McDonalds workers due to strike for £10 an hour...

a 5% increase in prices is pretty big and customers may go elsewhere.
Then either the shareholders have to take a haircut or we all have to accept our products are going to cost a bit more to ensure that people in this country are earning a better wage.

But of course, people in this country are perfectly comfortable with their clothes being made in a Vietnamese sweatshop so I don't see that happening. They'll complain even if a pair of jeans costs £5
 
Then either the shareholders have to take a haircut or we all have to accept our products are going to cost a bit more to ensure that people in this country are earning a better wage.

But of course, people in this country are perfectly comfortable with their clothes being made in a Vietnamese sweatshop so I don't see that happening. They'll complain even if a pair of jeans costs £5


or every other store keeps its prices/wages lower, and that store loses business and has to dowsize/take other measures.

or we all have to accept our products are going to cost a bit more to ensure that people in this country are earning a better wage.

and so relatively nothing changes?
 
is a basic job at mcdonalds meant to be a "living" job though?

or is it meant to be temporary work for 16 year olds/students?
Yes it's a job or should pay enough for you to exist in society without being subsidized.
Hospitality and catering is the weirdest of all. Very labour intensive and usually the pitance of pay yet everyone expects top food and service.
 
yet everyone expects top food and service.


no one is going to mcdonalds for "top service" they expect service, ie someone to convey an order and food/drink between 2 rooms


those that expect top food are going to member club restaurants/bars..
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or every other store keeps its prices/wages lower, and that store loses business and has to dowsize/take other measures.
And that's why minimum wage is enforced by law.

There are minimum prices for goods that are protected by anti-competition laws. Pharmaceuticals and energy for example. There are set prices for them. Sure there is wiggle room but no drastic difference in pricing. You can't come in and offer massive discounts or you will be prosecuted.

So we accept that there is a basement price for certain goods and services but whenever an adjustment to the basement price of labour is in the works there is always resistance.
 
And that's why minimum wage is enforced by law.

There are minimum prices for goods that are protected by anti-competition laws. Pharmaceuticals and energy for example. There are set prices for them. Sure there is wiggle room but no drastic difference in pricing. You can't come in and offer massive discounts or you will be prosecuted.

So we accept that there is a basement price for certain goods and services but whenever an adjustment to the basement price of labour is in the works there is always resistance.
Genuinely interested as I can only think of minimum alcohol unit pricing. What else is regulated to have a minimum price?
 
It's all well and good people wanting the minimum/living wage to be raised (again), but surely it ends up being a cyclical problem, whereby every time it gets increase, companies then have to increase the cost of their products/services, and people on minimum wage end up no better off. Those above minimum wage lose out, as e.g. the price of bread has to increase to cover this increase, but don't necessarily receive an equivalent pay rise.
Whilst that is a real issue it is largely due to shareholders refusing to take a haircut on their bottom line.

Big companies like Amazon and Tesco employ hundreds of staff on zero hour minimum wage contracts. They have huge profit margins, it's ridiculous that they cannot guarantee respectable wages to their staff
 
Genuinely interested as I can only think of minimum alcohol unit pricing. What else is regulated to have a minimum price?
Pharmaceuticals and energy are the big ones.

They talk about more competition in those markets but even if I were a benevolent billionaire, I couldn't set up a company and sell electricity at wholesale costs to disrupt the market. Therein is the big lie with regards to privatisation of public services, but that's another topic for another day.
 
I'm in the camp that thinks increasing the minimum wage isn't going to solve the issues we've got in this country. As others have said, the companies /will/ increase their prices to make up for it, which means no-one is better off.

I'd much rather focus attention on the rental market, putting in regulation to help tenants and make renting a viable option. Regulate prices of this so landlords can't massively hike up the rent for properties.

We're in an odd situation in this country in that the amount spent on housing is massively disproportionate to wages!
 
It's all well and good people wanting the minimum/living wage to be raised (again), but surely it ends up being a cyclical problem, whereby every time it gets increase, companies then have to increase the cost of their products/services, and people on minimum wage end up no better off. Those above minimum wage lose out, as e.g. the price of bread has to increase to cover this increase, but don't necessarily receive an equivalent pay rise.

Different companies are affected differently by the NLW rises as not every product is cost plus and not every company is heavily staffed, so it's not always a direct correlation and not always a high product price rise to cover it.

Once sector that I do keep on banging on about, as I have knowledge of it, is in early years nurseries etc. Due to ratios they are very heavily staffed and these changes to minimum wage have a massive effect to their costs. Combined with they get a mandated level of funding from the Govt that is too low and the only other place they can get money is from paying parents.

So childcare costs, as higbh as they are now, are going to soar over the next few years
 
Pharmaceuticals and energy are the big ones.

They talk about more competition in those markets but even if I were a benevolent billionaire, I couldn't set up a company and sell electricity at wholesale costs to disrupt the market. Therein is the big lie with regards to privatisation of public services, but that's another topic for another day.
Thanks.
 
Then that would be £13,650 a year salary

Not a lot is it to earn in a year, and think you could have a partner or family to try and support on that.


well if you had a kid you'd be getting like 320 a month in child/working tax credit too wouldn't you?
 
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