4 years no pay rise. what action can employees take?

bargainbetty

It boils down to one statement - annual reviews for salary and bonuses are no guarantee that extra money will be handed over.

If you talk to your bosses and explain again how you feel you need/warrant a higher salary then you give them a chance to respond. If you try to whip up a chord of discontent with your co-workers, you may find that you are taken aside and told not to be disruptive in the workplace.

If you really don't' like it, find another job. I've been unhappy with my wages, and moved on because I knew any potential for increases was limited to what the company could afford, and as an educational charity, they couldn't afford much. I needed more to support the lifestyle I wanted live, so moved on.

Your company may genuinely not be able to afford it. Your boss might be cutting corners everywhere so he/she doesn't have to cut staff (i.e. keep you all in your jobs).

Southend1, your comments re unions are interesting, but the reality is that in the current economic climate some people are just happy to have a job, and don't want to rock the boat. People want to pay their bills. If this pathetic excuse for a 'recovery' ever gets started, then we are in a position to make those changes and increase the NMW to a living wage in gradual stages, but given the precarious nature of some firms at the minute, it could send them under. Right now, the OP has two choices. Suck it up or move on.

Stirring up trouble for his employer is hardly going to endear him to everyone, and it can be put on a reference - some potential employers ask why the person has resigned - imagine what starting a petition against low wages amongst the staff and walking out because it didn't get enough support is going to look like to a new employer.

Edit : OK - massively longer than one statement.

Southend1

Funky_Bold_Ribena wrote: »

I didn't claim I make a stand on anything. This is about your claim. You tell other people to do things that could lose them their jobs and leave them unemployed without a second's thought so I wondered whether you yourself had walked out of a job/made an actual stand yourself on a point of principle. None of the things you do actually make a stand, do they? I mean, you support other people who presumably are making a stand, and you talk about other people on line who are making a stand; but you aren't actually making a stand yourself are you?

Ok so you just asked the question to try to get ammunition to criticise me with?

I'm not sure if you are referring to taking industrial action or actually quitting a job on principle. But to answer both, I have never taken part in industrial action (yet, though we are being balloted next month over our pay claim). However I did once (along with 3 others) walk out of a job on a matter of principle.

I'm happy to engage in a constructive discussion with you about this but I don't like the way some posters choose to jump in so readily with unnecessary criticism. So if you do want to discuss, please can we agree to respect each others right to their own views and discuss the issues calmly and civilly?

Southend1

ILW wrote: »

What you have done wrong, is failed to demonstrate why you are worth more. The only way to do that is to get a better offer elsewhere.

To turn this argument on its head, why shouldn't the onus be on the employer to demonstrate why the OP is worth less this year than last?

Southend1

tir21 wrote: »

no, i dont want to get poorer this year for working just as hard as i did last year



then its a mad world we've made for ourselves and our children

im happy with a pay freeze if i dont need more money to buy exactly the same things this year as i did last year

as ive said previously im not in the type of job that i can increase my productivity. if i could increase my productivity, then i would be slacking now

most people are in jobs where they do what they are paid to do to the best of theur ability. if sych people will be on the same wages in ten years time as they are now, then this will be a very divided society that will not be good for anyone

I think you raise an important point here. What kind of world are we leaving for our children? What kind of pay and conditions would we like them to have? How are our actions today contributing to or undermining progress towards the world we would like our kids to inherit?

My view is that future generations are not going to thank us for taking this attitude that seems so prevalent on MSE that we should consider ourselves lucky to have any kind of work, even if it's unstable, under poor conditions and poorly paid. There's a real race to the bottom attitude regarding pay and conditions at the moment and this is undermining decades of progress that our parents and grandparents fought for.

AP007

Southend1 wrote: »

To turn this argument on its head, why shouldn't the onus be on the employer to demonstrate why the OP is worth less this year than last?

they don't have to you know.

tir21

AP007 wrote: »

then find another job quick

ok, will do

tir21

notanewuser wrote: »

You only seem concerned with yourself. What about all those working in factories and call centres who got replaced by cheaper foreign alternatives?

what have i said that makes you think i am indifferent to their plight?

You have had an increase in your tax free allowance of 8.5% from 2011-12 and 16.5% to 2012-13, so you should have been seeing an increase in your monthly income over the years.

but is it good for tax payers to have to subsidise the pay of the lowest earners?

Your employer won't pay any more for you than they have to.

but they are already paying me more than they have to

If you are indispensable then you have haggling rights. Otherwise you're free to walk and they'll get some other person to do it, probably for even less money.

who is indispensable. we must all be despensible since none of us are immortal

Southend1

tir21 wrote: »

ok, will do

I find it really illogical that some posters regularly advocate finding another job as a solution over negotiation because negotiation may lead to losing your job! In effect if for some bizarre reason trying to have a dialogue with your employer about your pay or working conditions led to you having to find another job then you effectively have the same outcome. Only in the first scenario you made an effort to try to improve your circumstances and in the second you didn't!

Southend1

tir21 wrote: »

what have i said that makes you think i am indifferent to their plight?



but is it good for tax payers to have to subsidise the pay of the lowest earners?



but they are already paying me more than they have to



who is indispensable. we must all be indespensible since none of us are immortal

Again some excellent well thought out points!

Some employers in effect receive a huge state subsidy because they pay their workers such a pittance that it has to be topped up by the state to stop them from starving or finding themselves homeless. This surely can't be right or desirable in 21st century Britain?

And we all shuffle off somewhere else at some point. Does the world suffer to a great extent for our passing? No, it keeps on turning.

AP007

Southend1 wrote: »

I find it really illogical that some posters regularly advocate finding another job as a solution over negotiation because negotiation may lead to losing your job! In effect if for some bizarre reason trying to have a dialogue with your employer about your pay or working conditions led to you having to find another job then you effectively have the same outcome. Only in the first scenario you made an effort to try to improve your circumstances and in the second you didn't!

So what do you do when you go to the boss and have a chat and tell them why YOU and you alone deserve a pay rise and all the extra work you have been doing and they say 'sorry no pay rise'? What then?