UK wages DOWN 10%, only worse than Greece; Germany UP 14%, France 11%, Poland 23%

[Hampster Gull]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b3d0225e-4416-11e5-af2f-4d6e0e5eda22.html#axzz4Fb3neDVF

Pay ratio between Britain's top CEOs and workers is 183:1 - do these bosses work 183 times as hard, put in 183 as many hours, or produce 183 times more than their staff?

Or are they just greedy *******s who pay themselves this much simply because they can get away with it - knowing that their Tory chums will always make excuses for their sheer greed, while passing laws to weaken trade unions even further, and blame poverty pay on immigrants (to divert attention away from the top 1%)?

CEOs dont decide their own pay

 

[Hampster Gull]

Do Tories ever listen to themselves patronising others, while having no empathy or understanding of what life is like for those less well-off than themselves? Tories always blame the low-paid, not the selfish, greedy, ruthless employers who pay poverty wages while receiving millions in salaries and bonuses themselves (Mike Ashley, Philip Green, etc).

In any conflict between employers and workers, I have never, in my whole life, heard a Tory condemn the employers; it's always, somehow, the workers fault if their pay is too low, or they are treated badly by management. Talk about blaming the victims.

Lots of press rallying agaisnt Green eg

 

[The Clamp]

The point being that you can make statistics fit whatever argument you like. The Guardian are clearly trying to make theirs fit their anti-Brexit view.

I think your point was actually that if your good wife can bounce back after redundancy (and sincere congrats for that btw, I've been redundant before and it sucks) then anyone should be able to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and get on with it. Unfortunately the world is filled with people from different educational backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, different mental capacities, etc.

 

[wellquickwoody]

Yep, lets worship the likes of Philip Green and the true cost at the expense of others.

I offer no defence for the likes of Philip Green, but the TUC's job is to whinge about wages and conditions, if they did not do that they have no reason to exist. Whether that is enough reason to blindly believe whatever they publish is open to conjecture.

 

[brakespear]

I offer no defence for the likes of Philip Green, but the TUC's job is to whinge about wages and conditions, if they did not do that they have no reason to exist. Whether that is enough reason to blindly believe whatever they publish is open to conjecture.

Thankful I am for the 'whinging' which means we get paid holiday, safer working conditions and the like.

 

[The Albion Roar]

I offer no defence for the likes of Philip Green, but the TUC's job is to whinge about wages and conditions, if they did not do that they have no reason to exist. Whether that is enough reason to blindly believe whatever they publish is open to conjecture.

It's because of the likes of Philip Green, Mike Ashley etc. that it's necessary for the trade unions to exist. Imagine what they'd be able to get away with without trade unions, or their place in helping put hard-fought labour laws in place.

They (Green / Ashley) are at the more public end of the sweatshop / poor treatment end of industry, though there is no way that they are the only ones doing it. It's merely that they are doing it on an industrial scale.

Let's not forget there is also the appalling notion of zero-hour contracts.

Unions aren't all about pay and strikes. They offer legal advice (especially within the field of employment law), pay for counselling advice, run vocational training above and beyond company training, offer expert opinion on their given field (safety on the trains, anyone?), offer a credit union status (regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority). Some even offer discounts at certain retail and publishing outlets. And so on.

Yet some haven't got past 1983 in thinking that the trade union movement is only interested in Marxist revolution. Some, if not most, trade unions aren't even left-wing (PFA, NFU etc.) - and the majority aren't affiliated to a left-wing party.

 

[The_Viper]

While we have nasty billionaire employers like Philip Green and Mike Ashley lining their pockets and treating their staff like sh*t.

I wonder if there is a connection between exorbitant pay at the top, and poverty wages at the bottom. Or is it just coincidence?

No, it's not a coincidence.


https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/...run-worst-performing-companies-research-finds

 

[wellquickwoody]

Some, if not most, trade unions aren't even left-wing (PFA, NFU etc.) - and the majority aren't affiliated to a left-wing party.

But the TUC, that's VERY affiliated, isn't it?

 

[Hastings gull]

Builders pay is down because of too many workers...yet there are too few houses...hang on...

What, ALL builders? How can you be in a position to make such a sweeping statement?

