Funny how the money is missing
Strange times for those in the middle class of this country. The recognition that pay scales don’t equate with effort is starting to unravel the edges of the blanket. Or in simple terms, who took the money and left for parts unknown?
On the news this evening, the question of pay for nurses was on the table. Due to a scarcity of trained medical staff, certain institutions are requiring overtime; as one nurse put it, your job becomes your personal prison. What’s the problem? Not simple, but people no longer want to work in a field where their skills are taken for granted. It’s not even a question of money. As large numbers of nurses reach retirement age with no replacement “troops” in view, society should worry.
Right now, PEI is debating whether or not there should be a split scale for the minimum wage. Learners aren’t worth “as much” to employers, and business demands the right to pay out less money while the new hire is getting experience. Come on folks; we’re talking about MINIMUM wage jobs here. Nobody getting rich down in those ditches. To suggest that there should be even less remuneration is an organized insult to intelligence.
In my field, we received a two page memo from the negotiating team, outlining more ways for the government to “balance the next budget” on the shoulders of the civil service. Funny, when it comes to feeding the greed of industry, there doesn’t seem to be a money problem for the government. Ditto for tax cuts used to “inspire” voters.
My impression is that the meltdown in high finances over the last year or two was really just the big kids taking all the marbles and going home. Left for the rest of us: some cracked crockies and a muddy hole in the ground.
