They are talking about raising the Min Wage to £7 ph. Soon We will have to have a pay rise or we will be below min. 
Can’t go below the minimum, thats why its called minimum wage.
General election coming up in 15months time(2015) just trying to bribe a few votes from the poorest in society
What we need is minimum rates - NOT minimum wages.
I said to loads of people at the time the minimum wage was introduced that it was all a big con and would give employers a “target” rate that they could pay regardless of skills/training/education/qualifications required to do the job.
I argued that at the time the NMW was introduced, ALL pay rates for every job should have been set and set as being the minimum rate for that job and could only increase - NOT be decreased.
What we see now is a race to the bottom!!!
Within 10yrs, probably less, we will ALL be on minimum wage.
An LGV driver is only 1 rung above the bottom of the ladder, the minimum wage, or “The Living Wage” as they will start to call it, will reach at least 3 steps above.
Chas:
Within 10yrs, probably less, we will ALL be on minimum wage.An LGV driver is only 1 rung above the bottom of the ladder, the minimum wage, or “The Living Wage” as they will start to call it, will reach at least 3 steps above.
I hope that’s not the case or I’ve ■■■■ it. £7ph would not be a “living wage” for me I’d do well to pay the bills on it. The only way to make a good wage on that is do a good amount of hours and as seen as we’re governed and restricted to do that aswell they have us well and truly stuffed. There’s a big enough up roar when someone gets caught running bent or doing more hours a week than they should, it’s in the papers, talked about on here when ok some of its greed but for others there doing what they can to provide for their families and you have to feel for them. As a profession we haven’t got the balls to stand up to it like the French or others do so it will unfortunately never change.its becoming sad though that the pay gap between unskilled labour and being a professional driver is slowly becoming increasingly closer.
Karl86:
its becoming sad though that the pay gap between unskilled labour and being a professional driver is slowly becoming increasingly closer.
LGV is unskilled labour m8. Anyone not suffering from one of the excluding disabilities, & providing they have an IQ above an imbecile, can become one.
sonofjamie:
What we need is minimum rates - NOT minimum wages.I said to loads of people at the time the minimum wage was introduced that it was all a big con and would give employers a “target” rate that they could pay regardless of skills/training/education/qualifications required to do the job.
I argued that at the time the NMW was introduced, ALL pay rates for every job should have been set and set as being the minimum rate for that job and could only increase - NOT be decreased.
What we see now is a race to the bottom!!!
that would be totally unworkable, surely?
who sets the rates? how do they determine the rates? how many different jobs are there? how many different jobs are there under the same heading? can you imagine the fallout as x thinks they should be on more than y. can you imagine the bureaucracy and cost? why shouldn’t rates go down?
trucknet’s much loved ‘race to the bottom’ phrase, is part and parcel of capitalism and nothing new as some seem to like to make out. do you have a problem with the race to the bottom when you’re buying something?
stevieboy308:
trucknet’s much loved ‘race to the bottom’ phrase, is part and parcel of capitalism and nothing new as some seem to like to make out. do you have a problem with the race to the bottom when you’re buying something?
Maybe the “race to the bottom” phrase is used here by drivers who have given a little thought to why they’re earning less than they did 20yrs ago, yet there’s still a driver shortage . . . !
The race to the bottom has hit me badly when it comes time to buy something, I’m VERY careful with my money & VFM in most products seems to have gone out the window just lately.
As always, you get what you vote for (or not as the case may be if you don’t bother to vote) but enjoy the show as the politicians fall over themselves to bribe you with ways to help■■? you!
fredthered:
As always, you get what you vote for (or not as the case may be if you don’t bother to vote) but enjoy the show as the politicians fall over themselves to bribe you with ways to help■■? you!
You will not get better off no matter - thats how society works, they even introduced different scales of the class system last year so that you all know your place. 
SWEDISH BLUE:
They are talking about raising the Min Wage to £7 ph. Soon We will have to have a pay rise or we will be below min.
No, the talk is of raising it to “above inflation”, and the announcement was made the day after it was announced that inflation had fallen to 2%. That’s “liar inflation”, not real inflation of course which is about 6-7%.
So suppose the minimum wage of £6.31 is raised by 2.1%, that will give a new minimum wage of £6.44, a whopping 13p per hour.
Another LabLibDemCon.First they rig the inflation rate figure to show that it’s much lower than it actually is.Then they say they’ll raise the minimum wage slightly above the rigged inflation figure and call that an above inflation minimum wage increase.In which case the minimum wage is actually a government imposed below inflation wage limit.Which is why the Tories are happy to go along with the scam.Meanwhile the unions are as weak as ever since being defeated by Callaghan and Thatcher which is the real problem.
Harry Monk:
SWEDISH BLUE:
They are talking about raising the Min Wage to £7 ph. Soon We will have to have a pay rise or we will be below min.No, the talk is of raising it to “above inflation”, and the announcement was made the day after it was announced that inflation had fallen to 2%. That’s “liar inflation”, not real inflation of course which is about 6-7%.
So suppose the minimum wage of £6.31 is raised by 2.1%, that will give a new minimum wage of £6.44, a whopping 13p per hour.
^ This.Anyone who believes that the inflation rate is a true figure needs to go to spec savers.Even that 6-7% being an understatement when real world price rises show it’s nearer to 10% +.
viking35dp:
General election coming up in 15months time(2015) just trying to bribe a few votes from the poorest in society
hit the nail on the head.
You only have to look at energy price increases to see that inflation is above 2%.
So why haven’t they increased interest rates seeing as inflation is at ‘2%’ and unemployment is on the decrease, they said they would! Yet they haven’t!
An above inflation rise in the nmw sounds good but means nothing. Its just another way of cutting back on working benifits because it will lift people out of the thresh hold to qualify for them. Also the extra made in increased tax take makes it a win win for the govt.
the problem with the driving game is it used to take skill in the days of the crash gearbox and the hardest part of learning to drive an artic was doing the gears and everything else at the same time,now they are making it so as you can pass your test in an auto and get a licence for any.
in the past it took years to learn all the road network,how to read maps,find streets,take directions,now you just put your dimensions and weight in a little cheap box and it takes you there.
the hardest part is keeping awake,and all the companies know it,that’s why drivers are treated ten a penny.
thats why it will be as they say a race to the bottom.
NewLad:
You only have to look at energy price increases to see that inflation is above 2%.So why haven’t they increased interest rates seeing as inflation is at ‘2%’ and unemployment is on the decrease, they said they would! Yet they haven’t!
Because just like the inflation figure everything else concerning the foundations of the economy is based on bs.In the case of interest rates what’s actually happening is that investors are being ripped off to keep the economy afloat.If interest rates were to rise then there would be massive default in the housing sector and the retail sector would collapse and the government knows it.
captin scarlet:
An above inflation rise in the nmw sounds good but means nothing. Its just another way of cutting back on working benifits because it will lift people out of the thresh hold to qualify for them. Also the extra made in increased tax take makes it a win win for the govt.
Anyone who really believes that the published inflation figure is true is either seriously deluded or one of the very few who’s making money out of the scam like large employers.Although even they are too stupid to understand or don’t want to understand that false figures,regarding the strength of the economy,will just bring the whole lot down,including their businesses,in the longer term.