Vote Labour at your peril at the next election

[somebody]

Regarding the minimum wage.. When I was 18 I worked for £80 a week

My employer at the time was a mean little who no doubt would have cried poverty when the minimum wage came into being. The minimum wage by a vast scale has made a positive impact on this country.

Maybe up north but they didn't take regional differences into place which im sure they were thinking in their ivory towers would mean the whole job market would adapt but as we dont it takes more than that. It also has meant many jobs are now minimum wage and hourly rates etc when before they were permant salaried jobs

One very well known security firm used at work who many of the guards i have known for years. Has im told its older staff on salaried wages and the newer staff are hourly on rolling contracts and yes you guessed it minimum wage They gave the newer staff more holidays well actually they gave them the chance to take their bank holidays when they like and still have less holidays than the older staff

Many supermarket staff were salaried or had guaranteed hours when friends and I were students working in the evenings and weekends. Now you would be very lucky it seems to have this luxury.

Now many retail staff are zero hour contract so the minimum wage makes no difference. Sickness is now an offence and many companies big and small being far less genrous with sickness pay.



Well intentioned policy which as usual it seems backfired.

[Northerner]

Maybe up north but they didn't take regional differences into place which im sure they were thinking in their ivory towers would mean the whole job market would adapt but as we dont it takes more than that. It also has meant many jobs are now minimum wage and hourly rates etc when before they were permant salaried jobs

One very well known security firm used at work who many of the guards i have known for years. Has im told its older staff on salaried wages and the newer staff are hourly on rolling contracts and yes you guessed it minimum wage They gave the newer staff more holidays well actually they gave them the chance to take their bank holidays when they like and still have less holidays than the older staff

Many supermarket staff were salaried or had guaranteed hours when friends and I were students working in the evenings and weekends. Now you would be very lucky it seems to have this luxury.

Now many retail staff are zero hour contract so the minimum wage makes no difference. Sickness is now an offence and many companies big and small being far less genrous with sickness pay.



Well intentioned policy which as usual it seems backfired.

These problems came into effect before the minimum wage was even law. And it was the erosion of the unions which started it all. As these days most unions are toothless tigers.

The company I work for has treated it's staff like you would treat the dog poop on your shoe!

At one point my office had a 99% attrition rate (the rate people join the company and then leave within a year) and they blamed the local people for being too lazy to work. Although shipping jobs offshore and trying to manage people out of the company instead of paying them redundancy might have been a more obvious problem.

Companies have power, unions do not. When the unions had too much power they abused it. Now that the companies have too much power, they too are abusing it. We have lost the balance to keep things equal and good for all parties

[walesrob]

Sickness is now an offence and many companies big and small being far less genrous with sickness pay.


Well intentioned policy which as usual it seems backfired.

I worked for another supermarket company for 15 months a few years ago (I call it Shine, but I'm sure you know who I'm talking about), but was off sick for the best part of 2 months (got no sick pay or SSP), on my return I got a written warning. It was a genuine sickness, but no, the company wouldn't have it, they claimed I was letting down the team and the company. As soon as I got this written warning, they had my resignation letter the next day, and they wonder why there is such a huge turnover of staff. In contrast, the company I work for now treat all their staff as human beings, loads of incentives and pay above national minimum wage.

[somebody]

I worked for another supermarket company for 15 months a few years ago (I call it Shine, but I'm sure you know who I'm talking about), but was off sick for the best part of 2 months (got no sick pay or SSP), on my return I got a written warning. It was a genuine sickness, but no, the company wouldn't have it, they claimed I was letting down the team and the company. As soon as I got this written warning, they had my resignation letter the next day, and they wonder why there is such a huge turnover of staff. In contrast, the company I work for now treat all their staff as human beings, loads of incentives and pay above national minimum wage.

Indeed Labour with im sure there will intentioned acts have overseen a job market where now people find it like you say a total nightmare if they are Sick.
From what I have seen and heard the lower end of the job market in particular seems to be even more dickensian than ten years ago.

Your story Rob is not uncommon and I know one of my wifes friends at work whose mother works as HR for A Blue Chip company could not belive how they treated her daughter where Lies were told by supervisors and regulatrions and laws not abided by. She had one day off and similar action was being talked about to what happened to you Rob.

