{"id":10954,"date":"2017-01-06T17:02:08","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T17:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10954"},"modified":"2017-01-09T16:14:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T16:14:32","slug":"skimming-profits-workers-pockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10954","title":{"rendered":"‘Skimming profits’ from workers’ pockets"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Although nearly 700 firms have been fined a total \u00c2\u01411.4m for paying staff below the minimum wage since 2013, MPs and Unite said today (January 6) that the penalties are not enough of a deterrent to stop other employers breaking the law.<\/p>\n

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The total amount of fines – which came on top of the companies being forced to pay \u00c2\u01413.5m in wage arrears – was released after the government was humiliated by the revelation that not one of the firms has faced criminal proceedings<\/a> for their actions.<\/p>\n

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Since February 2013 employers found not to have paid the legal minimum<\/a> have been publicly shamed, as part of \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcrack down on those who ignore the law\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. The lists have included household name brands, high street companies and major businesses.<\/p>\n

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From last year HMRC has also had the power to fine the companies up to 200 percent of the money owed and before that up to 100 per cent.<\/p>\n

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However the \u00c2\u01411.7m fine, which was revealed by Baron Lucy Neville-Rolfe after a parliamentary question, is only around 40 per cent of the total that has been underpaid.<\/p>\n

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Neville-Rolfe insisted that publicly shaming companies is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe most effective means\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of quickly getting workers the money they are owed.<\/p>\n

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‘Rap on the knuckles’ <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said the punitive actions can only ever be a \u00e2\u20ac\u015brap on the knuckles\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and that strong trade unions are needed to stamp out the problem.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis just confirms, sadly, what we experience all too frequently every day.\u00c2\u00a0 Too often companies are skimming their profits out of the pockets of their workforce.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a continuing reminder that for too many working people, work in this country just does not pay.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd while it is good to see the rogues being held to account in some way, these fines can only ever be a rap on the knuckles.\u00c2\u00a0 We will only make serious progress towards stamping out wage abuse and raising workers out of poverty when we have a solid floor beneath workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 feet.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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McCluskey added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat means restoring the collective bargaining arrangements that would see fairer wages negotiated and protected \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and working with unions to ensure workers are paid what they deserve.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOnly serious action like this will prevent the further slide into the low waged, insecure work which is destroying living standards for millions in this country.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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On Wednesday (January 4) the government announced that it has set up a new watchdog<\/a> to crack down on rogue employers.<\/p>\n

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Shadow business secretary, Clive Lewis said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot only is the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098living wage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 not enough to live on, but too many employers are getting away without paying even that. Honest businesses are being undercut and honest workers are being underpaid.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor too long ministers have been soft on hard labour. The new director (of the watchdog) must now ensure that illegal exploitation is prosecuted and punished \u00e2\u20ac\u201c crime shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay, and work should.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Although nearly 700 firms have been fined a total \u00c2\u01411.4m for paying staff below the minimum wage since 2013, MPs and Unite said today (January 6) that the penalties are not enough of a deterrent to stop other employers breaking the law.   The total amount of fines – which came on top of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[96,215],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10955,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10954\/revisions\/10955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}