I know you might find this hard to believe but there is an MP who whilst campaigning for a real living wage has decided that they need an unpaid slave ooops I mean voluntary worker.
clicky




in the words of Yoda " mmm strong is hypocrisy in this one"

You could understand the cheek if it was a tory mp, but labour.

Well the minimum wage should be increased to the level of the living wage. As for interns they should be defined as slavery and the employers prosecuted for it. Simples. If you need them, then pay a living wage. As for MP's they should get an office allowance that covers the paid employment of non family staff. They are working for us so should have adequate resources to do their job.

I'm sure they do.

As for interns, well they're rewarded with valuable experience, just like an apprentice. And you're not going to see them offered minimum wage.

Yes but that really is a wonderful way of ensuring control of the upper classes over government as no one else can really afford to do this job for free.

I strongly disagree with that. The living wage was defined above as "that necessary to allow a family to meet their basic needs". Not everyone is supporting a family, and quite frankly I think the minimum wage is already too high.

I take home about £7 an hour. They say a living wage is £8.30 and yet I have bought my own house, smoke, go to the pub every week, entertain at the weekend and enjoy two foreign holidays every year. I manage in part by not wasting money on stuff like convenience food or posh brands, but not having to support a wife and seven kids is clearly an advantage.

While I'd love a big pay rise, I see no reason why one should be enforced in law. It would just lead to increased unemployment and push yet more jobs abroad. Seriously, the ridiculous labour prices in the UK are the primary reason we have no industry left.

If we want to be great again, then we need more people to do more work for less money. Britain was made great with slave labour, and it's all been down hill since.

So have you found yourself a new slave owner? What people fail to appreciate they could pay you nothing but how will that benefit the economy? You could find yourself being replaced by a polish slave. Only good enough for gladiator fodder.

Yeah, because you get to be great by having a massive exploited population supporting a small decadent elite. Sure working in WWI-era Russia.
we can't go back to how we were to be great. That world doesn't exist any more. We get to be great today by being better as a society/nation than everyone else. 'Exploiting as many people as much as possible' is not that. Having a first class affordable health system is that. Having fast, clean, affordable public transport is that. Treating pensioners well is that. Eradicating child poverty is that. None of those things will come around by achieving 'equality of misery' in as high a percentage of the population as possible.

I don't particularly care if we do those things with a high percentage of private ownership of utilities or a high percentage of public ownership of utilities (history suggests either extreme is actually bad) but I do know putting corporate profit in front of social welfare is damn well not going to get us there.

Jon

Exactly and nothing that is being proposed is going to improve that.

I think it pretty much does in some countries. Countries with export markets.

People are always complaining "this country is going to the dogs" but no one every actually seems to want to work to improve things...

Nope lost me at that point

Given supply and demand in excess of 80 grads per position in some areas they can comfortably afford to take advantage of the situation of all these mickey mouse/artsy fartsy degree students who have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Jeremy Kyle and Hollyoaks who are desperate to get a decent paying job but can't do so without previous real world experience

Labour laws say IF you are going to pay someone it has to be above £x/hour. Obviously this doesn't apply to the thousands that volunteer for various organisations either full time or in their spare time out of their own free will.

It's only slavery if someone is doing the work against their will tbh, you wouldn't apply if you didn't want to do the work

If you cannot get a paid job then you are working against your will. I have no problems about them getting an open door because of who they know. That was how I got my first job. Though they should be paid. Companies can still fire people for any reason at any time with the first two years without being sued. So employ them for two years and then fire them.

So you are saying anyone who volunteers for a charity and receives some form of non financial benefit such as skills in exchange for their services is doing so against their will?


A lot of volunteers do so because they can't get a paid job, no one wants to hire a person near/past retirement age yet they still want to work

Voluteering is something different. But that is for a charity. Though if the charity is being paid for that service then they should be paid. But if companies rely on volunteers then they are not good employers. As for getting experience. Minimum wage does allow anyone to apply for the job. A internship in central London excludes pretty much everyone apart from the rich. You hear of people on their third or fourth intership. That can be two years unpaid work. If a person employs someone to give them experience to try them out then they should either pay them, or limit the period to two weeks. Being permanently on internships benefits only the companies. There is minimal benefit to the graduate, as all they end up doing is being an equivalent of an overqualified YTS placement, doing menial tasks, definitely getting no on the job training.

As for retirerees they do at least have age discrimination laws to help them. Plus companies that do not recruit them lose out on all their experience and skills.