restaurant owners seeking lower minimum wage

eejoynt

@dermothickey

a good point - minimum wages also protect decent employers.

devotional1993

infamous wrote: »

Restaurants prices were bloated as Irish restaurants have one of the highest cost basis in europe. Between wages, vat utilities and food costs it is no wonder that over 300 restaurants closed its doors in ireland last year. The minimum wage here is a joke it should be brought into line with the rest of europe. In the uk it is around 5stg even allowing for fx diff the rate here is still 50% higher. Also in the uk business's can hire part-timers under 18 cheaper again. Irish minimum wage needs to be reduced. If we pay our non-skilled workers such high rates this in turn leads to qualified professionals to seek higher wage rates its a viscious circle, and altho it will lead to tough times in the immediate for our lower payed the benefits will reaped by all going forward.

love to see you live on a lower min wage you scabby asshole

GoneShootin

devotional1993 wrote: »

love to see you live on a lower min wage you scabby asshole

Attack the post - not the poster. Banned for a week.

T-rev

infamous wrote: »

Dermot, I aggree waiting on tables can be a skill but this would be more the exception than the norm, as for shop assistants they are my pet hate you do on occassion come accross some excellent staff however the normal level of service we receive is terrible. If I had a shop/restaurant I couldn justify paying these people €9p.h. Yes the rents are excessive but they have comedown in the past couple of years and wages need to do likewise. For restaurants your highest cost is your food costs which are roughly around 30% industry average, wage bills are a close second around 25%, throw in utilities/rent rates etc and your margins are very tight. Wages need to be the starting point in reducing costs. Also you speak of the 300p.w been tough to live in, this is in excess of the minimum in many other countries. 300 p.w is a more than an adequate ammount to live on, if the individual feels they should be paid more it is up to them to better themselfes by either training in a better paid field or applying themselfes in their current field to get what they deserve. The days of paying ignorant tutting shop assistants 9p.h should be over, and for this economy to recover need to be over.

haha hilarious altogether. i think you need to come down a peg or two, not the minimum wage.

I feel all wages should be reduced proportionally however for this to happen the minimum wage has to go first. I have a degree and professional qualification, the general consensus of people in my profession like many other professions would be well if people can get 9 euro an hour for waiting tables or serving in a shop for the day theres no way they would work for any less than they currently earn.

So basically you are saying that we need to cut the wage of the lowest paid people in the country first, who are probably on the breadline in a lot of cases. Then go to the better paid who are on salaries probably double or triple of the minimum wage, who can probably afford things the people on minimum wage can only dream of.

Are you for real or what?

I would love to see those statistics of people in your profession. I think its just your general consensus tbf.

Sorry but such nonsensical crap to come out with. Seriously.....

the_syco

infamous wrote: »

T]My wage works out at about 26p.h which I feel is excessive, I feel all wages should be reduced proportionally however for this to happen the minimum wage has to go first.

Ah, another naive person. Holy f**king sh|t, which part of minimum wage do you not get? Minimum wage goes down, people stating a job will get paid less. Your pay won't. No-ones pay will go down. Only the new people starting will have less money. And here's the kicker: if wage was forced down, the only winner would be the employer who'd rake in more profits, because unless you work for SVP, your employer is out to make a profit.

Check the newspapers: what happens when a company makes €2million profit compared to €4 million profit last year? They sack people.

taram

infamous wrote: »

Also you speak of the 300p.w been tough to live in, this is in excess of the minimum in many other countries. 300 p.w is a more than an adequate ammount to live on, if the individual feels they should be paid more it is up to them to better themselfes by either training in a better paid field or applying themselfes in their current field to get what they deserve.

Last year I worked in Ireland on the minimum wage, slightly higher than it actually at 9.70 euro as I was experienced, and 24. This year I'm living in the UK, on mimimum wage at 5.80 sterling. My rent/bills/internet in the UK is 100 pounds/week, Ireland was 90 euro/week. Guess in which country I can afford to buy new clothes, go out drinking twice a week, going abroad on holidays in June...UK! Ireland in general is over priced for EVERYTHING, including staff, I agree. But the fact remains that in the morning if you reduced minimum wage, people would either not bother their arses going to effort of working a whole week for not much more than the dole, or people would work to get experience and be probably miserable.

Oh, and I'm doing a masters, working 20 hours, as well as shadowing people in my field once a week, not everyone on minimum wage is a lazy person who can't "apply themselves", people need to pay their way through college, or take a minimum wage job between "real" jobs to feed their family!

dermothickey

Your rent bills and internet was 90 euro a week.... That's amazing whereabouts in Ireland was that?

taram

dermothickey wrote: »

Your rent bills and internet was 90 euro a week.... That's amazing whereabouts in Ireland was that?

East Cork, shared with 3 others. Bog standard price I was quoted for other houses in that area, wouldn't have thought it cheap really. Even friends who lived in Cork city would have been paying that minus say, their oil bill, though they'd be maybe 6 in a house.

Hagar

While we are discussing how much the staff "cost" the restaurant can we discuss how much of the "service charge" is actually passed on to the staff? Or is that too close to the bone?

the_syco

Hagar wrote: »

While we are discussing how much the staff "cost" the restaurant can we discuss how much of the "service charge" is actually passed on to the staff? Or is that too close to the bone?

Depends. In a restaurant over 10 years ago where I got £2 an hour (Irish punt, with no minimum wage), what the waitresses got in tips would usually be divided up between them, and some going to the people who worked in the kitchen.

It varies a lot place to place, though.