against the law??

[jibjab]

hi

my girlfriend, recently started working in a salon as a junior hairdresser. they offered her a megre �50 a week for 36 hours work, which works out at under �1.50 an hour!!!!!

They said they would send her to college one day a week bu she would have to get a grant. I cannot work this out

Surely if minimum wage is �4.85, it is against the law to pay somebody �1.50 an hour????

[dee5]

It all depends how old your girlfriend is. This is the legal minimum wage from the inland revenue website.

There are three levels of minimum wage, and the rates from 1st October 2005 are:

�5.05 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older
A development rate of �4.25 per hour for
workers aged 18 - 21 years inclusive
workers aged 22 years and above, starting a new job with a new employer and doing accredited training*
3.00 per hour which applies to all workers under the age of 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age

If your girlfriend is being taken on as an apprentice then she must expect a low wage until she is trained.

[dee5]

Sorry forgot to add. This is the inland Revenue number if you think you are being under paid: 0845 6000 678

[xrayspecs]

There is no minimum wage in respect ot "Training" It's a feature of the hair dressing industry that trainess are practically exploited. Clearly once qualified, hairdressors can make a good standard of living. Sadly it's an industry that survives by the exploitation of young people who see it as a glamerous business.

Frankly it's a con. Cheap labour if you like but unfortunately not against current employment law. The best she could hope for is that her employer has a vested intrest in training her, and so will provide good quality on the job training and assist her to go to college.

The sad reality is that there are a lot of hairdressers out there whos only interest in young people is as a source of cheap labour. I would suggest that your girlfreind not work for any hairdresser that appears to have a very high turnover of staff. It's indicative of a firm that uses people until they either want training or more money - then it's time to wheel the next batch of "Trainees" in.

[LordyGeordie]

I disagree about it being necessarily exploitatiing young workers. the whole idea of an apprenticeship is it is just an extended form of education. i know they do now, but you wouldn't expect money to study a levels would you?

although apprentices do get a lot of the more manual repetitive tasks it teaches them to value work and also weeds out those who are prepared to work.

it's not just hairdressers who pay this kind of money. �50 a week is about the going rate for any trade, electricians, joiners, plumbers etc. all make this kind of money when starting out.

even footballers - wayne rooney was only getting �50 a week when he first started playing for everton - he's getting a bit more than that now!

a lot of apprentices supplement their earnings from tips. does she get any from the salon. a lot of my mates who work on building sites give their apprentices a tenner here and there if they've worked especially hard

[Kos]

Is this the same girlfriend you are trying to get in to modelling?

[xrayspecs]

Lordie - there are good apprentiship schemes out there, and there are hairdressers that offer their trainees the training and mentorship they need to get on. Sadly there are a lot more who don't.

For example a Saturday girl in a hairdressers, who sweeps up, makes coffee, and is generally a dogs body but who Doesn't want to train as a hairdresser is paid more than a "trainee" who works on a Saturday, sweeping up and making coffee and is a general dogsbody. In other words the "trainee" is actually paying the hairdresser for the "priviledge" of doing the same job as the saturday girl - that's exploitation.