DeadMan'sShoes

BACKGROUND

In 1999, TasCOSS received a grant from the Tasmanian Community Support Levy to establish state-wide Unemployed Workers Networks in three community locations around Tasmania. The funding was for one year and a project officer, employed by TasCOSS, commenced the project in August 2000.

THE THREE AIMS OF THE PROJECT

1. The first aim of the project was to consult with unemployed workers in these three locations about

The impact of unemployment on their lives, their families and their participation in community life

their resilience and ways of resisting the negative impacts of being unemployed
their experience of the Job Network Providers and of Centrelink.

2. The second aim of the project was to invite unemployed workers into ongoing supportive networks in order to gain a collective voice around the unemployment issues affecting their lives and to politicise the issue of unemployment.

3. The third aim of the project was to document in a public report the findings of this consultation in order to increase community awareness and public debate on the issue of unemployment in Tasmania and to lobby for and on behalf of the unemployed at a political level.

This Report, DEAD MAN’S SHOES,

presents the findings of the consultation with unemployed job seekers concerning the impact of unemployment on their lives, their resistances to these negative impacts and their experience of the Job Network and of Centrelink
speaks of the formation of an ongoing supportive network amongst unemployed job seekers under the auspices of T.O.E.S. – the Tasmanian Organisation of Employment Seekers, and

documents key findings and recommendations directed towards the State and Commonwealth Governments, to the Job Network, to Centrelink and to the Community Sector.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

DEAD MAN’S SHOES!

During the course of our consultation with those who are without work in Tasmania, leading to the compilation of this report, we listened carefully to the stories and experiences shared with us. We heard stories of pain, poverty and hardship. We also heard remarkable stories of resistance, resilience and hope.

Perhaps some of the most gut-wrenching stories were those that described what it was like being forced to live off "the left-overs and the throw-away items of others", of the well-heeled - the pieces of clothing, the shoes, the used furniture, the food parcels.

As one participant said

"I walk in a dead man’s shoes".

UNEMPLOYMENT CITY

In most reports of this nature, there is often a tendency to turn quickly to the key findings and recommendations, and then give but a cursory glance to the remainder of the report, before it is carefully filed away with numerous other similar reports.

In preparing this report, the focus has always been firmly fixed on the stories and experiences of the job seekers themselves. This report seeks to honour these people – to make their voices heard and their faces visible - 20,000 of them in Tasmania, excluding "the hidden unemployed" who would swell this number again – bigger than the city size of Burnie (population size,1996 census: 19,134), all without work, remembering that if you engage in only one hour of work a week you are officially considered "employed".

If all the unemployed came together in one place, they would form, after Hobart and Launceston, Glenorchy and Devonport, the fifth largest population Centre in this state. Unemployment City would be the fifth biggest city in Tasmania – and this with the "official" unemployed only!

My hope is that those who take up this report will immerse themselves in the stories of those who are without work. These stories comprise the greater part of the report. It is for this reason that they are published here at length. It is these stories, and the people who belong to these stories, that have given shape to the whole report and to its key findings. If we do not "meet these people", "hear" and "be moved by their voices", the key findings will remain but empty words.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS

The recommendations are directed in several directions – to the State and Commonwealth Governments, to Centrelink and the Job Network and to the Community Sector. One of the principal aims of the project was to politicise the issue of unemployment in Tasmania and to create a greater public awareness of the issue of unemployment. We believe that as well as the Commonwealth Government, the State Government also has a leading role to play in this regard.

Our hope also is that the Job Network Providers and Centrelink will listen carefully to the stories and real life experiences of job seekers as told in this report. While Federal Government policies are often fixed and beyond the control of workers at the cutting edge, this report suggests that there are many ways that workers in these organizations, and in other Government bureaucracies, can solidly stand alongside job seekers in their dealings with them.

A further hope is that more and more community organisations in the non-government sector will align themselves with people and families affected by unemployment beyond a "hand-out" or "helping-hand" mentality. The problem of unemployment overtaking these families is a socio/political problem and needs to be addressed at this level as well as at the personal level. Both levels of response are required, and where possible, those responses need to be simultaneous.

