TORY election hopeful Alex Story paid a London nanny less than the minimum wage, it has been alleged.
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Maham Hashimi worked as a nanny for Story’s three children when the candidate for Wakefield lived in Wapping.
“I felt like a slave,” Hashimi told The Mirror. “What they were paying was outrageous.”
Hashimi, 27, claims that Nadine Story, Alex’s wife, told her:
“I can only offer you £5 an hour. That’s all I can afford and you’ll only get £2.50 an hour for the first two weeks while we train you up.”
When confronted by Hashimi’s claims, Story said:
“Have you tried to hire a nanny in London. Do you have children. Do you?”
The minimum wage is £5.80 an hour, while the London Living Wage, backed by London Mayor Boris Johnson, currently stands at £7.45 an hour. Hashimi says that she informed Nadine Story that she expected to work for at least the minimum wage, but was told:
“That’s fine, I’ll just give you more hours, but the rate is still £5.”
“At first, I just wanted to walk away. £5 an hour was ridiculously low, but I needed a job to pay my rent and buy food. I felt I had no choice,” said Hashimi.
“It makes me angry. I hear of many students like me being paid below the minimum wage. Why should we have to suffer?”
Hashimi was born in Italy and has lived in London for seven years. Alex Story is one of only five Tory candidates to be backed by the anti-immigration party, UKIP.
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