This is a guest post by Polly.
I bought a t shirt on the way home from work the other night. A £15 t shirt, which I could just about afford a week from payday but still I felt a bit – guilty- even though it’s hardly a £750 dress…
The reason I felt a bit iffy about a £15 t shirt is that – like about half the country I’m wondering how much longer I’ll have a job. We have already had the first redundancy in our office, thanks to the extremely smackable George Osborne and his comprehensive spending review.
The image of Osborne, being slapped on the back by Cameron in congratulation for ruining millions of lives, sorry delivering the comprehensive spending review, with a smug expression on his face reminiscent of a proud toddler who’s just done an enormous pooh right in the potty will sadly stay seared on my memory for quite a while. Not only does he not give a flying fuck, he looks positively pleased with himself, rather like the local squire’s son having ravaged the village maidens and left them impregnated and bound for the workhouse.
Private Eye covers and gallows humour aside, last week was fairly grim, and this week promises more of the same. Including oh joy, a visit from the big boss, accompanied by HR. I wonder what they’re going to tell us. We are obviously not going to have the privilege of being specially dragged down to London like my first in the firing line colleague, but instead delivered (potentially) the bad news by either the deranged, supposedly senior HR woman who reminds me of Violet Elizabeth Bott, or her annoyingly upbeat eminently smackable junior operative who used to work in retail? Can I have George Clooney instead please? And nobody has any clue what this bad news could be. Maybe the whole regional office is going, speculation is rife.
All I know is I want to spend this week off my face on something, and am seriously considering having vodka and valium for breakfast on the big day, either that or phoning in sick. Look if I’m being got rid of, just send me a text m’kay? Don’t add insult to injury by informing me in a special pious sad manner, with lots of platitudes and then – no doubt – high fiving each other when you get on the train. Particularly if you are someone I hate and have always wanted to smack anyway.
And why is Osborne doing this anyway? Well it seems nobody rightly knows, because actually, it might not save any money. And once he has put 500,000 people out of work (plus all the knock on unemployment in the private sector, effects on the housing market etc etc) the condems are going to spend lots of money getting us all back into non existent jobs.
So let’s just run over that again. Public sector workers (paid from central funds) are to made unemployed and forced onto benefits (paid from central funds) with some fairly hefty redundancy costs (paid from central funds) and then given government help to get back to work (paid from central funds).
And this is going to save money how exactly?
Well there’s a fairly large body of opinion that says it isn’t and it’s going to completely bugger up the economy once and for all – similar measures certainly did in Ireland. Though Clegg is fearlessly striking back against the loony left forces of the um – institute of fiscal studies.
The real reason seems to be that a) large sectors of the press and public seem to be under the delusion that public sector workers are somehow unreal and will simply disappear into the ether if made redundant and b) that it’s all administration which is completely unnecessary. Low paid administrative jobs that are mostly done by women.
Clegg, Cameron and Osborne don’t get it. They don’t get first of all that actually letters do need to be written and budgets need to be controlled and filing needs to be done, and stuff needs to be generally well – administered. Possibly because their experience of low grade, low paid administrative jobs is somewhat limited. But also they don’t get that actually people need money and most of us have to earn it. Because they were all born with shedloads of the stuff swilling around – the concept of actually not having any money to buy food or pay the rent or the electricity bill or the mortgage simply does not compute.
We’re not genuinely a consideration to this lot and let’s not kid ourselves we are. We are there to be got rid of, and rearranged as they please, like deckchairs on the Titanic. Dave, Nick and George don’t give a shit about us and they never did. All those promises Dave made about no compulsory redundancies in the public sector, and child benefit, and winter fuel allowances, a load of hot air? Cuddly Nick, the voters friend, did he just want to get power at any price after all?
I cannot tell a lie, I am shit scared at the moment of what is to come- worst case scenarios of being flung onto the dole for life running through my head, since I don’t buy somewhat less than gorgeous George’s optimism about our economic future for a millisecond. But most of all chaps, we proles are REAL PEOPLE. Not just surplus baggage.
Too Much To Say For Myself 
I don’t know what profession you’re in, but my lecturer olleagues and I are feely very nervous about it all. I’ve worked really hard to reach this stage and I don’t know what I’ll do it all goes wrong.
Ps. I clearly didn’t do a grammar/ spell check before I submitted that comment. It should have read:
I don’t know what profession you’re in, but my lecturer colleagues and I are feeling very nervous about it all. I’ve worked really hard to reach this stage and I don’t know what I’ll do if all goes wrong.
Sorry about that.
