I go back to work this evening. I say back to work but thats a misnomer actually because I work all year round. What I mean is I go back to my footie club this evening. I have missed it during the "off season" period; I miss the camaraderie between us all and I miss the highs and lows of The Beautiful Game.
I keep odd hours, working evenings and weekends with the occasional day time paperwork or ordering session thrown in. It adds to the unpredictability that I enjoy so much but its also demanding on my family. My Dad has to help out with lifts, and my sister helps out with the babysitting. We are the epitome of the matriarchal extended family, where the care is female centric and female led. I used to feel sorry for my Dad being outnumbered by so many strong female characters, but he has been blessed with 4 grandsons so he is less outnumbered as they grow up, becoming alies as well as grandchildren. This is especially evident in the bond he has with my eldest.
Family is therefore important to me, and family values resonate strongly for me. Its one reason I write to you with so much passion. Each day I highlight a different topic, sometimes the same topics come up but each time I come at it from a different angle, each time highlighting it from a differing perspective. But each topic I address affects my family deeply, and therefore affects every family no matter their make up across the country. It is important to remember though that I am lucky to have such strong familial support. Not everyone has the support that I do.
Up and down the country tonight, as I prepare to go to work, there are other Mums and Dads doing the same thing, preparing themselves and their families for their shift. Some have no family support, some have limited family support, some have no support from anyone. Each of us is struggling to make ends meet, robbing Peter to pay Paul, many of us reliant upon welfare.
Some of us would be less reliant were we paid a living wage.
Many businesses disagree and prefer a system where they pay peanuts for their monkeys, while the tax payer supports both the businessman with his subsidies and the employee with their tax credits.
This is not what I would call a fair and just society, its certainly not what I would call a fair distribution of wealth, but it is definitely what I would call the owner of the means of production exploiting the workforce.
You dont have to be a socialist to consider this wrong. You only have to be a human with compassion.
Companies need to pay a living wage so that welfare can concentrate on the most vulnerable without having to protect the white collar middle management bringing home just enough to feed their family, always one pay cheque or one redundancy away from poverty. This isnt just the means of achieving a fairer society. This is common sense.
If companies pay a living wage, less people would need the support of the welfare system, which would result in savings for Her Majesties Treasury, without the forced cuts to be announced come Budget Day.
Next week, as Mr Osbourne announces his cuts, Labour MUST speak up and speak out against the cuts, but it must also demand that the incumbent government force employers to pay a minimum wage that reflects the cost of living, and is therefore a living wage.
This is what we need. Listen to us.
Constituent, Labour Party member, Union member, sleep deprived carer, concerned citizen, self employed mother, mother of a teenager with ASD, socialist, environmentalist, Disabled Rights supporter, Jeremy Corbyn supporter, mother feeding her children with nectar points, defender of the vulnerable, advocate, logistics savant, concerned niece, grassroots activist, anti austerity campaigner, RNLI supporter, unashamed welfare state service user & social housing tenant, protester, fire brigade supporter, carers allowance claimant, less than perfect parent, socialist agitator, worrier, mental health service user, football mum, social justice campaigner, immigrant, proletarian
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