Usdaw Welcomes Good News for Low Paid Workers, Or Is It?

SHOPWORKERS union Usdaw has warmly welcomed the Government's decision to accept the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission and increase all 3 of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) hourly rates.  Yet business leaders are strongly againced it.  "We have got a hard time ahead and this rise will force more jobs to be cut, just as we are looking like we will be heading out of the danger zone.  This is political madness and it just vote winning and trying to please the unions.  The Unions have to learn and wake up to the fact we are increasingly becoming over priced in the international business work due to our wages.  Yes, it is nice to reward workers with higher wages, but not when it will cost more jobs in the long run!" a FSB businessman told us.

The new rates, which will come into force on 1 October 2010 will be: £5.93 per hour for low paid workers aged 21 and over (a 2.2% increase on the current £5.80 rate); £4.92 per hour for 18 to 20 year olds (a 1.9% increase on the current £4.83 rate); and £3.64 per hour for 16 to 17 year olds (a 2% increase on the current £3.57 rate).

General Secretary of Usdaw, John Hannett said:- "This is good news for the millions of workers who rely on the NMW to help them maintain a decent standard of living. It's a clear message from the Government that they are determined to look after the interests of hard-working people on low incomes.  All of the evidence submitted to the Low Pay Commission suggests that business can afford this modest increase.  All workers deserve to be valued and a decent NMW is one of the benchmarks of a decent society.  Labour introduced the NMW and have consistently increased it every year since its introduction in 1999 this latest announcement will be welcomed by low paid workers throughout the UK."

"What unions are not telling their members is that the Government is going to tax more and that NI is set to increases.  So the bigger the wage the more the government will take off them anyway...  I have no idea why Usdaw says that businesses can afford this rise.   Lots of small businesses are closing each day, still.   This is history repeating it self." added the FSB mamber.

Do you think we are putting to big a cost on our businesses? Email us today with your views?  Email us to news24@southportreporter.com.

Workers Memorial Day
Wednesday 28 April 2010

"IT'S great news that Workers Memorial Day will now be officially recognised by the government - now they must admit the true extent of workplace ill-health, accidents and death AND enforce the law as vigorously as they do parking offences to reduce the damage done!  This is due to our campaigning, - all of us, the Hazards Campaign, trade unions, the TUC and Families Against Corporate Killers - well done!  Workers Memorial Day is 'OUR' day, a day when workers and our families, and our trade unions, focus on health and safety at work, both in our workplaces, and at events locally, nationally, and worldwide. Every year more people are killed at work than are killed in war. Most do not die of mystery ailments, or in tragic “accidents”. They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn’t that important a priority. Workers Memorial Day Remembers all of the Dead but also commits us all to Fight like hell for the Living, to stop these totally avoidable deaths that destroy lives and wreck families.  This year more than ever we need to fight for our lives as the recession caused by a greedy, globalised financial system acting out of control, under governments committed to deregulation and light touch regulation, has caused global meltdown and threatens to make our health and safety an even lower priority and destroy more lives.  There will be an election in the UK in few months and we need to use WMD to put workplace safety and health on the election agenda. We must Fight for the Living in the build up to Workers Memorial Day by making our case that safe and healthy work is a human right not a privilege, that currently work causes massive amount of harm for which employers pay a tiny proportion, that whatever government is elected must not deregulate health and safety, must not reduce enforcement and compliance, must not allow employers to audit and regulate their own H&S and keep inspectors out; and must ensure positive legal duties for H&S on directors, well funded preventative enforcement with teeth, deterrent penalties, and just compensation for all workers and their families harmed by work." said Hilda Palmer, of the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre.  Click on this LINK for more information.

Youngsters mean business

LIVERPOOL infants as young as 5 are being encouraged to think up imaginative business ideas which will make a difference at school, in their community and at home.  Every primary school in Liverpool are receiving a unique educational toolkit called:- ‘Enterprise for Infants’, which aims to give pupils the right stuff when it comes to business, enterprise, creativity and teamwork. It is the first ever business education pack for infant-aged children in the city.

The toolkit, which is the brainchild of Councllor Gary Millar, Liverpool City Council’s executive member for enterprise,  aims to help infants think up ways to make a difference at school, in their community and at home.  Aimed at 5 to 7 year olds, the kit gives them the opportunity to learn more about how businesses work that ranges from making a product and selling and delivering it to customers, friends and family; to raising money for worthy causes.  It is hoped the toolkit will give children skills which will last them for life - firing their imaginations, getting them working as a team and creating thousands of young, dynamic entrepreneurs able to make a real difference to people and places.

Councillor Gary Millar said:- “It’s never too early to start motivating and enthusing our children with ideas and tools that will equip them for the future world of work or the giving them the skills needed to work as team. Business and enterprise is not all about making money and I would like people of all ages to join us in putting something back into the city.  This toolkit has been designed especially for young minds to have fun, make money and most importantly help people and places. The infants will learn lots of things, including how to be enterprising, develop ideas and make them happen whilst learning about business too.  Through this innovative learning experience they will develop an understanding of enterprise and the skills and attributes that make enterprising people.”

The toolkit supports Liverpool’s ‘Every Child Matters’ initiative - in particular making a positive contribution and achieving economic wellbeing. Teachers will use the toolkit’s posters, DVD and activities to explain to children that working through ten steps together will help them be enterprising and raise money for a favourite charity or cause.

The toolkit’s “10 Steps to Success” are: -

1. Use your imagination
2. Pick the best idea
3. Tell us more!
4. Choose your job
5. Explore your idea
6. Pounds & pence
7. Shout about it!
8. Ready, steady, go
9. Add it all up
10. Looking back

Councillor Millar added:- “This toolkit explains that being enterprising is not just about owning your own business or being an entrepreneur. Instead, it makes clear that it’s about having a positive ‘can do’ attitude in life and striving to achieve your full potential.  By starting at Step 1 and working through the remaining steps, pupils will create a memorable learning experience. They will discover that volunteering, working as a team and fundraising makes a difference - and with their help and commitment we can make great things happen!”

Children who complete the toolkit and develop their own business ideas will receive certificates, stickers and reward cards. The toolkit will be used as part of lessons and at after school clubs. And parents are being encouraged to get actively involved and support their children in their business ventures.

The Enterprising Infants toolkit is part of the wider ‘Enterprising kids - Let’s do business!’ programme, developed by Liverpool City Council and Stepclever.

Teachers from 20 infant and primary schools have already got their hands on the toolkit. It will be sent to every primary school in the city over the next few months.