Head to head: Why the minimum wage should be increased

The minimum wage must be increased, and the increase is long overdue.

The last time the minimum wage rose was in 2007, three years before I came to Ireland. I am not sure what life was like then during the boom years but I certainly know what it has been like to have earned the minimum wage for the past four years.

Over the past three years, while studying, I have worked two part-time jobs to support myself and pay for rent, transport to college, food and bills. I now get €9 an hour – above the current minimum wage, and just five cent less than the proposed new minimum wage, but every month I have barely had enough for rent, let alone everything else. Rents in Dublin’s commuter belt rose 14 per cent in the year to May alone. I have felt the annual increases keenly – it has felt as if I was working just for rent.

Most migrants are not entitled to rent allowances or social housing, regardless of how little they earn. This really cuts deep. Take, for example, someone earning €1,000 a month and living in Dublin. It is likely that a huge percentage of their wages goes on rent.

Struggling all the time

I am not sure how migrants in low-paid jobs who have families survive. I found myself struggling all the time, even though I am on my own. Not only did I run between full-time studies and a couple of part-time jobs, which is exhausting, but I also spent much of my time chasing special offers in

Aldi

and

Lidl

or getting only those groceries that had been reduced in price – in shops such as

Tesco

.

I have never comfortably paid my bills. While cycling and walking to work have helped save money, there were times I could not afford transport to college until I sought financial help from others.

When it comes to having a social life, earning almost nothing means you can’t meet friends for a coffee or even hope to afford a movie ticket once in a while, because you have to always look over your shoulder, financially speaking.

I have had monthly bus tickets since I started college. A 30-day Dublin Bus student ticket was €86 in my first year in college, 2012. It has gone up every year since: to €91.50 in 2013, €100 in 2014 and €107.50 this year – €21.50 more than it was three years ago. Wages, meanwhile, have remained static since 2007.

I formally requested a raise from €9 to €10 an hour, citing increases in rent, the cost of living and transport. I was told the company increased wages only once in a while, across the board, not to individuals just because they were struggling to survive. My hopes went out of the window.

Social protection

What makes it worse for migrants in low-paid work is lack of access to social protection: we are entirely at the mercy of the minimum wage. Healthcare is an unaffordable luxury for many, even when in dire need of medical attention. Most of us are not entitled to medical cards, and many can barely afford a doctor’s visit.

I know many in the wider Irish society – the working class, those in JobBridge schemes – face similar issues, and we are in solidarity with every other person who struggles to make ends meet.

I always ask myself how anyone is supposed to have a decent life when they are made to live so frugally. How is one supposed to progress in life, and how long should it take for one to make progress?

Many migrants I know who are in low- paid work live very modest lives, despite spending most of their time working very hard. I know many people who would like to be studying to upskill so they can get a better life, but how or when will that be possible when they are busy chasing after bills and day-to-day living expenses and are left with nothing at the end of it? Will they ever be able to escape this cycle?

Without a strong increase in the minimum wage, it’s hard to have hope.

Mariaam Bhatti works as a cleaner and childminder. She recently completed a BA in community and youth work at NUI Maynooth and campaigns with the Domestic Workers' Action Group of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland