The right to employment is such a fundamental right, that when it is revoked without warning the reaction is one of disbelief.

Unemployment in B.C. went from being a temporary period of adjustment to a permanent way of life for many.

My father was the inspiration for The Freedom Fighter.   He fought in World War ll, left many friends on the battlefield   and came home to work towards his dreams.   He worked more than 24 years for an internationally known company, and was made redundant when the company decided to close the plant he was employed in and move to a more lucrative place of business.   He received no redundancy pay - that came later - but not to him.   Getting on in years he found part time employment where he could until high unemployment in Britain made a man of his years "undesirable" as an employee.      My parents found it extrememely difficult to get by on their meagre pensions.

The Freedom Fighter

l went to war and risked my life

Feeling  duty bound

To fight the fight for freedom

A word of  pleasing sound

The world had changed on my return

There was a race to find

The rainbow with the pot of gold

Whispered in the wind

I joined the search with others

Believing it was there

Sweating as I shovelled

Watched by an overseer

I never found my pot of gold

Though I dug for many years

Perhaps the sweat got in my eyes

And mingled with my tears

Now I have my freedon

But not the kind I sought

The kind my brothers died for

The kind for which we fought

The freedom I've been granted\

Is freedom from employment

It brings such fear and disbelief

But sadly - no enjoyment

 

Harveys story was one of the first I heard as a new

Unemployment Action Centre Coordinator.

Harvey was in his middle fifties, married, with two children in thier early teens.  He had exhausted his Unemployment Insurance benefits and he and the family were trying to get by on Welfare.  They were in jeopardy of losing their modest home and had already sold the family car.   Harvey was bitter.   He saw his lifelong investment in the workforce paying off in poverty.

He had always been a steady, but never a high wage earner and had never managed to build a bank account.   He knew that if he lost his home he would never be able to own one again.

At his age, he was facing a future of welfare, then old age pension.

THE  WORKERS REWARD

Hard workers get rewarded

I grew up on that lie

Thirty years I sweated blood

For my share of the pie

I'd heard of unemployment

But I'd have none  of that

Lying in your bed all day

Living off the fat?

Well. I got mine two years ago

The shock was hard to bear

But unemployment's not for me

There's lots of jobs out there

Anyone who wants to work

Will always find a place!

I've  eaten those words

Everytime a door slammed in my face

And I believed the Welfare myth

Of people living high

They lived the life of Reilly

Till I gave it a try

I had to give up luxuries

Like heating, food and lights

It took a bitter lesson

But now I know my rights

No longer do I have the right

To any dignity

Instead, I have the right to starve

And do it gratefully

Hard workers get rewarded?

I can't  refute that claim

For after 30 years of sweat

My reward is shame and blame

DAD