This isn't a political blog, but political decisions have an impact on people everywhere, and I'm no different. As a result of policy choices made by the UK's Coalition Government, my employer Manchester City Council are making 2000 job cuts, and soon. (check out the BBC, Guardian and Manchester Evening News perspectives at the links)
NB: this post is backdated, see my disclaimer after the jump.
Workers aren't being culled against their will. Instead, there's a pay-off deal. What it offers is sort of good, and sort of not. Sort of good, in that it dwarfs the statutory minimum. Sort of not, in that a lump-sum pay-off doesn't help mortgagees or main breadwinners, and especially not those whose experience over twenty or thirty years is exclusively public sector. Employees are generally pretty pissed off, if my office is in any way representative of the whole. Dark days... ...for them.
And for me? Sorry to be such a smug git about this, but for me – and for Laura – this news couldn't come at a better time. With our plans for Japan looking to come into fruition this August, the chance to leave work early with a nice wedge in our pocket is, frankly, just too good to miss. There's the pull factor - and there are some pretty big push factors too: the corruption that her office is riddled with, and the incompetence at the head of mine, for example. It's a lifeboat off of the sinking ship HMS Public Sector, and we're ready to start paddling. The fact that we're being paid a lump sum that is the equivalent of full wages until October is the final golden touch. Leaving now means we get more money than if we worked until beyond our planned departure dates.
Now, where do I sign?
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DISCLAIMER:
This post was written in May 2011, despite its date. This means it was composed with the benefit of hindsight. Any wisdom that it appears to display must be seen as having been unnaturally amplified by the passage of time; I can guarantee that, when push comes to shove, I'm far dumber than this post portrays me to be. DTRMCR.
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