Apparently a group of Tory MPs are gathered in support of Christopher Chope’s 10 minute rule bill to, effectively, abolish the minimum wage. I find this absolutely breathtaking. It is wrapped up in some euphemism about ‘increasing employment opportunities’, but it boils down to allowing employers to pay as little as they can get away with.Oh, he says it is all voluntary. Yeah, right! As soon as you allow opt outs the whole scheme falls apart. Employers will take on the lowest bidder when filling a job. If somebody is willing to ‘voluntarily’ take two quid an hour you won’t get a look-in. I have seen the same thing with the opt out clause of the European working hours directives, where a company sends every employee a copy of the opt-out form, with unsubtle hints that not ‘voluntarily’ signing it makes you somehow less secure.
The best ever comment on minimum wages came from the comedian Robin Williams, back when minimum wage was an Americanism that we didn’t have over here. He said that when a company pay minimum wage it is their way of saying we would pay you less if only we were allowed to.
This is not how it is meant to be. The Tories are supposed to be pretending to be nice until enough people fall for it and vote them in. As soon as that happens, then they are allowed to drop the mask and start dismantling all the protections for ordinary workers and families that have been created in the last ten years. They are not supposed to show their true intentions until then, and Christopher Chope is not sticking to their game plan here.
Makes you wonder what other things they have set their sights on.
This Chope has an extra job as a director of a company because he feels that an MP’s salary is insufficient, and yet he can’t see why your average shop worker should be so greedy as to insist on £11,918 a year for working 40-hour weeks…
Incidentally, Chope claims that the TUC support this, which I find hard to believe. Maybe I should check on Wikipedia: I’m sure there has been enough time for CCHQ to insert the necessary cobblers to back up the claim.
(hat-tip to Mike Ion over at Labourhome)
About the author: Andrew normally goes by the nickname 'Skuds' which has been attached to him since schooldays but decided to be more formal for Common Endeavour...
He works in an IT department and still comes home to use a computer all night. When not playing with computers he likes taking photos and listening to 70s rock music...
He is the Labour PPC for Horsham in West Sussex, where he is looking forward to standing against Francis Maude...
Andrew has been blogging since July 2004 at Skuds' Sister's Brother, increasingly on non-political topics. Read more from this author