs, pay or services.

I would, have always found very young and inexperienced employees to be highly motivated and grateful for the opportunity to start gaining experience.

The problem is that constantly raising NMW (particularly for unskilled work) is that those wages are then getting closer to those of skilled work. If those skilled workers don't also get a pay rise (as they should if they're doing a job not just anybody can do) why would they bother?

On a societal level it makes it not worthwhile to study or train, if you end up no better off than someone working in Tesco. I am NOT saying there is anything wrong with working in Tesco, I am saying if NMW keeps rising, a Tesco worker will end up on similar wages as someone who has trained for years and is really making a difference (social work for example).

Why would anyone work a stressful, skilled job if they can take home the same money working in Tesco?

I don't know what the answer is, but constantly lifting the minimum wage isn't it 🤷‍♀️

The business has to pay the minimum wage, if the business can no longer afford that some staff may well end up on benefits.

yes exactly. I have worked for several hospitality businesses and it’s only right that legislation forces them to pay living wages. They won’t otherwise.

So it's better for the member of staff to have no job at all rather than however much less on minimum wage ( don't know what they are planning to raise it to)

What are on about?

What rights when the companies go bust?

We need to move away from taxpayers subsidising employers so yes the AET should increase and UC payment lessen.

The business is not a viable one if it’s not paying a living wage.

You’re so close to getting it. So close. People across the board should be paid more.

The answer is that companies will have to increase those salaries too, or nobody will do them. This won’t happen overnight but it will in time.

Staff are expensive - that’s the reality of running a business but there is no reason to exploit people

Why do you think that running a small business is the be all and end all? If your business can’t pay a living wage it’s not viable.

If you can't pay your employees a decent wage, then you aren't sustainable and shouldn't be employing people.

I wish people would stop quoting this. It makes me so angry. I produce something most people buy weekly. The supermarkets know our cost of production down to a T. A massive part of that is wages - they cost almost every our at NMW. We are on a contract that means as our costs go up so does what the supermarket pays us. A guaranteed margin if you will.

if NMW goes up the food you buy in the supermarket goes up.

i don’t disagree thy low paid workers should earn more but don’t tell me my business isn’t viable when it’s dictated to me how much to pay my staff.

I suspect in other industries they just outsource to cheaper parts of the world as well

It is viable if it reduces staff. It has to pay living wage it doesn't have to employ a certain number of staff.

The "poorest in society" are often doing government-funded work like caring and facilities mamagement jobs like hospital porters and cleaners, administration, school admin, front line council services.

""Benefits may drop" just means the Gov will be paying more from a different Gov pot half the time and topping up non-gov jobs with benefits because, shockingly, if supermarkets are paying their staff more, they will be charging more for goods and services to cover it. So your wages will go on their wages. It's a vicious cycle.

And then people earning a bit more than minimum wage now think - why am I holding more responsibilities than my minimum wage colleague?

You seem to be blinded by something.

I wonder what that is.