Community Sector protests for equal pay.

Furry Jesus said :

The comments so far, with the exception of qbyngeek and classified, don’t seem to be showing any interest in the issue behind the rally. Which reflects the general lack of interest in the community sector by the broader community, until you need it.

In previous places of work, I’ve talked to members of Service groups like Rotary (not here in the ACT) about working with families dealing with violence, abuse, drug use and mental health problems, only to be told by one or two that the best solution is to shoot them or drown them at birth.

The community sector struggles to support people whose lives present profound challenges that would break most of us. Try being an 80 year old woman trying to care for a bedridden husband with dementia, or an older single parent still caring for an adult child with mental health problems, or a couple who have lost a child at birth, or a survivor of rape, or a homeless person…

As long as the sector continues to be so lowly paid, the good workers often move on to more comfortable, better paid jobs in government, where they can afford families and mortgages. The way public servants and people in the commercial world often view us when they find out about our working conditions often smacks of doubts about our sanity or our intelligence.

Many public servants get their training in the community sector, where they learn to understand the lives of the people government policy is supposed to assist. Unlike the graduates who go straight into government from university with little experience of the real world.

Travel between the community sector and government/private is mostly one way, and so many who would like to work directly with people without being mired in layers of bureaucracy or suffering the petty grievances and small-minded competitiveness of some of their colleagues, almost always baulk at the drop in wages.

So essential services to people at their most vulnerable and acutely at risk continue to rely on people who sacrifice thousands of dollars a year to do the work, or worse, to people who shouldn’t do the work at all, but get employed because the sector is often so desperate for staff that it employs people I wouldn’t trust to take my dog for a walk.

Comment on that, if you have to say anything at all.

Well said.

The comments so far, with the exception of qbyngeek and classified, don’t seem to be showing any interest in the issue behind the rally. Which reflects the general lack of interest in the community sector by the broader community, until you need it.

In previous places of work, I’ve talked to members of Service groups like Rotary (not here in the ACT) about working with families dealing with violence, abuse, drug use and mental health problems, only to be told by one or two that the best solution is to shoot them or drown them at birth.

The community sector struggles to support people whose lives present profound challenges that would break most of us. Try being an 80 year old woman trying to care for a bedridden husband with dementia, or an older single parent still caring for an adult child with mental health problems, or a couple who have lost a child at birth, or a survivor of rape, or a homeless person…

As long as the sector continues to be so lowly paid, the good workers often move on to more comfortable, better paid jobs in government, where they can afford families and mortgages. The way public servants and people in the commercial world often view us when they find out about our working conditions often smacks of doubts about our sanity or our intelligence.

Many public servants get their training in the community sector, where they learn to understand the lives of the people government policy is supposed to assist. Unlike the graduates who go straight into government from university with little experience of the real world.

Travel between the community sector and government/private is mostly one way, and so many who would like to work directly with people without being mired in layers of bureaucracy or suffering the petty grievances and small-minded competitiveness of some of their colleagues, almost always baulk at the drop in wages.

So essential services to people at their most vulnerable and acutely at risk continue to rely on people who sacrifice thousands of dollars a year to do the work, or worse, to people who shouldn’t do the work at all, but get employed because the sector is often so desperate for staff that it employs people I wouldn’t trust to take my dog for a walk.

Comment on that, if you have to say anything at all.

Why protest outside Humphries’ office?

When I last checked it was the ALP in power.

And they wonder why people think both the Trade Unions and the Public Service are full of useless morons who couldn’t get jobs in the real world!

“Oh, those evil Liberals are oppressing us from the opposition bench”.

What Classified said.

Do the names Andew Leigh, Kate Lundy or Gai Brodtmann mean anything?

Apparantly not. It seems the union believes that only the oh-so-powerful Libs can achieve anything, even from opposition.

Why protest outside Humphries’ office?

When I last checked it was the ALP in power.

I guess it’s because he is a politician, centrally located, and was with the gang that was in power for 12 years and still did nothing. Just Maybe that’s one of the reasons.

I support this cause. They should all be paid exactly the same amount.

Why protest outside Humphries’ office?

When I last checked it was the ALP in power.

It would make more sense to protest outside Kate Lundy’s office, but union protesters are usually reluctant to bite the hand that votes for them. Protesting outside offices of conservative politicians is the natural environment of the union protester.

While I support the cause, I have to say that crossing the lights on the red was a stupid idea and the person who thought that up should be hung.

I saw a red balloon float gently up past my window as I looked down upon this seething mass of rage.The irony was lost on me however. But my thoughts did turn to the streets of Paris, and I hoped that the red balloon, that by now was just a red dot high in the sky, would come and save me from my fellow CPSU members, but to no avail.