Following my cheery prediction of 29th May 2009, hard times in the public sector are indeed coming to pass. We've not yet re-entered recession, but I can't help but think it won't be long til we do.
Why do depressing stories make the best news? I've not been excited enough to blog about all the amazing things that I've been up to in the last year - the Blackheath camp, the great climate swoop, Green campaigning in Islington, and the Merthyr to Mayo ride etc.
Instead, what's finally motivated me to log in again is this horrible realisation:
Yesterday, without even noticing it creeping up on me, I found myself fighting for the opportunity to make a number of low paid staff redundant. I am horrified and it goes against all my principles - but it's true. In the current financial climate we need the savings in order to be able to continue to deliver another, more impactful, service. And someone else has another plan for these staff which would take them out of my remit and therefore mean that their budget was no longer available for me to poach for my other service.
I frequently justify the nastier bits of my job with the argument that since cuts need to be made it is better that I, with a social conscience, are shaping them, rather than some gung ho budget slasher... but following this I'm not so sure.
I need to take a bit more of my own advice and start thinking about whether there's a more equitable way to spread the impact of the inevitable cuts. For invitable they surely are.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Is cutting a low paid workers job ever going to be carried out in a socially conscious way?
Perhaps you are in the wrong job if you want to change the world then perhaps you should focus your efforts on doing something which doesn't involve making cutbacks?
Post a Comment