I wrote last night about how the country depends heavily on both very low paid workers and volunteers. I mentioned how the care sector in particular would literally collapse without them. It occurred to me afterwards that low paid workers and volunteers make the world go round. I have very mixed feelings about our addiction to low paid work and getting people to do important work for free.
It will come as no surprise that Britain is a very unequal country. This was brought home to me when I was reading a piece about the earnings of top footballers and even footballers who play at a much lower level.
The Chilean footballer Alexis Sanchez, who plies his trade at Manchester United, trousers a basic wage – a basic wage – of £391,000 a week. On top of that, he is paid – notice how I avoid the use of the word ‘earns’? – a further £75,000 for every game he starts. In addition to these immodest sums, Sanchez also gets an annual fee of £1.1 million, along with various bonuses. What does a carer earn on the minimum wage?
I know plenty of people in the care sector, few of whom earn more than the minimum wage which has recently been increased to a highly generous £8.21 an hour. A 40 hour week would yield a weekly wage of £328 a week, although a substantial part of that gross figure would be subject to tax and national insurance. Over a year, our imaginary care worker, providing vital care and assistance would provide a gross salary of a fraction over £17,000 a year. It is probably fair to say that Sanchez will not struggle to put bread on the table or drive around with a mobile MOT failure. If he is not selected to start a game for United, he will probably not be queueing at a food bank if he has to struggle by on his basic wage. None of this is his fault. He was poor once, so he knows what it’s like.
Sanchez is, like everyone else in the field of work, a hired hand. He is a hired hand in a business which deals in the world of billions of pounds. If a prospective employer offers him a basis package of well over £400,000 a week, plus all manner of bonuses, paying him £70,000 extra every time he does a day’s work – and let’s not even think about how much money he takes in through commercial activities and ‘image rights’ – he would be a fool to turn it down. To your average low paid worker, a day’s worth of what Sanchez gets would be life-changing. To a footballer, it’s almost literally nothing.
Could this be part of the reason that the Premier League is not as popular as people make out? Sure, it is fabulously, some would say obscenely, rich but relatively speaking no one is watching. Yes, up to 1.5 million people will watch Sky’s very biggest games, but less than a third of that figure will watch the less ‘important’ games. I cannot know whether the high gap between the wages of footballers and ordinary folk affects viewing figures. But it should do.
This is the Britain given to us by Margaret Thatcher, a country in which the rich and privileged can have everything and the rest of us can go whistle. The old, the sick and the disabled can eat cake, if they can afford it. And the people who help feed them, assist their toiletry requirements, work hideously long hours in order to pay the rent, well it’s their choice, isn’t it? If they were good enough to play for Manchester United, they could always ask for a trial, right?
This is Broken Britain for you. Never mind if you can’t afford to eat. Super Sunday will be here soon though.
