{"id":2728,"date":"2015-01-15T17:14:58","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T17:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2728"},"modified":"2015-01-16T15:18:35","modified_gmt":"2015-01-16T15:18:35","slug":"robbing-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2728","title":{"rendered":"Robbing the workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The legally mandated national minimum wage (NMW) stands at a paltry \u00c2\u01416.50 an hour, well below what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s considered the minimum to live a decent life. But companies raking in millions in profits are not even paying their workers that\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re breaking the law in the process.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe government revealed today <\/a>(January 15) a list of 37 businesses which were found to have paid their workers less than the minimum wage. Among the companies listed, they owed almost \u00c2\u0141200,000, with more than \u00c2\u014150,000 in fines. Employers crossed the board, from hairdressers to construction workers, security workers to cleaners.<\/p>\n

 
\nCompanies on the list include popular clothing retailer H&M, which owes 540 workers over \u00c2\u01412,000 in total. Another well-known company on the list was Welcome Break, which operates motorway service stations across the country.<\/p>\n

 
\nTUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady argued that the list was likely only the \u00e2\u20ac\u015btip of the iceberg\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, adding that over 600 employers per year are found to be underpaying their workers, but the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnaming and shaming\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 scheme is too limited in scope to name all offenders.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere are companies out there that cheat hundreds of staff out of a legal minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201d these are the biggest offenders and their pay crimes must be made public, too,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMinisters must also step up enforcement action with more prosecutions, higher fines and a bigger team of enforcement officers to catch the cheats,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady added.<\/p>\n

 
\nEnforcing the law<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nThe TUC published a report last wee<\/a>k that outlines ways in which the government can take steps to prevent this common crime, whose victims will struggle even harder to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe report lays out a 10-point plan, which includes:<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Restore the budget for raising awareness about the minimum wage to \u00c2\u01411m
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Hire 100 more HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) enforcement officers
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Better official guidance on the minimum wage so that employers know their responsibilities
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Create legal gateways so that HMRC can share information about enforcement with local authorities and the transport regulatory authorities
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Name and shame all non-payers
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Government to guarantee arrears if employer goes bankrupt or simply vanishes
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Adopt a prosecution strategy targeted towards the worst offenders and increase maximum fine from \u00c2\u01415,000 to \u00c2\u014175,000
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 More targeted enforcement for high-risk sectors
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Make government funding for training apprentices dependent on employers paying the minimum wage, and create a duty for training providers to check that the minimum wage is paid
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02d8 Promote collective bargaining so that trade unions can deal with more minimum wage problems themselves.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe report found that simple wage theft has evolved into newer, less obvious methods for robbing workers their due. Some of these tactics include mislabelling workers as self-employed, interns or volunteers; forcing workers to pay for uniforms, tools and training or travel; using complex piece-rates to set impossible targets; and under-recording hours so that paperwork appears correct.<\/p>\n

 
\nMinimum wage value plunging<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nDespite the NMW rising every single year\u00e2\u20ac\u201din 2014, it went from \u00c2\u01416.31 to \u00c2\u01416.50\u00e2\u20ac\u201dits real terms value has plunged over the past decade, which highlights just how important it is that minimum wage laws are enforced.<\/p>\n

 
\nAs the Resolution Foundation found in 2013<\/a>, when the cost of living is included, the value of the minimum wage has dropped by more than \u00c2\u01411,000 a year since 2008.<\/p>\n

 
\nKieran Duffy is one minimum wage worker who knows from first-hand experience just how difficult it is to live on the legal minimum.<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\nDuffy, a waiter who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been on the NMW for over a decade, explains that living now has become all but impossible. He notes the doubling or trebling of prices in basic necessities, from transport to rent to meat and even bread.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJust a few years ago, I remember paying \u00c2\u0141450 a month for a decent 3 bed flat,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNow, my children are paying \u00c2\u0141500 for just a room in really dingy conditions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had a holiday in years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Duffy added.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite assistant general secretary Steve Turner argued that it was time the government took minimum wage violations seriously, especially in light of the soaring cost of living.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is an outrage that so many businesses are allowed to get away with ignoring the law and cheating workers out of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already a pittance of a minimum wage,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe real-terms value of the minimum wage has already plummeted over the past decade, and the millions of workers on it are in a constant struggle with debt, extortionate rents, growing energy bills and feeding their families. These crooks are flagrantly violating the law and should be treated like the criminals they are — in courts, fined and imprisoned.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015b\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Naming and shaming\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 these employers might shed light on the problem, but the real answer is to enforce the law, support strong and powerful trade unions and legislate to introduce a system of sector level collective bargaining to address low and exploitative pay,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe current fine is nothing but a slap on the wrist. You can be fined more for flogging a dodgy football shirt than exploiting working people, something that sums up this government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s approach to supporting the victims of this and other corporate crimes.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite has called for an immediate rise in the minimum wage to \u00c2\u01417.80 an hour, a wage that the union has found to be entirely affordable for businesses.<\/p>\n

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The legally mandated national minimum wage (NMW) stands at a paltry \u00c2\u01416.50 an hour, well below what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s considered the minimum to live a decent life. But companies raking in millions in profits are not even paying their workers that\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re breaking the law in the process.   The government revealed today (January 15) a list […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[23,215],"wps_subtitle":"Shameful firms that pay less than minimum, named","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728"}],"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=2728"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2747,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions\/2747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}