As long as there are employers like Sir Phillip Green and Mike Ashley there will be people on benefits and in work. The biggest benefits spongers are employers who pay employee's an insufficient amount to live on whilst the board and share holders cream off millions. If they were made to do so the benefits bill could be slashed and the real malingerers identified and targeted. Yes that would mean a lower tax take but with fewer benefits to pay the treasury doesn't need so much. And I am sure Sir Phillip can make do with one less yacht and Mike with one or two fewer big wads of cash in his pocket...
I agree to some extent that companies that don't pay tax should invest their profits into their staffs wages, yet Labour want to cream that money to pay for public services instead so workers don't benefit anyway. Labour are the ones who made it easier for businesses like theirs to introduce the minimum wage to their workforce, lowering the average wage, not 'protecting' them. When it was brought in my wages were reduced to the national minimum wage because it was now legal to do so. Most businesses did the same so when we said we weren't happy we were told to either accept it or find another job. I left and now every job in my sector and skill range only pays minimum wage. I have mechanical engineering experience, carpenter experience and I was only worth minimum wage to those years of Labour Government. But that's my own personal experience.
Green and Ashley can do whatever they like; it's their businesses and it's their money. You disagree with their practice, then don't shop there or support their business. But then what happens? People lose jobs to cover their companies loss of earnings, so 'attacking' them by making them pay more tax doesn't help workers on the bottom rung, it makes them lose their jobs. Don't get me wrong, Ashley and Green are c*nts, but that was due to the inhumane work practices that they forced their staff to work under, the impossible expectations that could result in instant dismissal, working unpaid hours for minor discrepencies etc, but that's nothing to do with not being paid enough. That was going on for years and Labour did nothing, only until it became profitable to increase their public profile which was waning and even then it was done under a Conservative government that action was taken.
Green and Ashley will still want to retain their high incomes; forcing them to pay more means they will do whatever they can to keep it even if it means getting rid of people in their employ. You're not helping us, you're hindering us. Fight for fair treatment in the workplace, yes, but saying these companies should be paying us more wages when Labour were the ones who made it legal to pay us a minimum amount in the first place smacks of hypocrisy.
Also, what is Labour obsession with zero-contract hours? They are a god send for some people in my place, they couldn't do their university degrees without them, because otherwise they are 'forced' to work their minimum contracted hours when they need the time off to do dissertations and whatnot. People ask for them and most companies are flexible enough to provide them. It's an example of how far removed from reality Labour are with workers and labourers. We don't want zero hours contracts banned, they're useful to us!