MAKING UNEMPLOYMENT VISIBLE

As the Treasurer, David Crean has stated, employment is one of the main keys to addressing the numerous and complex issues affecting poverty (letter to Director of TasCOSS, 15 March 2001).

We believe that unemployment is an equally complex issue and that greater effort needs to be directed towards raising community awareness of the extent of unemployment in Tasmania and the ravaging effects it is having on the lives of individuals, families and communities.

A community problem cannot be properly dealt with until first it is adequately, clearly and publicly defined. We believe greater transparency is required from the State Government in regard to the employment/unemployment situation in Tasmania.

Unemployment tends to be a "hidden" issue. Those with jobs are not and do not need to be confronted by its daily reality. For those with work, unemployment is often seen as a personal problem for the jobless, not a political/economic problem; hence the label "dole-bludger" or comments along the line of "if you are hungry enough, you will get a job". Unemployment needs a greater public profile and a public profile as a political/economic problem.

The hidden nature of unemployment is further exacerbated by the socially isolating nature of unemployment itself: it makes people who are unemployed "invisible". They are without power, often unseen and do not have a voice.

Public versions of employment/unemployment in Tasmania which are heavily weighted in favour of describing only the positive developments, with constant predictions of future economic growth, have the effect of

minimising both the extent and seriousness of the problem of unemployment in Tasmania

trivialising the severely negative impact that unemployment is currently having on the lives of 20,000 Tasmanians, their families and the communities in which they live, and

invisibilising both "the unemployed" and "unemployment" - keeping unemployment out of the public eye as an issue of major importance that requires a constant "whole of community" response, including the business and corporate sectors in partnership with local and state governments.

At the same time as acknowledging the importance of not constantly talking down the economy and the employment/unemployment situation of the state, we believe a greater balance is required, a balance that is not currently evident.

A HUGE IDLE UNHARNESSED RESOURCE

People who are unemployed are without power and without a voice. When issues of employment/unemployment are debated, when forums concerning employment/unemployment are held, when policies affecting people who are unemployed are being drafted, the jobless themselves are rarely invited to participate or contribute, beyond at times a token presence only.

When it comes to the issue of unemployment, unemployed people are among the chief stakeholders, yet they are rarely consulted. Their vast wisdom, knowledge, experience, expertise, resourcefulness and skills

in living

in being active participants in the community

in once being, for many, gainfully employed, and

in now being unemployed

are too frequently ignored.

Unemployed people are too often considered "part of the problem". We believe it is urgent that they be considered "part of the solution" and that processes be established to enable this to happen.

There is an incredible wealth of human resources amongst the 20,000 stronghold of this community’s job seekers, those without work, and amongst those 15,000 part-time workers who are looking for full-time work and among the many hidden unemployed. Listen to the voices of job seekers from the Hobart consultation.

You have all this experience, skills, knowledge, ideas, possibilities, but it is hard to harness or give any direction to it.

You build up a bank of knowledge, wisdom and experience over many years and when you become unemployed it just sits there.

Mature age unemployed are seriously undervalued. Our knowledge, wisdom, experience, skills, our wealth of knowledge and ability: this is a huge resource lying partially idle.

You get used a lot: "my work is robbed from me". Because you are unemployed, people use your bank of knowledge, wisdom, and experience "free of charge". How can I market my very real knowledge, skill, wisdom – accumulated resources over the years?

It is very hard to turn unemployment into a positive - finding ways of doing quality things at a minimal cost.

GETTING LOST IN THE SEA OF STATISTICS

We believe that real lives can and do easily get lost in a sea of statistics. The statistic, "20,000 unemployed people in Tasmania", can be said quickly, easily and then be forgotten. Behind this statistic stand 20,000 people, families in daily hardship and often in hunger, as this report carefully documents. Their lives can no longer be put on hold with statistical claims such as "unemployment in Tasmania has decreased over the past 12 months by 0.1%". This makes a mockery of what these families are living and is not a legitimate response to their suffering, to their poverty or to their hunger.