 

[drew]

CEOs dont decide their own pay

No but there tends to be a cosy little of club of directors that do.

 

[nicko31]

What, ALL builders? How can you be in a position to make such a sweeping statement?

Where I live its hard to get a builder at any price, picking and choosing their jobs. That said many still on pre-Brexit work

 

[Soulman]

I blame Brexit. Everything was much more reasonably-priced in the old days; we all earned more, we didn't have to lock our doors, kids played safely in the streets, England were good at football, it all went to pot after the Referendum.

Yeah, and don't forget that Philip Green and Mike Ashley were not exploiting workers pre Brexit........oh hang on.

 

[Diablo]

UK wages DOWN 10%, only worse than Greece; Germany UP 14%, France 11%, Poland 23%

Very misleading statement......The fact is wages have climbed every year....but not as much as RPI to tune of av 1.3% year over eight year period.


I could Headline "UK wages up 100%"..............which is true over say 20 years

 

[Steve in Japan]

An obvious comment but the one manufacturing powerhouse in the EU continues to do extremely well from its membership. The rest of us, not so well.

 

[Hastings gull]

Where I live its hard to get a builder at any price, picking and choosing their jobs. That said many still on pre-Brexit work

Whilst I would not wish to comment on your ability to find a builder, that was not quite the point. I was responding to a post which claimed that builders wages had gone down 10%, not whether you could find one. If they are picking and choosing their jobs, does not imply that they must be doing rather well? If they were struggling, they would be desperate to take any job.

 

[Hampster Gull]

No but there tends to be a cosy little of club of directors that do.

If you say so

 

[Hampster Gull]

An obvious comment but the one manufacturing powerhouse in the EU continues to do extremely well from its membership. The rest of us, not so well.

Most EU countrues running nice budget surpluses. We have one of the worst deficits.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Strange - Mrs W was made redundant 3 weeks ago and has just picked up a job worth an extra 27%+ ..... yes wages are being depressed .... not

Good news

 

[vegster]

It's because of the likes of Philip Green, Mike Ashley etc. that it's necessary for the trade unions to exist. Imagine what they'd be able to get away with without trade unions, or their place in helping put hard-fought labour laws in place.

They (Green / Ashley) are at the more public end of the sweatshop / poor treatment end of industry, though there is no way that they are the only ones doing it. It's merely that they are doing it on an industrial scale.

Let's not forget there is also the appalling notion of zero-hour contracts.

Unions aren't all about pay and strikes. They offer legal advice (especially within the field of employment law), pay for counselling advice, run vocational training above and beyond company training, offer expert opinion on their given field (safety on the trains, anyone?), offer a credit union status (regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority). Some even offer discounts at certain retail and publishing outlets. And so on.

Yet some haven't got past 1983 in thinking that the trade union movement is only interested in Marxist revolution. Some, if not most, trade unions aren't even left-wing (PFA, NFU etc.) - and the majority aren't affiliated to a left-wing party.

In my working life I have seen the decline of the unions due to anti union legislation and a degree of worker complacency. We now have a huge lower class of workers who are often in service industries working long hours for low wages on poor contracts and often un-represented. these are the Working Poor. They have been left behind since the last crash, maybe even before the last crash, they exist in a world where they are told they are " lucky to have a Job ". They work harder and harder to stand still as their company reduces their employment benefits with impunity in the dash to make more money.

We now live in a world where it is expected that a company/shop has to increase it's takings by 10% p.a. yet staff have little or no rights to an annual wage increase....a world where David Cameron had to say " Britain deserves a pay rise " in an attempt to shame employers in to passing on some of their increased profits. A world where the Minimum Wage has been increased and the Living Wage has been promoted in order to force employers to pass on some of their profits. This is a time when the government has to legally force employers to introduce company pensions in order for working people to have some standard of living after retirement.

Even the Tories are ashamed of how far the pendulum has swung in favour of employers. yes, so many people working.. so many in dead end jobs.. so many able to claim Family Credit due to crap wages... so many "lucky to have a job " . what a world !

 

[drew]

If you say so

Strange comment! Who do you think agrees the salaries of the CEO then?