Outrage apparently broke out yesterday after it was revealed that the minimum wage is to increase - but only by 17p.
Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling stated that the going rate for the country's lowest paid individuals would be £5.52 an hour. That's a 3.2 per cent increase and under the 4.2 per cent rate of inflation.
The rates for 18-21-year-olds will increase by 15p to £4.60 an hour. For 16 and 17-year-olds it will be boosted by 10p to £3.40.
Unison chief Dave Prentis is quoted in the Mirror as saying: "We are deeply disappointed. This is a missed opportunity to close the growing gap between the rich and poor.
"When the national minimum wage was introduced in 1999, the doom and gloom merchants predicted jobs would go and people would be worse off. That has not happened. Nine years on, we continue to need a bold approach because too many lives are still blighted by low pay."
RMT Union chief Bob Crow also added in the newspaper: "We need to see an increase more like 30 per cent than three per cent. The minimum wage needs to be a living wage and £5.52 an hour is way, way short of the mark."
However John Cridland of "the bosses' organisation" the CBI commented:"With interest rates and inflation rising, this is not the year for unaffordable wage increases.
"Last week the Chancellor made sensible decisions on public sector pay, now the Government has applied that same caution to the private sector."
Mr Darling argued that the minimum wage had increased now by nearly 30 per cent extra than inflation since 1999.
He said:"Just 10 years ago home workers could be paid as little as 35p an hour, cleaners £1.30 an hour and security guards £2.25 an hour, which was bad for families and just plain wrong.
"I am proud of the minimum wage, proud of how it is helping families and proud of the role it plays in the modern economy we are delivering."