National Minimum Wage Act 1998

The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom, currently £6.70 per hour for workers aged 21+, £5.30 per hour for workers aged 18–20. It was a flagship policy of the Labour Party in the UK during its 1997 election campaign and is still pronounced today in Labour Party circulars as an outstanding gain for ‘at least 1.5 million people’. The national minimum wage (NMW) took effect on 1 April 1999.

Background

No national minimum wage existed prior to 1998, although there were a variety of systems of wage controls focused on specific industries under the Trade Boards Act 1909.

Part of the reason for Labour's minimum wage policy was the decline of trade union membership over recent decades (weakening employees' bargaining power), as well as a recognition that the employees most vulnerable to low pay (especially in service industries) were rarely unionised in the first place. Labour had returned to government in 1997 after 18 years in opposition, and a minimum wage had been a party policy as long ago as 1986 under the leadership of Neil Kinnock.

Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the price floor below which workers may not sell their labor. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in many jurisdictions, differences of opinion exist about the benefits and drawbacks of a minimum wage. Supporters of the minimum wage say it increases the standard of living of workers, reduces poverty, reduces inequality, boosts morale and forces businesses to be more efficient. In contrast, opponents of the minimum wage say it increases poverty, increases unemployment (particularly among unskilled or inexperienced workers) and is damaging to businesses.

History

"It is a serious national evil that any class of His Majesty's subjects should receive less than a living wage in return for their utmost exertions. It was formerly supposed that the working of the laws of supply and demand would naturally regulate or eliminate that evil [...and...] ultimately produce a fair price. Where... you have a powerful organisation on both sides... there you have a healthy bargaining.... But where you have what we call sweated trades, you have no organisation, no parity of bargaining, the good employer is undercut by the bad, and the bad employer is undercut by the worst.... where those conditions prevail you have not a condition of progress, but a condition of progressive degeneration."

Beg the Question

Beg the Question is a graphic novel by Bob Fingerman. It chronicles the trials and tribulations of Rob, a squeamish freelance cartoonist/pornographer, and Sylvia, a beauty salon manager with loftier aspirations, with a supporting cast featuring Jack, an unhappily celibate literary stalker; Max, a lovesick wannabe Lothario; Matt, the Godzilla-collecting, stripper-dating rich kid in denial; Maddie, Sylvia's lesbian old flame; Elvis, the mordant and very corpulent smut editor; and others.

Beg the Question was nominated for an Ignatz Award and two Eisner Awards.

References