Union claims retail job losses 'not down to minimum wage'
22-09-2006
Trade union the TUC has argued that the loss of jobs in the retail sector was not caused by an increase to the minimum wage.
The comments came after figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents retail employers, revealed that 78,000 retail posts have been cut in the past year.
The consortium claimed that retailers were cutting staffing costs after the minimum wage rose last October, with more cuts likely when the wage rises to £5.35 per hour next month.
Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live's Wake Up to Money programme, Paul Sellers of the TUC said that although there had been a loss in retail jobs in the past year, it was smaller than the BRC claimed.
"It was actually to do with the fact that there was a small recession in retail in 2004/2005, largely due to credit card exhaustion I think," he said.
However, he said that what really mattered was what happened in the coming couple of years, with the prospects for retail looking good.
Digg 
Delicious 
Reddit 
StumbleUpon 
Google 
Technorati 
Netvouz