All retail staff getting pay rise this Saturday

dave98

Ok unger the JLC wage agreement for retail staff, retail staff will be getting a 2.5% pay rise this Saturday. I don't think it should have been given the green light. I know it doesnt sound alot but our employer said it will cost him in the region of 12-14k for the year. We work in an small business and I know that the owner is finding times tough. We as in the staff are already happy with the money we are getting - we are greatful for the job. Now we fear that things will get so bad, our boss will start letting staff go. Why do retail staff get the pay rise and other sectors had theirs frozen. Surely its better to protect the jobs rather than increase wages.......?

Steve.Pseudonym

I assume that because it's a court judgment and legally binding, that to change it would involve going through the courts again. That's probably a lot of hassle for everyone involved, and there would be lots of opposition from unions.

Although kudos for not being short sighted and thinking about what's best for your job long term rather than getting paid extra right now, nice to see people thinking like that.

Kold

Small businesses simply aren't viable with the current government. It's a similar thing with bank holiday wages, do they think business owners are simply holding out on their employees?

dave98

ya bank holidays are good for us but very bad for small businesses. We get double time to work which is a lot of money. If we dont work we still get our days pay.

SV

Kold wrote: »

Small businesses simply aren't viable with the current government. It's a similar thing with bank holiday wages, do they think business owners are simply holding out on their employees?

Mine are anyway.

Their clients pay them crazy money for the service we provide.

falipo

Sweet an extra €1.03 a week...part time jobs FTW!

KeyLimePie

an extra 22 cent for me..................
if it's in the law i want !!!!

does anyone have a link to the law or whatever ?!

randylonghorn

dave98 wrote: »

I know it doesnt sound alot but our employer said it will cost him in the region of 12-14k for the year. We work in an small business and I know that the owner is finding times tough. We as in the staff are already happy with the money we are getting - we are greatful for the job. Now we fear that things will get so bad, our boss will start letting staff go.

I presume that if the full staff feel that way about it, they can simply voluntarily refuse the rise ... your employer would need you to sign something though to protect him from any malicious claims down the road, say if an employee was let go for some reason and decided to stir it ...

Senna

randylonghorn wrote: »

I presume that if the full staff feel that way about it, they can simply voluntarily refuse the rise ... your employer would need you to sign something though to protect him from any malicious claims down the road, say if an employee was let go for some reason and decided to stir it ...

As an employer you have to be very careful with things like this; say a worker on minimum wage agrees to get paid less and signs everything the employer asks, the employee could still take a case against the employer as the written statement cant circumvent the laws. The OP could take the rise and then just give it back as a donation to the employer, but even this could be seen in a bad light by an employment tribunal.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Agree with the OP. This increase isn't going to be much benefit to the employees but it does mean their job security will take a major hit. Also think minimum wage should be reduced to allow more job creation. Would have to coincide with a proportional decrease in dole of course, which might be unfair on a lot of people.

lostexpectation

dave98 wrote: »

Ok unger the JLC wage agreement for retail staff, retail staff will be getting a 2.5% pay rise this Saturday. I don't think it should have been given the green light. I know it doesnt sound alot but our employer said it will cost him in the region of 12-14k for the year. We work in an small business and I know that the owner is finding times tough. We as in the staff are already happy with the money we are getting - we are greatful for the job. Now we fear that things will get so bad, our boss will start letting staff go. Why do retail staff get the pay rise and other sectors had theirs frozen. Surely its better to protect the jobs rather than increase wages.......?

how many hours a week does you boss work?

sdanseo

Quick hint - don't insist on this too hard, depending on how long you've been working wherever you are. YES you are entitled to it, but sometimes you need to cut your losses.

I made a fuss over €150 for 6 months worth of this increase last time - albeit only a 25c one - and long story short I quit the job a bit hastily and now won't be taken back anytime soon. Bad decision it turns out, because the job I went off to was only a 6 month contract which wasn't renewed because of this cursed recession.

JLC will not back you up as they only make the rules, they apparently do not to purport to be a legal entity. If you're in employment less than a year, you're screwed because it seems no-one will back you up, be it DETE or JLC etc.

