MACHS

COMMON GROUND CONFERENCE

WORKSHOP: T10: Un (der) employment Issues

Presenters: David Rigney, Vic Potticary and Chris White UTLC,

Facilitator: Monika Baker

Un (der)employment involves more than just the issues of work and income. Poverty, isolation, disempowerment, and marginalisation of individuals within all communities are a collective social responsibility. The workshop will draw upon the extensive personal experiences of older unemployed adults, the issues of underemployment and casualisation of work, and the positive activities of the Un(der)employed People’s Movement against Poverty Inc. in South Australia.

In general it was agreed:

• that the nature of work has changed: No longer is there a job for life, increasingly part time contract work, both partners work to make a living, young people's high unemployment and lack of traineeships and apprenticeships

• that globalisation has affected our economy and the way we live in communities: more division, ideology which has turned against unionism and solidarity, social capital undervalued, exploitation of resources belonging to the community for the profits of a few.

• that unemployment is an integral part of the economic system and therefore will always be a feature of any capitalist global market economy.

The experience of being unemployed, especially as a man in our society, has become increasingly more difficult over the last decade. All men suffer the effects of lost self-esteem and loss of control over their situation. For older people the pathways back into employment are full of hurdles to jump over and barriers that are unsurmountable. Young people lose all hope ever to fit into society.

There is too much unpaid overtime, pressure to decrease worker’s rights is high, the oversupply of labour brings increased insecurity to the work place and destroys solidarity, and the privatisation of public services has also led to a silencing of workers and staff who speak up about unfair policies. These phenomena are working to worsen the situation of the unemployed and the workers. Combined with the punitive welfare reform spending power in communities is reduced.

There are no incentives to go out and work as it complicates the situation for unemployed people on benefits and leaves them open to be breached for making mistakes in their declaration of income.

 

What can we do about it as individuals?

• Become actively involved and engaged in the politics of the day, everyone can contribute a bit:

• Write letters to the editor, visit politicians and sitting member, form discussion groups and come together in movements, action groups.

• Link in and work together in alliances like the Fair Go Network, agencies should also work together co-operatively instead of competing for scarce funding dollars.

• We need to educate others and ourselves about the issues of unemployment, welfare rights and loss of worker’s rights and conditions.

• Most importantly we should lobby to shift the focus from researching poverty and its effects to research about wealth, in particular excessive wealth and its effects on our communities and society.

What we can do as communities:

• Acknowledge and understand international/global reality and that there is a need to resist some aspects on a global scale in global movements, but that the resistance has to come from local people and action needs to be taken locally as well as globally. Develop local think tanks that assist and educate local people to develop a regional strategy in consultation with all people in the community, not just the business stakeholders.

• Demand choice in the development and implementation of local and regional participation strategies for unemployed people, we need to clearly state that we don’t want a US style welfare reform.

• Support volunteers under mutual obligation and long term unemployed people to get jobs in the organisation they work for through some sort of affirmative action and through providing funding for social capital ventures in communities.

• Demand professional activism, pay for education and community development of thinking space. Although cost intensive, it may come cheaper in the end than the costs arising from social unrest, stress and ill health resulting from abject poverty over a life time.

• Support business creation: cooperative ventures, with a mix of mentoring programs and incubators for cottage industries, reclaim service delivery, communities can own their own services through co-operative ventures

• Develop alternative economy, for example, the LETS system barter services and goods without the exchange of money. Another model is a time-sharing model, where time is bartered, but goods are paid. This would enable mutually obligated volunteers to economically participate. Brazil’s economy works to 70% on ‘black market’ schemes like these. Australia’s GDP would be double as high as it is if all volunteer contributions would be accounted for

• Invest into social capital and ventures, a healthy happier community is much more cost effective.

Message to the unions:

There is a great need to bring the unions back into the communities and especially into education. History of our forefathers, who fought for the rights of working people and achieved so much of what we already have or are about to lose, needs to be told in schools and TAFE Colleges. Unions need to go into the schools and communities.

Link to UPM against Poverty, take a look at their web site and monthly newsletters!