cunt

andy hogarth is the managing director of one the country’s biggest employment agencies. in a recent piece in the sun (i know i shouldn’t read it but…) commented on the fact that two-thirds of the people he employs are from eastern europe.
“a lot of it is hard, physical, monotonous work that pays just above minimum wage. for them it’s a good job, but it’s not enough to tempt brits out of bed.”
maybe the problem doesn’t lie with the british worker, but with the british employer?
a while back ian duncan smith teamed up with frank field to find the causes of poverty. in order to save them time, in order to save them money and just to show that i care let me give them a very big clue: “work that pays just above the minimum wage”.
that is where poverty starts.
in and of itself the minimum wage is a good thing, but there is no way that it can keep pace with increases living costs such as rent, energy, transport and food. it is not that people are scared of work; it is that they don’t understand how they can work hard and still not have money at the end of the week.
any system where the wages of the workers have to be supplemented by the state in order that they can live has something fundamentally wrong with it, that andy hogarth can happily talk about the fact that a lot of the work he offers is just above minimum wage is something we should be worried about, if not ashamed of.
as michael moore once said to pointed out to phil knight of nike that if the workers couldn’t earn enough money then they are not going to be buying the goods that are being produced dirt cheap and sold for high prices.
in answer to andy hogarth, perhaps the reason why east europeans are happier to work for minimum wage is that they are not planning on staying here permanently, they are not worried about setting down roots. they can take short term hardships at work because back home the money they are earning here is worth more.
maybe andy hogarth should direct his anger at the employers for not providing a living wage, pay the staff more, get better workers, more people earning, more money spent, more money spent, more things bought, more things bought the more profit there is.
it is just a thought.