TASMANIAN ORGANIZATION OF EMPLOYMENT SEEKERS

Unemployment is a somewhat endemic problem in Tasmania and people who are unemployed are beginning to speak out. The formation of T.O.E.S. – the Tasmanian Organisation of Employment Seekers – as a result of our consultation with those who are without work is one clear indication of this. Similar groups are meeting throughout Australia as a result of the formation of the Australian National Organisation of Unemployment (A.N.O.U.) at a National Conference held in Brisbane, October 2000.

We hope that wherever you are, you will take this report into your workplaces and into your community organisations and into your staff meetings and into your kitchens and that the issue of unemployment doesn’t leave you until it goes away.

Funding for this project terminates in June. This leaves the unemployed workers networks and T.O.E.S. in an extremely vulnerable and precarious position. They need resources.

As well as appropriate action at a political and economic level, we also believe that significant change in relation to unemployment will only come about when those most affected by unemployment are sufficiently empowered to take leadership and action. Those who are most affected by unemployment, and especially those in the most affected communities, urgently need to be resourced to take a leadership role in their communities.

Recently we found reference in a September 1936 copy of the Launceston Examiner to the then Premier meeting, on 15 September 1936, with the then Tasmanian "Central Unemployed Committee" at their annual State Conference in Launceston. We would like to think that the State Government will use the launch of this Report as an the opportunity to align itself with this tradition and resource the on-going establishment of unemployed workers networks, under the auspices of T.O.E.S., in communities across the state as one effective way of addressing this issue.

Vince McCormack

June 2001

KEY FINDINGS

These Key Findings are a summary of the views of the job seekers consulted with and are presented in full in chapters 5 to 8. Those Key Findings that relate to the employment/unemployment situation in Tasmania are based on data presented in chapter 9 and the Key Finding relating to the Community Sector is based on the Project itself.

1. THE IMPACT OF UNEMPLOYMENT ON JOB SEEKERS

Unemployment causes devastating poverty.

Unemployment is a major source of debilitating stress on families, children and relationships.

Unemployment causes radical social isolation and an inability to participate in the life of the community.

Unemployment erodes self-confidence and self-belief in job seekers and promotes self-blame and the stigmatisation of unemployed people.

Unemployment reduces people to a "prisoner" status of "being trapped" in their lives and there are also structural barriers that keep people trapped in unemployment.

2. JOB SEEKERS’ RESISTANCE TO THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF BEING UNEMPLOYED

Unemployed job seekers know they are being "demonized" for the problem of unemployment.

Unemployed job seekers understand the structural and political nature of unemployment and know they are being scapegoated.

Unemployed job seekers used a variety of strategies to survive unemployment which include

persistent job seeking

maintaining social networks

staying active and contributing

cultivating a sense of outrage and political protest

constantly looking for the positives and for the signs of hope.

3. JOB SEEKERS’ STORIES AND EXPERIENCES OF DEALING WITH THEIR JOB NETWORK PROVIDERS

Unemployed job seekers resent the false hopes, the false promises and the false expectations for work that they believe the Job Networks frequently give them.

Unemployed job seekers find being compelled, by Commonwealth Government legislation, to participate through the Job Networks in a range of activities, including Job Search Training, to be demeaning and unhelpful, "tiresome, frustrating and futile".

Unemployed job seekers found Intensive Assistance to be under resourced and superficial; it did not lead to jobs and often lead to inappropriate attempts at re-skilling unemployed workers.

Unemployed job seekers interviewed resented Work for the Dole because this program did not lead to jobs, frequently ignored their previous working experience and lacked any consistent training component.

Unemployed job seekers frequently perceive Job Network staff to be insensitive to the impact of unemployment on their lives and to unemployment as a political/economic issue.

Unemployed job seekers see themselves as numbers being crunched like cogs that are required to keep turning the financial wheel of the Job Networks.

4. JOB SEEKERS’ STORIES AND EXPERIENCES OF DEALING WITH CENTRELINK

Unemployed job seekers feel that they live under the constant surveillance of Centrelink.

The breaching (fining) regime of Centrelink means that unemployed job seekers live in the constant fear of losing their livelihood and sole means of income.

The breaching system is harsh, arbitrary, unjust and punitive.

