Council again..

A

andrewb

Pillar o' t' Community
Tackler
It's full council tonight. It's at 7:30 normally, if you're interested.

There's a motion on the table by Labour that celebrates 10 years of the minimum wage. It then goes on to say the council should write to David Cameron and express disgust at a 'Conservative proposed' bill which would allow workers to opt out of the minimum wage.

Quite why local politicians wish to waste time on such motions rather than dealing with local issues which they have influence over I don't know. Regardless, is it really necessary to try and make this a party political matter? The bill is not backed by David Cameron, it's not backed by the overwhelming majority of the Conservative parliamentary group, and it's now even been withdrawn.

I expect that if the Conservatives turn around and say 'No we're not going to waste time when everybody knows it's Conservative policy to back the minimum wage', and vote against the motion, Labour will be quoting 'Conservatives vote against minimum wage' in the newspaper and their leaflets! More games...
 

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Maybe lots of people would work for below the minimum wage if it was tax free and they got free housing and all the things in life that are needed to survive but that will never happen.Or is there such a world out there??:D:D
 
Benipete said:
Maybe lots of people would work for below the minimum wage if it was tax free and they got free housing and all the things in life that are needed to survive but that will never happen.Or is there such a world out there??:D:D
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Ah, Communism, (at least we'd get free vodka), even if we couldn't buy a football team at the end of 80 years, (ish), of oppression!

person-smiley-9597.gif
 
Benipete said:
Maybe lots of people would work for below the minimum wage if it was tax free and they got free housing and all the things in life that are needed to survive but that will never happen.Or is there such a world out there??:D:D
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Aye. It's called North Korea. You'd like it there.
 
The minimum wage is very much needed, as someone who worked for an employer who was loath to pay a decent wage before the minimum wage was introduced I am speaking from experience. Workers rights need protecting.
 
BERNADETTE said:
The minimum wage is very much needed, as someone who worked for an employer who was loath to pay a decent wage before the minimum wage was introduced I am speaking from experience. Workers rights need protecting.
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Indeed, but that isn't what I'm posting about. :p
 
Andrew - it would be better if you gave the correct information about tonight's council meeting - it is scheduled to start at 7.00pm (not 7.30 as per your post).
 
claytonender said:
Andrew - it would be better if you gave the correct information about tonight's council meeting - it is scheduled to start at 7.00pm (not 7.30 as per your post).
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But Labours motion as more to do with the 4th June than sensible debate, a desperate ploy by a desperate bunch of no mark political numpties
 
claytonender said:
Andrew - it would be better if you gave the correct information about tonight's council meeting - it is scheduled to start at 7.00pm (not 7.30 as per your post).
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I do apologise, thank-you for updating us! I thought they normally started at 7:30 you see.
 
Gayle said:
People may wish to read the following two articles before commenting.

Tory bill attempts to water down minimum wage | Politics | guardian.co.uk

Bill to abolish minimum wage withdrawn


As Andrew points out the proposed bill has been withdrawn - however, it is likely to be put back again on 12th June. Isn't that just after the county elections - i wonder whether that has affected the decision to pull the bill now and then reinstate it afterwards.
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Whether this MP decides to put it forward again or not, it's a private members bill rather than Conservative party policy, therefore this 'motion' for this evening looks rather misleading. It looks as if it's about bad mouthing Tories with the election coming up, rather than trying to help local people with local issues.
 
We will see if it appears in the local papers/election leaflets in due course though. Perhaps I'm just being cynical!
 
andrewb said:
Whether this MP decides to put it forward again or not, it's a private members bill rather than Conservative party policy, therefore this 'motion' for this evening looks rather misleading. It looks as if it's about bad mouthing Tories with the election coming up, rather than trying to help local people with local issues.
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Spot on young un:D
 
andrewb said:
Whether this MP decides to put it forward again or not, it's a private members bill rather than Conservative party policy, therefore this 'motion' for this evening looks rather misleading. It looks as if it's about bad mouthing Tories with the election coming up, rather than trying to help local people with local issues.
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Minimum wage is a very important local issue. I would imagine that Hyndburn has a high proportion of people who benefit (if that's the right way of putting it) from having a minimum wage - they'd probably be working for a lot less if there wasn't one.

