By the time I publish this, we will know the results of the vote, though no one is keen to see them. The Jobs Protection Framework passed the union vote at my place of work, so we all now get to vote.
The choice is between pay cuts or job cuts – take a pay cut and save some jobs or don’t and lose more jobs. It’s a wicked choice, that puts us in the position of being executioner to our colleagues’ livelihoods regardless of what side wins. I feel sick when I think about it.
Although it’s a sliding scale, the impact of the cuts (if voted yes) will be greater on people who are part time or professional positions. This of course means women because God knows there’s almost no scenario where we don’t come out worse off.
The fact that we are in this position says volumes about the government and none of it good. In my head, I imagine them smugly fist bumping each other for doing a good job of bringing universities to heel. The fact they are punishing ordinary people – well it’s our fault for working there in the first place.
Wickedness is not a term you hear much these days – it’s too biblical even if it just means wilfully immoral. But this prayer by Sarah Bessey, got my thinking about it this week particularly in the context of world leaders.
The Prime Minister of Australia is a practicing Christian, meaning unlike other world leaders he could definitely tell you his favourite bible verse. I deeply appreciate having a PM that prays…
Many of the PM policies are not line with Jesus’s teachings. The treatment of refugees is the most obvious with its mountainish inhumanity; but there are others too, like the refusal (until the pandemic) to increase Newstart allowance, despite the fact it left people living in poverty. Even during the pandemic the Jobkeeper payments have been selectively applied and were changed three times to deliberately cut out universities.
While I am certainly not in a position to judge, nor am I suggesting the PM’s faith isn’t genuine and deeply held. But if you are a Christian and in charge of a country then I will hold you to a higher standard. And if your policies are punitive, not for the greater good and almost entirely directed towards keeping the rich rich and the poor poor, well it does make you wonder.
It’s been three months since lockdown started, restriction were eased and then tightened again because people think somehow it’s all over. It isn’t. We will be lucky if we don’t all end up in lockdown again.
We had a return plan to go back to the office but that will now need to be revised. I am not in a rush to return. Nothing will feel normal there while it’s not full with friends and colleagues and worse it will now be tainted by this wretched vote.
After a long period of contract and casual work, my current workplace was a dream; I felt valued, I had friends and interesting work. But the happiness I felt there will never be quite as shiny now. What has been lost in this sense will never be regained – I wonder if leaders at MPoW know this, the damage to goodwill and people’s feelings will be hard to recapture.
For days, I’ve been clouded in blackness. How can any of what’s happening be fair? It’s times like this that I find faith a stretch. I mean it makes way more sense if we are alone in the universe than a God who thinks any of this is ok.
I don’t know what happens next, where to even look for the light. I wanted the world to change and it has. But it’s almost definitely not for the better.