{"id":5260,"date":"2015-08-14T14:18:22","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T13:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5260"},"modified":"2015-08-17T10:27:43","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T09:27:43","slug":"boon-for-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5260","title":{"rendered":"Boon for business"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Workers in the hair and beauty industry are more likely than others to be stiffed of their entitled National Minimum Wage. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why in July, the HMRC launched a campaign specifically targeting the hairdressing industry to ensure employers pay all their workers the legally mandated minimum wage.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe Birmingham Post highlighted yesterday (August 13) four employers in the city who failed to pay the minimum wage, including a disability support group, a car sales garage, a restaurant, and a hair and beauty salon.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe four employers together owed more than \u00c2\u014117,000 to several workers. They were pulled from a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bname and shame\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 list published by the department for business, skills and innovation, which compiles the names of employers who have been found to be illegally underpaying their employees.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhen contacted by the Post, the underpaying hair salon, Hush Hair and Beauty, highlighted confusion over apprenticeship minimum wage rates and noted that the workers had been paid what they were due.<\/p>\n

 
\nIt’s been reported that 42 per cent of businesses in the hair and beauty sector do not pay level 2 and level 3 apprentices the correct minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the highest underpayment rate of any sector.<\/p>\n

 
\nTougher action<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nThe most recent \u00e2\u20ac\u015bname and shame\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 list<\/a>, released on July 30, named 75 employers in breach of the law, totalling \u00c2\u0141153,000 in payment arrears. Publication of the list of employers paying below the minimum wage began in October 2013.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite assistant general secretary Steve Turner welcomed the publication of the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bname and shame list\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 but has previously called for tougher action against rogue employers.<\/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.<\/p>\n

 
\n\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 \u00e2\u20ac\u201d in courts, fined and imprisoned.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nCurrently, the maximum fine for an employer paying below the minimum wage is \u00c2\u014120,000.<\/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.<\/p>\n

 
\n\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 the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s approach to supporting the victims of this and other corporate crimes.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThe TUC argues that the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bname and shame\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 list only scratches the surface \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they have estimated that more than a quarter of a million workers are paid less than the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

 
\nTUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady has called for the HMRC to hire at least 100 more officers to enforce the minimum wage law, and the maximum penalty fine to be hiked to \u00c2\u014175,000.<\/p>\n

 
\nNow that the National Minimum Wage is set to go up significantly next year, with the adult rate rising to \u00c2\u01417.20 per hour, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s likely that minimum wage violations will become even more frequent as unscrupulous employers seek to flout the law.<\/p>\n

 
\nAlready, stupendously profitable companies have claimed the sky is falling in as Osborne announced in his most recent budget a higher minimum wage that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s set to go up to \u00c2\u01419 an hour by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

 
\nInterserve, one of the largest contractors of public services, warned on Wednesday (August 12) that its profits would be impacted once they have to pay 10,000 to 15,000 cleaners on the minimum wage the higher rate next year, indicating that it might have to reduce its cleaning services.<\/p>\n

 
\nSkyrocketing profits<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

 
\nBut the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pre-tax profits skyrocketed by almost 20 per cent in the six months to June of this year, now totalling \u00c2\u014133.7m.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite regional co-ordinating officer Jose Vallejo Villa believes Interserve\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s incessant chase for profits will only backfire.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBoth companies and clients must understand the real costs of a contract,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bA client shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sign contracts with companies that, at the loss of a sliver in profits, move to reduce staff and service standards. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bad business and creates a race to the bottom in both quality of service and pay and conditions for some of the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lowest paid workers.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAny company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most valuable resource is its workforce,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSacrificing their greatest asset at the altar of untouchable profits is short-sighted.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nVilla has been part of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign pushing for employers to pay the London Living Wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c now set at \u00c2\u01419.15 an hour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to all cleaners in the city. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s estimated that only 20 per cent of cleaners in one of the most expensive cities in the world are paid the Living Wage.<\/p>\n

 
\nVilla argues that paying the Living Wage is a boon for businesses.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt has been clearly demonstrated that workplaces in which all workers are paid the Living Wage have much better working environments,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis reduces absenteeism and the workers feel more motivated to work despite the unsocial hours during which cleaners do their job. Absenteeism seriously damages the standards that cleaning companies should provide to their clients.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bInstead of whingeing every time the minimum wage \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a living wage at all \u00e2\u20ac\u201c goes up slightly, employers need to start understanding the benefits of higher pay,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Villa added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot only is paying your employees enough to live the right thing to do, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good long-term business strategy as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Workers in the hair and beauty industry are more likely than others to be stiffed of their entitled National Minimum Wage. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why in July, the HMRC launched a campaign specifically targeting the hairdressing industry to ensure employers pay all their workers the legally mandated minimum wage.   The Birmingham Post highlighted yesterday (August 13) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[215],"wps_subtitle":"As employers not paying the minimum are shamed, Unite argues for a Living Wage ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5260"}],"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=5260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5261,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5260\/revisions\/5261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}