‘Because they were all born with shedloads of the stuff swilling around – the concept of actually not having any money to buy food or pay the rent or the electricity bill or the mortgage simply does not compute.’
damn straight.
i was made redundant last year, in the recession part 1: the private sector redundancies. which is the catchy film title i give it in my head. it was pretty rubbish, and i was on JSA for 3 months before starting temp work. because i was 24 and a half, i got less JSA than a 25 year old ‘because, in JSA speak, i was still dependent on my parents’ (in real life, no i wasn’t)
but anyway. to my point. david cameron talks about people who don’t go on benefits as people who ‘do the right thing’. but i didn’t do anything wrong by going on benefits. i was made redundant because of a bankers caused recession, and by endless mistakes of senior management. and yet, in david cameron speak, i did the wrong thing. and it is precisely as you say, polly. they have so much money, they cannot comprehend why you would need to go on benefits, why you might not be able to afford food. or rent. or why your parents might not be able to bail you out. (not that i think my parents should have bailed me out)
You’re right that they don’t get it! I had an office job once at a big insurance company. Almost all the administrators were women – and very poorly paid. I was amazed to discover how much work an administrator did and how much knowledge she needed. The further up the ladder you went though, the less women there were, and the more their days seemed to consist of nothing but cigars and brandy. Low-paid women were absolutely holding the company up. This is no different.
Nick Clegg thought the basic state pension was £30 a week….
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7620041.stm
That’s how out of touch they are.
Probably Nick thinks a poor person can live very well off that….
If I get to the end of the month and I don’t have any money at the moment, I have an overdraft facility, which is very cheap. On those odd occasions I go overdrawn, it costs me pence, not pounds cos it’s all arranged on the basis I have a steady reasonable stream of money going into my account.
The poorer you are, the more everything costs, that’s the horrible irony. Credit only comes from loan sharks. Food costs more. Fuel costs more. You end up buying clothes from catalogues that offer instant credit but charge eye watering rates of interest. It’s so bad even the Mail has noticed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1323377/Holly-Willoughby-Fearne-Cotton-endorsed-Very-style-website-bad-finances.html
I heard somebody on the radio last night say nobody was really poor in this country. No, people ARE really poor in this country. And if you haven’t got employment you are that dread term ‘socially excluded’.
I’d actually be reasonably ok for a while if I was made redundant because I’d get a redundancy payment, and I have payment protection insurance and I’d get non means tested JSA for 6 months which is £64 a week (ie crap) but I’d be ok for a bit. But not long term. I’d need another job and I don’t actually know where I’d find one. I just don’t think well paying jobs are going to be thick on the ground. I don’t think minimum wage jobs are going to be thick on the ground. And I know if I do go for a minimum wage job I’ll be told I’m overqualified. Make no mistake, I’d do one, I’ve done loads of less than marvellous jobs in the past, but the jobs simply aren’t there. I know from the experience of others who’ve been job hunting just how hard the market is at the moment.
Peter Oborne in the torygraph:
Not a fraction of this grace was evident from George Osborne when he stood up in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon. It is hard to overstate the gravity and seriousness of that occasion. The Chancellor was making a series of announcements which – necessary though they were – will cause hundreds of thousands of people to lose their jobs or livelihoods. He should have been sombre and statesmanlike.
Instead, he sprinkled his speech with cheap and narky remarks (for instance drawing attention to the absence of Gordon Brown) that were designed to irritate Labour. From the start of his speech he pursued party advantage. When he had bad news to deliver he gabbled through it very fast and used jargon, a bad habit of Mr Brown’s.
Osborne’s speech, even though it was spoken on the floor of the House, seemed aimed at pleasing the Conservative Party alone. When he sat down, many Tory back-benchers rose to their feet and cheered and I suddenly felt rather ashamed that I voted Tory at the last election.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100060309/david-cameron-and-george-osborne-aren%E2%80%99t-speaking-with-the-same-voice/
polly
Yep, and I really think a lot of people don’t understand this.
During the last recession (early 90’s) we got caught out by the massive hike in interest rates and ended up with mortgage payments that basically ate up our entire monthly income. The more in debt we became, the worse it all got – we were stuck in this vicious circle that was hideously difficult to get out of.
So for instance, we had our phone cut off ‘cos we couldn’t pay our bill, but then when we did manage to scrape together enough money to pay it off, we then had to pay through the roof to have the phone line reconnected. Which while maybe a small thing in itself, when you have lots of these incidents happening, and lots of extra charges being added, it ends up with you owing a shit ton of money, and all for being too bloody poor to be able to pay your bills in the first place. I could never understand the logic of stuff like that, a logic that says – these people are obviously broke, therefore let’s make them fork out even more than everyone else, and especially more than those who could actually afford to pay out.
