UNIONS warned Chancellor Rishi Sunak toay not to leave low-paid workers struggling on less than the minimum wage after he extended the furlough scheme to March next year.
They called on the government to increase its 80 per cent contribution to workers’ wages to 100 per cent, so that those on minimum wage get their full pay if their bosses do not top up their wages.
Two million low-paid workers who were furloughed under the coronavirus Job Retention Scheme were surviving on less than the minimum wage of £8.72 an hour for people aged at least 25, analysis from the Office for National Statistics revealed this week.
As a proportion of GDP the total welfare bill is lower than it was 15 years ago. The claim that it is spiralling out of control is mythmaking, argues DIANE ABBOTT
Labour’s watered-down legislation won’t protect us from unfair dismissal or ban some zero-hours contracts until 2027 — leaving millions of young people vulnerable to the populist right’s appeal, warns TUC young workers chair FRASER MCGUIRE