Amazon minimum wage

[Reyntj]

Just saw this

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... -employees

$15 minimum wage at amazon £9.50. Hourly rate is sbout the same as the daily rate minimum wage in trnc ........

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Maybe they'll go mad and pay some tax too.

Britain falls for the three card trick with firms such as these and Starbucks. OK they supply some minimum wage jobs (or now slightly more) but that seems to give them a pass on paying tax in countries they earn billions in.

I can see it might be a problem to tax a firm such as Google which doesn't need a physical presence in your country as such but taxing Starbucks is a breeze.
As for the workers that they will threaten with cutting if they close branches, they can be absorbed by the independent coffee bars that will return that Starbucks originally drove out of business. Worst comes to the worst, Starbucks can move abroad and good luck emailing coffees to their UK customers.

[kayc]

this is good news! The people who are earning $7.50 an hour need 2 o 3 jobs just to make ends meet. Cost of living in the USA is so expensive (and I speak from experience coming from a city of about 75,000 in the Midwest) I don't have anything to compare to the UK so I can't speak to that... but

even at $15.00 per hour it'll still be a tight budget to make ends meet -- for one thing the cost of healthcare, even for a young person is outlandish. Renting a apt... expect at minimum 850.00 a month and a small one at that. But this increase will help, and I hope others will follow the lead.

As for comparing TRNC wages to the USA wages, nothing is comparable. I don't believe the current wages here are sustainable for the average worker.

[Reyntj]

Kayc there are many things comparable! Many ! Petrol almost everything in the supermarket ! Electric water costs are likely similar. Are boo hoo its exprnsive in america ! Workers here are in general are much worse off. You picked two items that are the only two ithings that are more expensive everything else is cheaper . Meat groceries petrol electric etc etc.

Clearly usa has a far higher standard of lving than nere and its increasing with the decrease in the lira and the fact thst the us economy is currently doing well whilst here things are going in the opposite direction.

[kayc]

Petrol, yes. That's about it. Groceries,? Hardly. Food is MUCH cheaper here, except for perhaps beef and dairy (milk, butter and eggs) Perhaps you misunderstood my comment.

Yes workers here are much worse off. I don't know how they pay their electric bills, it's outta sight expensive.

99% of the people in the US are no better off then they were since 2008. Just the top 1% and that's a general fact. The rich got richer, much richer.

[Reyntj]

The way i see it most people who live in more developed economies dont realise how wealthy they are . Yes there is some stagnation this is fall out from the 2007 recession also living standards have rapidly increased over the last 50 years and seem to be levelling out in the more advanced economies.

People are greedy and they want more and more especially in places like the usa . Two cars $1000 phones luxury goods . Stuff the average peron in the usa would never havecdreamed of 30 years ago has now become the norm .

But as you say people in america still think they are poor and some are but there is very low unemployment far better wirking conditions than here .

People are greedy and more money hasnt ked to increased happiness thats why allnthe yanks are on prozac ,cocaine or opiods. Just because they cant keep up with the joneses!

[kayc]

What you say about the materialism is very true. Very materialistic society. From the President on down. But the # of working poor is at an all time high. And young people suffocating under student debt - a big problem for the future.

comparing there and here is like comparing apples to oranges, but each case has it's hardships.. It's all that "you spend what you earn" problem. I guess it all equals out.