And don’t even get me started on the charlatans that were known at the time as The Mortgage Corporation, although after reading this thread, it appears we may yet be entitled to claim compensation…….watch this space!
It is really terrifying. And you’re right, there just don’t seem to be a lot of jobs around, not even shit ones. My sister in law has been looking for work for over a year, with no joy at all. The government have no idea whatsoever of what it is to be poor in this country, nor do they care. And it is adding insult to injury that these cuts are unlikely to save any money, anyway.
Actually really terrible detail I heard today. When the first wave of sackees were called to London, the member of senior management charged with the task – (who you would be need to look at for a long time before you were reminded of George Clooney) – said, and I quote “It’s not a tragedy”. Well maybe not, compared with say the Haitian earthquake, or the Pakistan floods. But it’s still a bit of a bummer isn’t it? Really this is one of those occasions when it isn’t helpful to say ‘well it could be worse’. Maybe best to limit yourself to ‘I’m very sorry’.
I met with my MP last week to lobby him about the impact of the cuts on public services and women and in particular the impact that the cuts are likely to have on me personally due to caring responsibilities. As far as I know my job is not at risk (yet).
He boldly said that things are going to be very bad for poor people, but not for him, he admitted none of the cuts are going to impact on him at all. He opposes any increase in taxation as an alternative to cuts because rich people might leave the country, and he believes targetting those that cant run is the right and expedient thing to do.
I put to him the adverse impact on women and that where services are cut, where voluntary sector organisations are starved, and domestic violence increases, there will be no refuges for women and lives will be lost – and he stared at me, and just said he blames the previous government.
In the whole of my meeting with him he showed no empathy, compassion or regret for those that are going to suffer or those that are already suffering. No recognition from him that there will be tragedies in society and in families and absolutely no sorry at all. I felt I needed to wash my hand in bleach to get clean after he had shaken my hand.
He boldly said that things are going to be very bad for poor people, but not for him, he admitted none of the cuts are going to impact on him at all.
Well on the bright side, he’s an arsehole, but a truthful one!
Seriously if I do get the order of the boot, I’m going to walk into the jobcentre and say ‘where’s my job then? I was promised it by several senior Tories…’
Women really are the disposable workforce, both in the public and private sectors. It never ever occurs to these dudes to reduce the obscene salaries and pension plans of those at the top, in order to save jobs (of the people who actually do the work) at the bottom.
It is not only false economy that the government is talking about cutting such a high number of public sector jobs, but also a bad example and bad signal to the private sector.
Polly said:
“I’d need another job and I don’t actually know where I’d find one. I just don’t think well paying jobs are going to be thick on the ground. I don’t think minimum wage jobs are going to be thick on the ground. And I know if I do go for a minimum wage job I’ll be told I’m overqualified. “
As one who got cut loose in Round 1, the private sector, I am coming up to the one year anniversary now. There was a flurry of jobs around April/May, then it went very quiet again. Apart from the very low number of jobs, all (middle level) jobs seem now to have between a 20-40% reduction in salary, it’s an employers’ market, and the JCP quietly acknowledge this (OTR).
You may also find a divide between being former public sector when trying to get into the private sector. I got that feeling for the reverse, applying for some public sector jobs.
And, as a mature woman, you will suddenly be “too over qualified” for many jobs, even if you don’t mind taking a lower job. It’s strange how all these companies want experience, but not too much apparently. It must be the Goldilocks Factor. For years I didn’t have enough experience, for 5 minutes I had just the right amount, and now I have “too much”.
‘It must be the Goldilocks Factor. For years I didn’t have enough experience, for 5 minutes I had just the right amount, and now I have “too much”.’
i had that too, and i was only 25! i was too experienced for entry level roles, because they would have to pay me more. but i wasn’t experienced enough for the next rung up.
add on to that that much of my work in my industry is done for free by interns – a luxury i couldn’t afford.
polly
Ignorant thoughtless bastard. It’s people like him that should be losing their jobs – sounds like he could easily be replaced by, oh I don’t know, a real human being or something.
And my oldest daughter has just told me that her job’s now hanging in the balance – it’s those public sector cuts again. Fucking fuckers.
I think FAB libber that public sector workers have been so comprehensively rubbished, I’ll find it extremely hard to get work even with the millions of private sector jobs that are going to be created. Yeah, it’s a buyers market. Yet still the Tories spout their crap about getting people who’ve been on incapacity benefit long term back to work. Where?