Assert yourselves folks, but don't demand. Weigh it up.

gerrycollins

IBEC went to the JLC to ask for a defferral however some confusion at the meeting meant it could not continue thus the rise had to happen.

The only way out of the pay rise is for the business to show its books to an independant auditor approved by the courts that will show the company is in a loss making situation.

I agree that individually owners should approach staff and talk directly with them(unionised shops might be a tad difficult) because the long and short of if is that if tha pay rise goes through everyone will be on less hours.

maninasia

Wow, even workers are more copped on than the gov't, the govt would rather have more people on the dole than working!

Hagar

dave98 wrote: »

....getting a 2.5% pay rise...will cost him in the region of 12-14k for the year. We work in an small business

For a 2.5% pay rise to cost an employer €14,000 his current wage bill would have to be about €560,000. At a cost of €30,000 per employee that makes about 18 people or at a cost of €20,000 per employee that makes about 28 people. That's a decent number of retail staff. How small a business is it?

sdanseo

Hagar wrote: »

For a 2.5% pay rise to cost an employer €14,000 his current wage bill would have to be about €560,000. At a cost of €30,000 per employee that makes about 18 people or at a cost of €20,000 per employee that makes about 28 people. That's a decent number of retail staff. How small a business is it?

28 people to cover probably 15 shifts a week, 24 shifts if it's a 24hr operation. When I was in a Centra (4-6 people on at any one time) there was that many on the roster probably earning around €18kpa.

Kintarō Hattori

I can assure you not all retail staff are getting a pay rise, in fact we recently took a pay cut. No-one in my company is getting an extra few percent.

KeyLimePie wrote: »

an extra 22 cent for me..................
if it's in the law i want !!!!

does anyone have a link to the law or whatever ?!

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/industrial-relations-and-trade-unions/employment-regulation-orders-and-registered-employment-agreements

Corruptedmorals

I got one last summer when I was on starting wage, €9, so I was on €9.22. I've since got the 1 year pay increase in my contract, (€9.48 now)so I doubt I'll get this one, maybe though. It's not all retail staff, it's only companies that signed up to it. My store is doing really well, still chronically undertaffed though, I don't have much sympathy.

Highsider

Why should'nt people get a pay rise? The cost of living is'nt coming down i don't care what the Goverment tell us.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Highsider wrote: »

Why should'nt people get a pay rise? The cost of living is'nt coming down i don't care what the Goverment tell us.

It could mean your employer has to let a few people go to pay for everyone else payrise.

johnny_knoxvile

We could stick all the e-voting machines together to create a huge robot...that would fight against injustice...

...it would pull the Spire out of the ground and skewer all the politicials with it, BBQ them and feed them to the poor...Mary Harney's meat alone would be for export to the French.

Then it would go stomping the **** out of Huddies, Clampers, Chuggers and Twink!!!:rolleyes:


....I think the above is very similar to the new Transformers plot, apologies.

Victor

dave98 wrote: »

I know it doesnt sound alot but our employer said it will cost him in the region of 12-14k for the year. We work in an small business and I know that the owner is finding times tough. We as in the staff are already happy with the money we are getting - we are greatful for the job.

So how about he sets up a profit sharing system where instead of paying you in cash, you get shares instead? Employers were really slow to do this in hte boom when it would have kept basic wages / salaries down and linked performance to total income.

dave98

KeyLimePie wrote: »

an extra 22 cent for me..................
if it's in the law i want !!!!

does anyone have a link to the law or whatever ?!

http://www.labourcourt.ie/labour/labour.nsf/LookupPageLink/RatesOfPay

This may seem like a stupid question - but can somebody explain this to me? Is this going to be a nationwide thing? Is everyone going to get it, or is it at the employer's discretion?

XxXciaraxXx

I got an email from my pay clerk last Tuesday saying my wages had been increased by 3.5% and backdated to the 1st of April!

Does that mean I'm gonna get another 2.5% increase from Saturday?

If so, !! If not, oh well I'm happy with what I have!