Are you undecided about who to vote for on 7 May?

I have no intention here of addressing all the Election issues. There is more than enough verbal diarrhea out here.

Here are some of the issues that are not spot lighted.

Are you voting for an UK Government or the dismantlement of the UK.

One thing for sure this election will be it curtains for the plurality rule voting system for future general elections.

It’s appears that it is no longer racist to be worried about immigration.

Scotland could just decide the entire election.

An early re-election can only be held “if a motion of no confidence is passed and no alternative government is confirmed by the Commons within 14 days”, or “if a motion for an early general election is agreed either by at least two-thirds of the whole House”. So if, for example, a minority Conservative government failed to pass its Queen’s Speech and then lost a confidence vote, Labour would have two weeks in which to put together a coalition or pact, and could form a new government without going to the polls again.

While employment performance has been strong since the crisis and is now back to pre-crisis levels, this is largely due to a fall in real wages which has priced workers into jobs (wages are still 8-10% below pre-crises level.s

Productivity should be the no one issue.

You can’t have productivity with zero hour contracts.

GDP growth, underpinned by growing productivity, is essential for a robust recovery and long-run prosperity. Growth is clearly also an essential ingredient for reducing the deficit.

The Conservatives fear that mentioning productivity undermines their narrative of the UK as an unmitigated success story. It is an implicit admission that the economy is not as strong as they have claimed.

In the last 18 months, following a July 2013, newspaper exposé on a major retailer which was found to be employing 90% of their 23,000-workers in this way.

Insecure scheduling on people’s lives for profit does not make a country prosper, it leads to food banks and discontent.

In 2013 the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development estimated that 4% of the UK workforce might be on zero-hours contracts, which would equate to 1 million workers.

8% of workplaces now employ people on such contracts. This is the biggest increase in Western Europe and means that around 7 million people in the UK experience employer controlled alterations to their schedules! To make things worse, workers often have little notice of these changes. In fact analysis of the 2005 and 2010 waves of the European Working Conditions Survey shows that employer-controlled flexible scheduling has increased in the UK by seven percentage points to 24%.

100,000 zero-hours contracts are reported to be in use in the NHS.

A third of voluntary sector organisations used zero-hours contracts, along with a quarter of public sector employers and 17% of private sector firms.

The reality is that there is no accurate way to measure the number of people on zero-hours contracts. A living wage will not remove zero-hours contracts nor will Apprenticeships. Some employers may simply offer contracts with minimal fixed hours to limit its impact.

We are dealing with a phenomenon that is causing misery to individuals and families on an industrial scale.

As there is no legal definition of a zero hours contract, there is some understandable confusion as to what they are. As there is no clear definition of a zero-hours contract, and they can take many forms, there is an inevitable lack of clarity about the consequences of agreeing to work on a zero-hours contract as well as a lack of awareness about employment rights and routes for redress.

The arguments for and against polarised around the themes of flexibility versus
exploitation.

If a deeper structural change is taking place in the UK labour market, then it may be affecting young people most. The prevalence of zero-hours contracts appears to be highest among people aged between 16 and 24, with an estimated 37% of those employed on zero-hours contracts falling within this age group.

They are creating imbalance of power in the employment relationship’  ‘climate of fear’, often caused by an employer’s threat, explicit or implied, to ‘zero down’ a worker’s hours if they do not work when they are asked to.

However there is a roll for legitimate Zero Hour Contracts. employees using such contents would have to pay an hourly rate in excess of the National Minimum Wage, Limits Casual Working to 13 weeks, and (ii) Provides protection to employees to ensure they received the same protection as full-time employees.

Without adequate investment in the future generation, and first past the post system the United Kingdoms will be far from United in or out of the EU.

There is little point in a Nuclear Deterrent, and a high speed railway or new Nuclear Power that costs billions and it owned by a Sovereign Wealth Fund when you cant afford a home, while the wealthy apply suntan cream on some distant tropical beach.

 

With Proportional representation you vote counts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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increasing the National Minimum wage to £8 an hour by 2019 and extend payment of the Living Wage.