Mutual obligation is often experienced as being one-sided: the many participation requirements that are demanded of unemployed job seekers are for the sake of a benefit that keeps them subservient and trapped in poverty.

Unemployed job seekers are further penalised by the mistakes Centrelink make and by the inefficiencies in the system to deal with these mistakes which frequently place at risk their day to day livelihoods.

Unemployed job seekers experience the Centrelink system to be personally intrusive, with little regard for the privacy of their lives, and often experience Centrelink staff as insensitive, unhelpful and condescending .

5. JOB CREATIONS and JOB LOSSES

The creation of 9,000 new jobs over the past two years in Tasmania has not had significant impact on the level of unemployment in this state which stands at 20,000 - a decrease of only 0.1% over the past 12 months.

While new jobs are being created in Tasmania, a corresponding number of jobs are being lost.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that as well as professionally skilled people being unemployed, there are increasing numbers of blue collared unskilled labourers losing their jobs in Tasmania, jobs that have been a tradition within the families of these people over generations.

Over the past 12 months in Tasmania, the number of job seekers for each job vacancy has been within the range of 10 to 15.

6. THE LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYED

Just on 60% of Tasmania’s unemployed people are long-term unemployed, ie unemployed for 12 months or longer, and 38.5% of these people have been unemployed for over 24 months.

A true picture of the full extent of long-term unemployment is not reflected in the official long-term unemployment figures. Work for only a few days during the course of a year cancels a person’s status as "long-term unemployed".

7. FULL TIME, PART-TIME and CASUAL WORK

32% or 62,800 of all workers in Tasmania are part-time workers.

Over the past 5 years, to December 2000, the number of full-time workers in Tasmania decreased by 5,600 while the number of part-time workers increased by 6,700.

Of the increase in the number of people employed in Tasmania over the past 12 months, to February 2001, 85% were in part-time jobs.

Almost 25% or 15,000 Tasmanian part-time workers would prefer to work more hours - the average hours worked per week by part-time workers nationally in 1999 was 16.1 hours while 50.8% of all part-time workers nationally worked 15 hours or less per week.

26.4% of the Tasmania workforce are employed casually; 34.6% of all female workers are employed casually compared with 19.4% of all male employees.

8. THE HIDDEN UNEMPLOYED

There are many categories of people who are without work but who are not considered to be "officially" unemployed.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) records people as employed if they have worked for only one hour in the week of the Labour Force Survey.

Other categories of people not considered to be "officially" unemployed include those not registered with Centrelink, increasing numbers of 17 – 24 year old young people, categories of people on various Disability, Wives’ and Carers’ Pensions and on certain Widow and Mature Age Allowances.

Many job seekers who are ineligible for New Start Allowance, because of their partner’s employment status, do not register themselves as unemployed.

The true picture of unemployment in Tasmania is far greater than the official 20,000 and is affecting far more people and families than the wider community are aware of.

9. THE COMMUNITY SECTOR

The consultation process with unemployed job seekers revealed that it was difficult to find organisations within the community able or willing to be interested and involved in the issue of unemployment and to offer leadership and support to unemployed job seekers coming together in local groups.

R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT

1. STATE GOVERNMENT RESOURCES

That the Tasmanian Government takes a more directly active approach to the issue of employment and unemployment

by appointing a Minister for Employment and Unemployment

by giving the issue of unemployment the public profile and the public

priority that it deserves as a political/economic problem

by making the full extent of unemployment in Tasmania and its effects

on Tasmanians more public and visible to the whole Tasmanian community

by giving greater emphasis to the need for the creation of more jobs in

Tasmania

by promoting research into hidden unemployment in this state and into

the effects of the casualisation of the work force and of the creation of part-time jobs at the expense of full time jobs.

2. RECOGNITION OF JOB SEEKERS and CONSULTATION PROCESSES

Given that unemployed job seekers

are an essential part of the solution to the problem of unemployment, and not part of the problem,

are a huge resource with a wealth of wisdom, knowledge, skills, abilities, experience and energy waiting to be harnessed, and

are motivated in wanting to be productive, working contributors to the Tasmanian community, we recommend

That the Tasmanian Government establishes adequately resourced and structured processes to consult with people who are unemployed in their communities throughout Tasmania

to hear their stories, validate their concerns, acknowledge the impact of unemployment on their lives and invite them into decision-making forums where they will be both consulted and heard

to resource those most affected by unemployment, especially those in the most affected communities, to take a leadership role in addressing unemployment

to include unemployed Tasmanians as an integral part of The Tasmania Together process and other major planning initiatives.