People like her and people like myself who will research what the rules and regs are will stand up for our loved ones in these postions but sadly many dont have someone who will do

[whiteraven]

i myself was recently out of work for two years and when it came to look for a job i was shocked at the wages offered for factory,shop or warehouse work in my area. one packing company is asking people to work 7 days a week on shift and all they are paying is basic wage. they are always advertising so they must have a very big turn over of staff, i didnt even get an interview when i applied even though i had 25 yrs experience in that kind of work. the big problem we have here is there are thousands of eastern europeans looking for jobs in my area so what chance do we have of getting a competitive rate?

[IainBusby]

There is your answer.

If you remeber, it kept going back and forth to the Lords, until it was passed by act of Parliament, thus bypassing any more shenanigans from the Lords, which, even including labour stooges, wanted it amended.

It was not voted on, in its present form.

That's because the Lords always has had an inbuilt conservative majority with most of the hereditary peers who continually tried to thwart the bill belonging to the landed gentry (the fox hunting brigade) wheareas the government that we the people elected has a labour majority and the parliament act was put in place so that the unelected house of lords could not continually thwart the will of the elected government of the day, which ever party it may be, in the house of commons.

[KeithD]

Vote Plaid Cymru

[somebody]

Vote Plaid Cymru

And there London Cadidate is

[walesrob]

And there London Cadidate is

Bloddwyn Dafydd Rhodri Dwynwen ap Steffan

[aromulus]

That's because the Lords always has had an inbuilt conservative majority with most of the hereditary peers who continually tried to thwart the bill belonging to the landed gentry (the fox hunting brigade) wheareas the government that we the people elected has a labour majority and the parliament act was put in place so that the unelected house of lords could not continually thwart the will of the elected government of the day, which ever party it may be, in the house of commons.

Excuse me, but by then the Hereditary lot was well gone, and the place was 3/4 full of labour hired, by headhunters, stooges.
And they still saw flaws in that bill, so much, so that they sent it back to the commons a few times.

[somebody]

Bloddwyn Dafydd Rhodri Dwynwen ap Steffan

That rolls of the tongue. Im guessing your now wiping down your keyboard.

[IainBusby]

Excuse me, but by then the Hereditary lot was well gone, and the place was 3/4 full of labour hired, by headhunters, stooges.
And they still saw flaws in that bill, so much, so that they sent it back to the commons a few times.

There are still a number of hereditary peers in the house of lords to this day, 92 of them in fact, because the labour government decided not remove them all until it there was cross party agreement with regard to how their relacements would be selected and as far as the place being 3/4 full of labour stooges that is just totally untrue. Historically the lords has always had an inbuilt tory majority and as far as I am aware they still have today.


Reform of the House of Lords

There has been a movement in Britain towards reforming the second chamber because of its undemocratic nature. This has been advanced by the New Labour party who started the reform by abolishing most of the Hereditary Peers. They left only 92 of these Hereditary peers which was part of a deal made with the Conservative party to get the measure through Parliament. The Conservatives agreed to let the bill through if there would remain 92 Hereditary Peers (most peers are Conservative and the Conservatives have a strong strangle hold on the House of Lords which is useful when it isn't in power in the House of Commons).
However, when this agreement was reached, the Conservatives didn't realise that New Labour would do anything else that could annoy them. They were wrong! Tony made the Hereditary Peers vote for their survival. 75 peers where to be elected to stay in the House of Lords (the other 17 had a special reason for remaining, holding certain posts) by the Hereditary Peers themselves. Any of the Hereditary Peers could stand for election but when they did they had to write, in no more than 75 words (sic), why they should remain an Hereditary Peer. This most annoyed the Leader of the Conservative party in the Lords who was outraged (partly because he had to stand for election himself and was having difficulty cutting down his locution). The reason for this word limit was apparently to stop the Lords from writing colossal election manifestos.



Just one article I googled very quickly though I'm sure I could find many more to prove my point if I looked hard enough.

[walesrob]

Not that it matters much now, as Labour don't have long to go...I'm sure Gordons £££'s of cleaning bills claimed on his expenses will really endear him to the public, along with Jacqui Porn and her house. This Labour government has lost all credibility.

By the way Iain, that article seems a bit childish (must have been written by a 10 year old Ed Ballsup) - its the Labour Party, not the "NEW" Labour Party. Words like "They were wrong!" and "Tony" (Tony who?) hardly makes it a balanced and credible.

[Scouse]

If voting changed anything it would be illegal