BY RON BAKER
If the Australian economy is in such good shape, why is it that poverty and disadvantage continue to grow at an alarming rate? The usual suspects are benefiting greatly, surpassing even their own levels of greed, while a large section of the community is deliberately denied its share of any new prosperity.
Social and welfare policy is being driven by strong vested interests which claim the lion's share for themselves and throw a few crumbs to those assigned to the margins. Corporations achieve their record profits by squeezing those at the bottom. Announcements of mass sackings boost share prices while a reduction in unemployment usually triggers another interest rate hike.
It's a no-win situation if you're unemployed. If you don't have a job, then that's your fault. If enough of us secure employment, everyone pays through higher interest and apparently that's our fault too.
Longer hours are demanded of workers, often without pay. The rewards from increased productivity go to senior executives through huge salaries, lotto-sized bonuses and top-shelf share packages. Government and business have long regarded unemployment as a useful tool to increase their power and profits.
There is nothing like the threat of long-term unemployment to promote a compliant work force and a climate in which wages can be depressed, award condition wound back and workplace health and safety obligations neglected. The unemployment stick is waved at any hint of a pay claim or industrial action.
Corporate downsizing and casualisation of the work force has two unwanted but inevitable consequences for government: a rise in unemployment and increased social security costs. Even the rubbery "official" jobless figures allow scrutiny that government would prefer to avoid.
Since coming to office, the federal Coalition government has abandoned training and support programs and focussed on punitive measures apparently designed to exclude more and more job seekers from receiving Newstart allowance (no job and an income 20-30% below the poverty line — this is a new start?).
"Mutual obligation", a gross misnomer, shifts the blame and responsibility for being on welfare onto the recipient and diverts attention from the lack of provision of realistic job opportunities. Work for the dole and other unpaid work schemes force job seekers to substitute for the withdrawal of government funding for child care, aged care, state schools, community organisations and the government's own departments.
The unemployment pool is a breeding ground for discrimination by employers. Ageism is rife, indigenous Australians and young people are penalised by Centrelink twice as often as other job seekers and there is evidence of religious selection criteria in the Job Network. Around 1 million Australians and their families are being denied their rights and a fair go as a direct result of government policies and neglect. The Coalition's campaign of cynical propaganda, negative stereotyping and cowardly attacks has prejudiced public opinion.
This is just a glimpse of the scenario which motivated Kevin Brennan and myself to establish the Unemployed Persons Advocacy (UNEMPA) in 1999. UNEMPA's management committee and support team are long-time campaigners for the rights of the unemployed.
Other organisations take up the cases of individuals; UNEMPA focuses on the systems and policies which impact on all unemployed people. It campaigns to:
- counter negative portrayals of job seekers by government, some sections of business and the media;
- replace work for the dole with voluntary training programs targeted to job outcomes;
- challenge policies and procedures of Centrelink and the Job Network; and
- have an input to policy development and scrutinise legislation.
These issues are the responsibility of the federal government, therefore a national approach is required. UNEMPA is moving towards the foundation of the Australian National Organisation of the Unemployed (ANOU). Plans are well advanced for a national conference in Brisbane on October 24 and 25.
Organisations and individual activists from all states and territories will convene to work on the details and set priorities for action by ANOU. UNEMPA is building alliances with sole parent and disability support organisations and other groups to mount a concerted campaign for social and economic justice.
[Ron Baker is vice-president of UNEMPA. UNEMPA can be contacted at: Level 2, 16 Peel St, South Brisbane 4101, by email at <Kebar@bigpond.com>, by phone at (07) 3255 1253 or by fax at (07) 3255 0873.]