I think these things should be discussed in council so that the views of the people can be heard.

However, I do agree that this is probably all down to timing. The county and european elections have a lot to answer for! Labour would get some great headlines out of it if the local Conservatives voted to support a bill that abolished the minimum wage.
 
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There is also the argument that by setting a minimum wage yoyu give a target for employers to price down to. To quote G Jones its a race to the bottom.

Without a min wage some people would probably be better paid. As it is the companys are effectively mandated that its ok to pay so little.
 
You are right entwisi, the minimum wage works both ways, it stops employers paying less than the minimum, but is also used as a tool to downgrade wages, in the current climate, the minimum wage is a good thing rather than a bad one, if jobs were plentiful, it would be the opposite. Any debate at present by either main party, would be seen as deflection from other issues.
 
As predicted Labour tried to pin the Conservatives as being anti minimum wage. Peter Britcliffe confirmed that he was indeed in favour of the minimum wage, as were the local and national Conservatives. The motion was voted against. After all what would be the point in writing to David Cameron, only to tell him they still agreed with the policy. I ask you why are the council not writing on every issue? Every issue can't be used for point scoring.

I'd put money on local Labour still coming out with the 'fact' that Conservatives voted against the motion. This would of course would be completely misleading the pubic by hiding the full story... but there is an another election coming up.
 
andrewb said:
Indeed, but that isn't what I'm posting about. :p
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Of course it wasn't you were asking if the proposal should be discussed at local level. As we live in an area where a lot of jobs are shall we say "low pay" then I think it should be discussed by our council. The fact that it has been shelved for the moment means nothing if it is going to be a proposal at some later date.
 
BERNADETTE said:
Of course it wasn't you were asking if the proposal should be discussed at local level. As we live in an area where a lot of jobs are shall we say "low pay" then I think it should be discussed by our council. The fact that it has been shelved for the moment means nothing if it is going to be a proposal at some later date.
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It was precisely, because we live in a ''low pay'' that the Labour Group brought this motion to tonight's council meeting. Clare Pritchard and myself had spoken about the Employment Opportunities Bill several times since we both became aware of it, at the begining of May. We had both signed the petition against the bill (which was originally scheduled to have its 2nd reading - on May 15th). The 2nd reading is now scheduled for 12 June.

Andrew maybe you can answer me as to why, you think, if David Cameron does not support the bill, he allowed Christopher Chope to present this bill to parliament in February. Did he just hope that no one would take any notice of it and it would become law?
Maybe it is a case of Tory arrogance not taking into account public opinion.

This is a link to the a Daily Mirror article on the interview
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/16/tory-wants-you-to-drop-your-pay-115875-21363243/

The Sunday Mirror has run an article on the MPs supporting the Minimum Wage Opt-out Bill employing their wives while supporting a Bill that condemns 'magic circle' jobs.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/10/mps-wives-on-payroll-115875-21346677/

Which appears to smack of 'do as I say not do as I do'
 
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claytonender said:
Andrew maybe you can answer me as to why, you think, if David Cameron does not support the bill, he allowed Christopher Chope to present this bill to parliament in February. Did he just hope that no one would take any notice of it and it would become law?
Maybe it is a case of Tory arrogance not taking into account public opinion.
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As you well know it's a private members bill, not that of the Conservative party. It's not up to David Cameron whether to 'allow' it. You know that the national Conservatives under David Cameron support the minimum wage, and you know that the local Conservatives in Hyndburn do too. The motion was nothing more than posturing as Mr Britcliffe put it.

It's quite rich that in today's climate the Labour party would accuse anybody of not understanding public opinion!
 
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