The Tories reach a new low. (2013, employment, income)

[madridhibs]

This has left me almost speechless!!

George Osborne unveils employee 'shares for rights' scheme | Politics | guardian.co.uk

[theunbrainwashed]

I looked up this story on other newspapers, and from what I read this is not law, it is a suggestion, not a firm policy. This is optional. The ones who will take this are the good, loyal employees while the bad ones won't, obviously. It only affects new employees from April 2013

[madridhibs]

I know it isn't law but just the very idea of it is outrageous. As someone commented on the article, "The value of shares can go up or down. Your legal employment rights can't."

[chilaili]

So they're bribing people to give up some of their basic rights at work in return for a not-very-secure financial incentive? Why does this not surprise me?

[paull805]

Typical, they are sealing their own fate are the torries but they will give a good bash at making people suffer before they are gone unfortunately

[Mooseketeer]

Not exactly a shock considering the source... The Tories announced some major and IMO retrograde changes to workers' rights over a year ago and nobody batted an eyelid , the Unions and Labour letting it all glide past without much of a protest. This is just the latest in a long line of attacks on workers and a step toward the US system where the workers is always at the mercy of the employer. The British Public seems to either not care much or oblivious to the delights to come. The problem is once those rights are gone they tend to be gone for good.

It took us an Industrial Revolution and two world wars to acquire those rights and we are letting them go without a fight. I hope Osborne and Cameron choke on their policies but unless WE the public/workers/Unions and Opposition start to fight for those rights properly we shall lose them to a bunch of opportunistic millionaires with the moral sense of pond slime.

[Fear&Whiskey]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

Not exactly a shock considering the source... The Tories announced some major and IMO retrograde changes to workers' rights over a year ago and nobody batted an eyelid , the Unions and Labour letting it all glide past without much of a protest. This is just the latest in a long line of attacks on workers and a step toward the US system where the workers is always at the mercy of the employer. The British Public seems to either not care much or oblivious to the delights to come. The problem is once those rights are gone they tend to be gone for good.

It took us an Industrial Revolution and two world wars to acquire those rights and we are letting them go without a fight. I hope Osborne and Cameron choke on their policies but unless WE the public/workers/Unions and Opposition start to fight for those rights properly we shall lose them to a bunch of opportunistic millionaires with the moral sense of pond slime.

I suppose the Tories would argue that this would be the pinnacle of a consumer society. To have a 'stake' in society you are compelled to hold a 'stake' as a shareholder. Of course, you have the 'freedom' not to participate but then other shareholders and employers also have the 'freedom' to underwrite your pallid terms and conditions every time they want to go into the boardroom and bolster the share of their annual pay increases.

What is always forgotten when wage equilibrium reaches such disparity is that as one small section of society are pushing rents, property, water, gas and as a consequence food prices up the oxygen that is needed to sustain an economy is being drained as aggregate demand is stalled and middle and lower income families have no capital spare to contribute to an ever ailing economy.

The contradiction is the next time the economy splutters the first thing Government does is squeeze the very terms and conditions integral to maintaining steady growth. With each new crisis leaving the riverbed dry and small businesses starved of capital the consumer society becomes in effect more and more a jaded parody of itself as no-one is spending and the economy begins to become lopsided and angled to the whims and indulgences of an increasingly fewer number of individuals.

Excessive rewards for some do not come for free and if these rewards are not a genuine reflection of level of performance or effficiency then the penalties will continue to be paid by the rest of society who eventually will be left with the bare minimum (if that) to participate.

It is happening right now whether people are aware of it or not. The trouble is people are often oblivious to the state of the economy until they become a byproduct of it. The epitome of a truly unbalanced economy is the permanent state of debt by slavery which holds the population to ransom and then penalises them for not haveing that 'stake' they can't afford.

And if this carries on for much longer. I won't be able to afford a "steak" myself neither. Great post Mooseketeer.

[Mag3.14]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

Not exactly a shock considering the source... The Tories announced some major and IMO retrograde changes to workers' rights over a year ago and nobody batted an eyelid , the Unions and Labour letting it all glide past without much of a protest. This is just the latest in a long line of attacks on workers and a step toward the US system where the workers is always at the mercy of the employer. The British Public seems to either not care much or oblivious to the delights to come. The problem is once those rights are gone they tend to be gone for good.

It took us an Industrial Revolution and two world wars to acquire those rights and we are letting them go without a fight. I hope Osborne and Cameron choke on their policies but unless WE the public/workers/Unions and Opposition start to fight for those rights properly we shall lose them to a bunch of opportunistic millionaires with the moral sense of pond slime.

That's the problem with a politically apathetic society.

[Mooseketeer]

Originally Posted by ian6479

That's the problem with a politically apathetic society.

I agree. As someone who has been politically active since her Teens I cannot fathom how people can be so apathetic when it comes to something which affects their daily lives. I have never understood this "I hate politics" , it is not about liking politics but about realising that unless you get involved you will be riden over roughshod and treated like the compliant little sheep you are. I have little faith in our Political system but I still feel we cannot moan and complain unless we participate and engage in the political dialogue and fight what we believe to be wrong. Nothing will ever happen without a little engagement from the public. The lives of braindead celebrities and reality tv shows are not what life is about. If people read "The Economist","Independent" and watched "Newsnight" rather than "The Sun", "Hello" and X Factor maybe we would have a modicum of a chance to alter public policies.

It angers and saddens me that we are becoming so politically passive when the there is so much happening right now which if it passes will mean a great deal of pain for most people. We are allowing politicians to destroy everything in their path without even putting up a decent fight. At the moment we are simply handing ourselves out on a gold platter to those who rules. Pathetic.

[paull805]

People feel disillusioned Mooseketeer, I try to fill my brain with politics but the politicians make it hard, they are so out of touch, arrogant, pompous and unlikeable that people would rather walk through barbed wire than listen to their typical, same old rhetoric. It is often nauseating.