SV interviewed Joanna Walker who lives in Liverpool. A 25-year-old who works in the hospitality industry, she has been on the minimum wage and a zero hour contract (ZHC) in ever job she has been employed in over the last seven years. Sometimes promotion has led to an increase of 17p per hour, at other times up to 50p, but never adequate.
SV – What does your industry cover?
The hospitality industry covers food, drink, hotel, cafe, bar and restaurant work. We are the workers who keep the city centres running for other workers, business people and tourists. It is a low-paid industry, without job security and normally without proper training.
SV – The government intends to increase the minimum wage in April 2016 by 70p an hour from £6.50 for those aged 25 and over. What’s your view on that?
They are calling the new rate a living wage, but I do not think it is. I do not understand why it is only for those aged 25 and over.
Those under 25 are doing the same job but from April next year they will get less pay. If you are under 25 you get the minimum wage, which will go up to £6.70 for 21 and over, a 20p wage increase!
This is a new division between under and over 25 year olds, and it is sly because they do not explain why they are bringing it in.
SV – What will it mean for those looking for work?
In my opinion people over 25 will find it a lot harder to find work if they want a part-time job because many employers will terminate someone’s contract when they become 25 rather than pay more. Many employers will hire people who they can legally pay less.
SV – Can you describe your working?
Some employers are decent but there are places where employees are told to go work and after an hour or two are told to go home because there are not enough customers or they want to make life difficult for a worker.
My bus fare costs me £4.40 a day. If I work for 3.5 hours after tax and bus fares I earn just £15 for the day. Those who work out of hours can work until 4am or 5am in the morning, but there is no help with taxi fares and their rate of pay does not increase.
Often job descriptions do not exist. The laws are so loose; the government website says employers must give a worker “at least a job title”, which means they do not have to give a job description.
If you only have a job title you never know what you are supposed to do, so companies can ask you to do anything and imply that what they are asking is part of the job.
The government makes it easy for the bosses.
Even if you progress and are made a supervisor you don’t get any training or know exactly what your job is. You might get shown how to do cashing up, opening and closing the cafe, but often nothing is written down.
There is almost no health and safety training. Where courses are available you have to pay for them yourself.
Managers in some places are hated. They often think in terms of numbers and money, and often do not run a professional business structure and are not very good at management.
The companies do not care about us. They are making money because we are on the minimum wage and ZHC. These are not nice jobs and you get nothing out of them.
By 2020 the minimum wage will £9 per hour, which means nurses and other professions will be getting a little more than the minimum because their pay rise has been frozen to one percent for the next four years. It’s as if the government is pushing many sectors onto the minimum wage.
SV – What is needed?
Neither the government nor employers are getting rid of ZHC so, defending jobs is difficult. Low pay on casualised contracts is a terrible combination and it must end.
Everyone should receive a living wage and it should be more than it is, £10 an hour now, and not in 2020 or later!
Health and Safety training should be mandatory.
Taxis should be provided for those who finish after midnight. And all casual staff should only pay half bus fares.
I think it is clear what is needed: job security, job appreciation, a real living wage, a proper job description for all, and decent conditions.
Young people and everyone on casual contracts should get organised because nobody is going to do it for us.
