DERISORY INCREASE ON MINIMUM WAGE

The Minimum Wage was undoubtedly one of the best achievements of the Labour Government when it first came to power. No-one disputes that.
But the latest- derisory - increase of between 4 pence and 7 pence an hour is frankly an insult to working-class people. At a time when billions of pounds have been poured into bailing out the banks and their friends in the City, at a time when Cabinet Ministers targetting the unemployed are claiming hundreds of pounds every month for food bills, who can expect the electorate to be impressed by such a risible amount. It's time the Government acknowledged the huge anger out there at the widening gap between rich and poor. And did something about it. More here
http://leap-lrc.blogspot.com/

DRESSING FOR THE OCCASION....

Today, the Observer ran a profile piece on Sarah Brown.It included the rather interesting information that her superficially unglamorous outfit for taking the stage at Labour Party Conference cost somewhere in the region of £900. More or less equivalent to a month's pay on the Minimum Wage.

Now Sarah has every right to spend her money as she pleases and she is clearly a charming woman who is devoted to her husband. However, I thought she had no place on that rostrum. It was frankly, manipulative PR mangement in the worst American traditions. And the "downhome" clothes she wore were of course far above the means of the "hard working families" we hear so much about.

Indeed, one of the key problems we now have in politics is the fact that most Cabinet Ministers, and most MPs for that matter, simply have no idea about how ordinary people live or what it is like to manage on the Minimum Wage.Or NOT to be a member of an HWF and trying to struggle on a single wage .Last night, I had dinner with a friend whose daughter has just split up with her partner. She's a low earner but just above the benefit threshold . Her disposable income after paying all the household expenses is now £10 a month. So her mother, a pensioner, is having to bail her out.

Years ago, Michael Portillo spent a week with a working-class Liverpool family for a TV documentary and was genuinely shocked at the fact their income was roughly what he spent on a good dinner out in London. So I suggest that John Hutton, James Purnell, Hazel Blears and all the others who tell us how grateful we should be for the Minimum Wage and how only those who are "pulling their weight" should get benefits swap salaries with the low-paid or jobless- it might give them a reality check. And it might also stop them being so smug and self-satisfied

WE NEED A LIVING WAGE!

Good news. The government is to increase the Minimum Age.
Bad news - by only 21p an hour.
By my calculation, based on a 35-hour week, that's around £7 ( before tax) a week. Just not enough. The Living Wage has been calculated at around £8 an hour and is backed by a host of unions, including USDAW and UNISON. That's what Labour should be working towards. And that's what we have to carry on campaigning for

LOW PAY CAMPAIGN IN HEBDEN BRIDGE

I spend a fair amount of my time getting upset ( too much maybe) at the iniquities of Government. Locally, Labour has much to be proud of. At the moment, we are running a campaign to highlight the fact that several employers in Hebden Bridge are flouting the minimum wage legislation. We are hoping to persuade them otherwise - and signing up young people to our campaign to stop this practice.

Next Wednesday, Calderdale election candidate Janet Oosthuysen (pictured in the toown square last weekend collecting signatures for a petition) is organising a young people's public forum on low pay. We're calling for a Living Wage in the longer-term and will be linking this in to hopefully raise awareness of the work already underway in the COFUP initiative launched by the Socialist Youth network. Janet, I should point out, is a splendid candidate and a member of the LRC. I took the photograph!

WHY THE MINIMUM WAGE IS NOT ENOUGH

I have spent the last two days doing some casual work at a shop in Hebden Bridge. A bit of much needed extra money while I seek more job opportunities. At £6.00 an hour, slightly over the minimum wage.
It was a great feeling to get proper cash in brown envelopes but my feeling of euphoria soon evaporated. Yesterday, I got the daily rate without tax adjustments. Today, I got two days' tax taken off. So the grand total tallies up at £35.00 a day.
The shine has just been taken off even further by the window-cleaner just knocking at my door and having to hand over £6. It suddenly has a whole new meaning. That was one hour's work today. So my weekend funds are depleted even further. However, as I have no dependents, I really shouldn't be whingeing.
Throughout most of my professional life, I have been very lucky. For some years I even made the supertax bracket. Those days are long gone. However on Monday, I'm doing some teaching work for £30-odd quid an hour which means basically I will earn more in four hours than i have done in two 7.5 hour days. Stating obvious maybe but for years I took that kind of rate of pay for granted.
In recent years , much to my annoyance, I've heard many people ( largely middle-class and well-paid) bang on and on about the minimum wage as if it represented some socialist Nirvana . Blair's finest hour etc etc ( although Blair actually opposed it) I agree that it was a Good Thing and that without the minimum wage things would be even more awful and that people would be even lower-paid. The Minimum Wage should also be properly enforced to protect casual workers. However, let's stop pretending that it is anywhere near a Living Wage ( which would be nearer £8 an hour) . £175 take-home a week is not enough to keep one person, never mind a family.
In fact, I suggest all those Ministers and members of the Govt who wax lyrical about it try a couple of days working for the basic rate. It just might make them think......