I do multi-trade work for luxury property renovations. I was promised several things by my boss to work towards at the interview, this was due to me sacrificing formal education in order to pursue this career.
For context I’m paid £6.80/hour and live in central London. Now for those of you who don’t know much about London, it’s probably an equivalent to working for £3.20/hour in the north of England. Luckily I don’t have to pay rent but it is still a struggle to get by after paying the few bills that I actually have to pay for each month.
I feel like a carrot and stick has been held in front of me for too long and it’s only hit me in the last 2 months what damage this has actually done to me mentally and physically. For instance I had a full lung collapse at work earlier this year and I returned to work earlier than what was recommended because my boss said the ‘workload was too much’(during my absence. Then 2 weeks after my return I was told by him that he ‘wanted to see me more dedicated to the job’.
I also work 11+ hours some days with 0 overtime pay.
Need to be out of this cycle