Tory attack on minimum wage halted

18.05.09

UNISON members helped score a great victory for the national minimum wage last week, as the Tories pulled their Employment Opportunities Bill after lobbying by trade unions.

Christopher Chope’s bill was due for its second reading, and would have effectively abolished the national minimum wage by allowing workers to ‘choose’ whether to allow their employer to cut their wages.

Brian Binley, one of the 11 Tory MPs who supported the Bill - and a man with three jobs himself (all of them paying rather more than the national minimum wage) - was given a rough ride on radio’s 5 Live Breakfast on Saturday morning when he he tried to defend it.

One caller asked Mr Binley whether he would work for £5 an hour - to which the MP said, simply: ‘No’, while a number of listeners highlighted the contrast between the aims of the Bill and the current scandal over MPs’ expenses.

The Tories will probably try to get the Bill through again on 12 June - so activists need to sign the petition and keep campaigning.