General Chat

Is it any wonder I am confused, or is it just a coincidence that the Chancellor George Osborne is now advocating a rise well above inflation to the minimum wage, he seems to have decided on this at the same time as the Labour Leader Ed Miliband is highlighting that there is a cost of living crisis, and that a living wage is needed to help combat this.

I find this announcement strange because, the Chancellor has dismissed all arguments from Vince Cable, Ed Miliband, and Ed Balls, since the latter part of last year, for a rise above inflation to the minimum wage and I also find it strange that only this week, both the Conservatives and their coalition partners the Liberal Democrats, voted against a motion tabled by the Labour party, which called for action from the government to allow such an increase.

Liberal Democrat sources have said they had not been told about the Chancellor’s change of heart and claimed that in fact, the Chancellor has consistently blocked attempts by the Business Secretary Vince Cable to support a rise above inflation to the minimum wage, in his dealings with the Low Pay Commission which decides on the level of the minimum wage.

Although I would prefer to see a living wage in place, until that happens I would support an increase in the minimum wage

The Chancellor George Osborne appears to be offering the low paid a carrot, I wonder what he will do with the stick ;-)

:-S :-S :-S

Empty promise.

He is not the one who makes the decision that's Low Pay Commission but he can pretend he thinks it's a good idea, safe in the knowledge it won't happen.

I think the big stick has already been applied with vigour!
The day before Osborne said he wanted a higher minimum wage he voted against such a measure in the Commons.

Although minimum wage / living wage / tax credits all seem to be a very good and laudable thing to do in fact the results are perverse.

Any system of MW/LW tends to flatten out wages well into the ranks of semi-skilled workers who end up getting anything up to 30% less than they otherwise would - truck drivers and bus drivers are one example. junior local government officers are another.

Although the MW raises real wages for cleaners and some shop assistants above what they would otherwise receive the current UK scheme is full of holes. In particular younger people get a lower MW resulting in great difficulty in getting any job at all for many older people.

The tax credit system effectively subsidises companies who employ a lot of people at or near the minimum wage for whom supermarkets, agriculture / food processing NHS/health care and central/local government are top of the list. The result is sloppy management of labour resources and market distortion.

Labour's well meant intention to toughen up enforcement of the MW will have the opposite effect to that intended.

The raw truth is that it is best to leave wages to market forces but only so long as the labour ( small l ) side can effectively negotiate which is impossible with the current lop sided state of labour law which is massively biased towards the employer.