Well known Tweeter @kezdugdale has done the honour of mentioning KeepRightOnline on her blog, in a post entitled, “Twitter Fights and a Living Wage,” following a Twitter discourse we had recently. In her blogpost, she sets out her argument for a ‘living wage’ and argues that the Labour government hasn’t been given enough props for it’s advocation of this interventionism since 1997. I however, feel differently. I’ve issued a full response below, and far from wanting to sound expectant, I have tried to outline why, from experience, I believe the market (not government) knows best, and why those working on a low wage should strive for better, not expect (as a right, as Kez mentions) a bloated salary.
“I thank you for the mention and for the record, I don’t often see a need to resort to, “Oh f**k off.” I don’t debate to insult or debase, I do it because sometimes I genuinely cannot see the rationale behind someone’s stance. This is echoed in your statistics in the post.
I worked in the retail sector for just over 4 years, earning WAY LESS than £7/hr while putting myself through university. Here’s how I see it.
While I didn’t earn any commission in my first job of three years, I learnt the skills and graft needed to move on and up in the company, and did so. With this came ‘keyholder’ responsbilities and with that came a nice little extra in my pay packet every week.
Following this, I managed to apply for another retail position which paid more AND offered commission on top: fantastic times.
Similar applies to the hotel and service sector, having worked in a hotel before, the fact is- if you’re good, you get promoted and you get a lot of tips! While no one should have to RELY upon tips for a living, they should also not expect a basic that they haven’t earned, or that the job doesn’t merit.
If someone had offered me £7.00/hr in my first job, I would have looked at them funny and thought, “Hell, if they’re stupid enough to pay me that, sure!” You can’t exploit the employer in the same way you cannot exploit the employee, and this is precisely what a National Minimum Wage does. It takes away from meritocracy and hard work and like you said, it makes it a RIGHT to receive money that frankly, you might not have earned. As if some places weren’t bad enough for customer service in the first place, you want government to enforce a pay system which will effectively remove employees from having any incentive to work harder or better. I suppose you dislike the ‘bonus culture’ too? Why don’t we all just hand over 100% to government and let it distribute rations and communal housing?
You mention public sector pay, but you forget the perks you get from working in the public sector (pension, job security, clearly defined hours and none of the insecurity of the private sector). Very little risk is associated with public sector jobs, and yet you want to reward them more so than those who graft every day to keep Britain’s economy booming?
It’s a losing battle for you on this one. I don’t want to see anyone being exploited or deprived of opportunity, whereas you DO want to see people rewarded for nothing and businesses penalised for being competitive. Which is why Labour and the United Kingdom are in the state we’re in today.
End of rant! (Thank goodness this isn’t Twitter!)”
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