3. JOBS FORUMS

That the State Government develops, through both a state jobs forum and regional jobs forums, a greater whole of community awareness of and response to unemployment and to the people who are unemployed. Such forums would be

based on an accurate portrayal of the extent of unemployment in Tasmania and its impact on unemployed job seekers

informed by an understanding of unemployment as a political/economic problem and by the consultation processes held with unemployed people

attended by representatives from

all levels of Government including local government

the community and non-government sectors

business, industry and union leaders.

These forums would also be an opportunity to showcase successful small community-based employment initiatives and successful small business enterprises within the state.

4. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

That the State Government supports with financial resources the establishment of

small community-based employment initiatives, in partnership with and under the leadership of people who are unemployed in these communities

social entrepreneurship training within these communities

unemployed workers networks in communities across the state.

5. ADVOCACY

That the State Government advocates strongly at the Federal level of Government on behalf of Tasmania’s unemployed job seekers in support of this Report’s recommendations directed to the Commonwealth Government, to Centrelink and to the Job Network.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE COMMONWEALTH GOVERNMENT

(footnote reference: These recommendations will be forwarded to the Australian Council of Social Service, ACOSS, as the Project’s contribution to the development of a national framework for community sector policy on employment issues)

1. BASIC INCOME SUPPORT

That the Commonwealth Government lifts the level of all basic income support payments to an adequate base payment rate (to 25% of male total average weekly earnings)

to protect people from poverty and enable recipients to meet essential living costs (such as housing, food, clothing, transport and health) (Footnote Reference: The current payment rate for single unemployed adults is 20% below the Henderson Poverty Line and the current payment rate for young people and adult students in 30% below the Henderson Poverty Line).

to enable people who are unemployed to fulfill their mutual obligation and participation requirements (such as job search), to maintain and build on their social networks and to participate in the life of the community.

It is the Commonwealth Government’s responsibility to ensure the provision and accessibility of adequate income and other support systems to enable income support recipients to meet participation requirements.

MUTUAL OBLIGATION

That the Commonwealth Government ensures that income support recipients have the certainty and predictability of income.

Any obligations imposed on income support recipients as a condition of payment must be within people’s capacity to meet these obligations.

The Commonwealth Government’s mutual obligation is also to ensure the provision of a sufficient number of jobs for job seekers.

3. BREACHING

That the Commonwealth Government legislates to ensure that the withdrawal, or threat of withdrawal, of basic income support

is not used as a punitive or coercive mechanism but is only used as a last resort and is reduced to a level appropriate to people on low incomes.

is not based on a cruel, harsh or arbitrary interpretation of regulations without due consideration of each person’s individual circumstances.

4. POVERTY TRAPS

That the Commonwealth Government addresses the structural poverty traps that further disadvantage job seekers and low income earners, including

the high tax rates that apply to second and subsequent part-time jobs, and

the other disincentives for work which penalise casual workers, including prior declaration of earnings, child care costs (which are increasingly beyond the reach of low income families) and transport costs.

It is these poverty traps, as well as the lack of job opportunities and supports, not the lack of incentive, that prevent most income support recipients from securing regular employment.

5. INTENSIVE ASSISTANCE and WORK FOR THE DOLE

That the Commonwealth Government resources the Intensive Assistance Program to a level that enables this program to engage in the proper re-skilling and re-training of participants and that the Work for the Dole program includes genuine training and be directed towards the acquisition of permanent work.

6. CENTRELINK

That the Commonwealth Government recognises the pressure put on Centrelink workers because of staff reductions and the impact of these staff reductions on income support recipients and takes immediate steps to increase the staffing levels of Centrelink.