Pants for your daughter Cath, BTW.
Hope your daughter is okay, Cath.
What fucking arseholes they are. It’s not real to them, because it doesn’t affect them in the slightest. When the tories were in Birmingham, conferencing, some of them got on my bus on Sunday morning. Honestly, it was clear that at least one of them had never been on a bus before. He commented on how expensive it was. He tried to get a free ticket by telling the driver he was going to the conference. Needless to say this didn’t work.
They are protecting their world of wealth and security by taking from the rest of us. It works for them, it’s the way it’s always worked for them, and fuck everyone else.
He tried to get a free ticket by telling the driver he was going to the conference.
LOL!
Oh to have been that bus driver……
The idea that 2 million private sector jobs will be created is just crap …500 000 of us public sector workers will be unemployed ….and we will be used to frighten the rest of the workforce into accepting lower wages …. Im 47 and hope that theres just time enough to pay the mortgage off in the next 18 months / 2 years before the axe falls …then its Back to the future … from 1983 to 1994 i was unemployed ….at 49 i doubt i’ll ever work again …Back to the scrap heap .
See you in the jobcentre with Pauline and her pens Micky!
Meanwhile, chez ozzy….
http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2010/10/19/tax-cheats-petition-is-on-george-osbornes-desk/
Whoops forgot this one.
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/osborne-pay-your-taxes#petition
He’s MP for Tatton you know, which is quite near me. Must find out when his surgery is and do some leafletting.
@micky d
Wages out there now are already at rock-bottom bargain-basement prices.
And yes, even as a male you will find it very difficult to find a job in your late 40s. As a female, it’s almost a given.
Polly’s job update for anyone who is interested. We had the big talk and my job is possibly going to be at risk in a)a month or b)a year. Cheers m’dears – am beginning to get a bit fed up of this.
Though if I can hang on till I’m over 50, I can retire on £40.000 a year apparently. Which would be bloody good because it’s nearly double my present salary.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323453/100-000-civil-servants-quit-50-pensions.html
Thanks for the update Polly. I was going to ask yesterday if you’d heard anything, but I figured you’d let us know when you were ready.
That sucks 😦
that sucks polly. my boyfriend’s job is looking fragile too – he’s private sector. having gone through it last year i can confirm that it is horrible, and upsetting, and will make you very angry at it being unfair. i raged and i ranted and i cried and i dreaded going to the dole office to get my reduced JSA every fortnight, to be treated like a child, and to be told to apply for a job 120 miles from my house. and then i had a job i hated but…and there is a but…it led me to moving out of a section of the industry i hated and now i have a job i love. i know i was lucky, and there were definite privileges that i had to enable me to swap careers and do something i enjoy.
Oh nothing will happen for ages, if it is going to happen, (not certain yet, the messages we have had have been ambiguous to say the least) however most of us are assuming the worst and applying for other jobs.
The bottom line is – AFAIK my post will probably continue to exist in some form, the question is where and how many people will be needed to fill it (but most certainly less than at present). There will probably be a reduction in numbers and then it depends on who wants to take voluntary redundancy. I won’t be out on my arse in a week in any case, it will take a few months. But thanks for the good wishes folks, looks like we really are all in this together! ‘This’ being the shit.
I also think I’ve been through an accelarated grieving process already and am at the ‘acceptance’ stage. Time for plan b.
Oh and if anyone doesn’t know yet…
http://ukuncut.wordpress.com/
Protest vodafone tax dodging fat cats tomorrow!
Schadenfreude corner. Mr ‘it’s not a tragedy’ hatchet man who made my colleague redundant has just been axed himself. Oh the sweetness of it. Wondering who was the first to send him an e-mail saying ‘it’s not a tragedy’.
Well it isn’t in his case, he’s just going to become a ‘consultant’ with a big fat pay off. But still….
Hi Cath – I doubt anyone but me cares by now, a mere two years after I wrote this post, several months of arguing, £350 of legal fees incurred by me, and one pointless interview, my fuckwitted employers have managed to confirm that I still have a job – until the next round of cuts anyway. Oh joy. I do realise I’m a hell of lot better off than a lot of people, but am finding it hard to be grateful – especially since they could have done the whole thing with voluntary redunancies and just indulged in a lot of pointless willy waving for the sake of it (bit like the current administration). Never mind, maybe Edwina Currie will get sent to prison, that would cheer me up….
Hi Polly. I care, and I’m relieved to hear you’ve managed to keep your job. What a crap way to go about things though, and no doubt it’ll only be 5 minutes before they’re thinking about doing the same thing all over again.