A few times i have mooted the idea of paying everyone the same, my main reasoning being that if you take away the incentive of wages, you then only get the people who want to do the job, doing the job.
With that in mind, consider the British MP. On shows like Question Time and whenever a TV camera is stuck in their faces they will say that they came into politics so they could help people, never for the money and the perks.
It is probably worth mentioning here that a British MP earns £66,000 per year, more if they are in the Cabinet, and can claim expenses on pretty much everything including their food, homes, the content of their homes and travel.
A survey announced today, which politicians completed anonymously, found that 69% thought they were underpaid and the average increase suggested was a rise of 32% to £86,250.
These are the same people who have been introducing pay freezes, benefit caps, VAT increases and spending cuts for us to save money, while deciding they need their own wages put up by almost a third.
The idea that 'we are all in this together' dropped by the wayside a long time ago when they cut the tax rate for the richest while cutting income for millions of poor, the sick and the disabled who are being made to 'prove' they are disabled enough to claim the £51.85 per week at medical centres.
Our MP's are part of the public sector and public sector workers are only being allowed a 1% pay rise but instead of demonstrating some sort of show of solidarity with the people who elected them by pegging their own pay at 1%, they are suggesting to the people who now set their wages that they should be paid 32% more.
If they think they're not being paid enough then they should find another job and maybe we could get some real people in with life experience outside of the Westminster bubble who could really make a difference and not just see it as an opportunity to fill their bank accounts with our money.
Now if only someone will leak the names of the 69% of MP's who think they are doing such a bang up job that they deserve such an obscene increase, then we can begin a proper witch-hunt.
4 comments:
Almost all legislative and judicial officials are underpaid for the work that they perform. What billion-pound a year business in the UK has employees affecting material decision-making processes who only make 66,000 pounds? And how much of that is actually take-home when you factor in campaign expenses and other costs? If someone gets a job paying a one billion one dollars and it costs a billion dollars to get the job, he is literally better off as a street beggar.
I've heard of federal judges saying "hey, I like being a judge, but I've got three kids in college and a mortgage and $174,000 just isn't going to cut it."
I can see the respective merit in what both you and Nog have said, Lucy... What I'd add though, is that while it would be a shame if the salaries are an active disincentive to talented people wanting to serve in the public sector, I think it's appropriate that public compensation is pegged at a certain level below comensurate pay in the private, as this serves as a mechanism for ensuring most people enter the public sector for the right sort of reasons i.e. not just for money, but to 'give something back' and help their fellow man. So as ever, it's a balancing act.
In any case, aiming for a 32% rise right now is totally ridiculous, and just the sort of thing to threaten our already precarious social contract. If compensation needs to be higher relative to private sector salaries, then this can be adjusted over a protracted period of time and not in the middle of the austerity that they themselves are imposing on the rest of us.
Elected pubic servants do not need top pay. In a private business everyone must be productive and while there is some compromise among management, few decisions are made by majority rule. Essentially elected officials tow the party line and with the exception of a few occasions, compromise and mere competence are the order of the day, not efficiency or productivity.
Q
I think you may have missed my point Nog. If we have an MP is doing a great job and they are paid £25,000, then will they do an even better job if we paid them £100,000?
If the MPs said this at any time Cheezy it would leave a bad taste but to say it while forcing austerity on everyone else takes the biscuit. One MP said that they should get a raise because they have to pay for things that they can't claim back. Unbelievable.
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