7. THE JOB NETWORK

That the Commonwealth Government requires the Job Network

to provide on-going professional training to its case-managers

to engage in consultative processes and quality contact with unemployed job seekers

to offer intensive assistance to all long-term unemployed and other seriously disadvantaged job seekers and that this assistance be genuinely intensive by the removal of any financial disincentives which prevent Job Network Providers from expending extensive resources to these more seriously disadvantaged job seekers.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO CENTRELINK

1. CENTRELINK ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND TRAINING

That Centrelink implements a comprehensive program of professional training designed to bring about a significant change in organisational culture to ensure

that the administration of mutual obligation, participation requirements and welfare regulations are carried out with fairness, consistency and accountability and are not the subject of arbitrary interpretations

that clients’ rights to respect and dignity better inform its work practices, including the provision of explanations about information requirements, and that its staff are not experienced as "insensitive, unhelpful and condescending"

that staff understand unemployment to be a political/economic problem and that unemployed job seekers, already suffering the injustice of being without work, do not deserve to be treated with suspicion.

2. BREACHING

That Centrelink institutes review processes so that breaches are not imposed on income support recipients in an arbitrary, unjust or punitive manner and without due concern for the individual circumstances of income support recipients and their ability to meet obligations and requirements.

3. COMPLAINTS, REVIEW and APPEAL PROCEDURES

That Centrelink makes greater effort to inform income support recipients of the complaints, review and appeals procedures available to them and assist them in positive ways to access these procedures as necessary.

4. CONSULTATION

That Centrelink establishes consultation processes

to understand better the impact of unemployment on the lives of unemployed people

to receive feedback concerning the perceived injustices and inefficiencies of the system which can put their livelihood at risk

to address the issue that unemployed job seekers feel they live under the constant surveillance of Centrelink and that they are in constant fear of losing their livelihood and sole means of income.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE JOB NETWORK

1. CONSULTATION

That the Job Network

listens carefully to what unemployed job seekers are saying in the key findings and text of this report and incorporate this feedback into their practices and institute on-going consultative processes with unemployed job seekers.

seeks greater quality contact with unemployed job seekers in view of the key finding which suggests that many job seekers see themselves as numbers.

2. CASE MANAGERS

That the Job Network employs and trains case managers to a high level of professional skills, insight and sensitivity whereby they have a genuine understanding of

the complexity of the barriers to employment faced by disadvantaged unemployed job seekers

the impact of unemployment on the lives of people who are unemployed, which impacts form further underlying barriers to employment.

3. UNEMPLOYMENT AS A POLITICAL/ECONOMIC PROBLEM

That the Job Network takes every effort to make staff aware that unemployment is a political/economic problem, that there are not sufficient jobs and that the Job Network staff consequently appreciate, despite the Commonwealth Government’s legislation requirements,

that many job search activities are de-meaning and unhelpful, tiresome, frustrating and futile and are also transport expensive

that unemployed job seekers suffer greatly when their hopes and expectations for jobs are continually raised and dashed

that Work for the Dole programs frequently do not lead to real jobs, often do not include genuine job training or recognise the participant’s previous experience and are not considered helpful by many job seekers.

RECOMMENDATION TO THE NON-GOVERNMENT COMMUNITY SECTOR

That TasCOSS, through its Employment Policy Committee, together with Community Sector Peak Bodies, investigate ways of enhancing the sectors’ understanding

that unemployment is far more extensive than the "official" unemployment figures reveal and is an underlying cause of

widespread poverty

financial difficulties

hunger, and

other forms of hardship affecting many individuals, families and communities throughout Tasmania

that there is frequently a direct connection between levels of unemployment and levels of

physical and mental health problems

family and relationship breakdown

behaviour that is compelled by addictions

that unemployment also impacts on the levels of

social problems in the community, such as housing,

violence and other anti-social activities in the community

that as unemployment continues at its current high level, the demand on services from the non-government community sector will continue to rise

that the problem of unemployment which takes over the lives of job seekers and their families is manufactured and sustained in a socio/political context and needs to be addressed at this level as well as at the personal level

that both levels of response are required, the personal and the political

that the non-government community sector has a vital role in supporting and resourcing unemployed job seekers in their communities to take a leadership role in addressing the issue of unemployment and its impact on their lives and communities

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