Work

There was a woman on the Sky press preview going on about how we're all living that much longer and we're all so much healthier. Her view was that we can't complain about having to work till we're in our 80s when we're fit to do it. I'm delighted to say at least one person in the studio was unhappy with her view.

It got me thinking about work. I've decided it all depends on what kind of work you do. If you're a nurse working in a high-dependency unit or a doctor working in A&E or a paramedic keeping very sick people alive on the way to A&E...or a police officer being spat on when you nick someone and worrying about catching hepatitis...or a teacher facing 30 kids with different needs and different parents and a visit from the headteacher or the inspectors...or a farmer or crofter facing one financial catastrophe after another...or a poor sod working in a 'replenishment centre' for Amazon...or a carer trying to look after too many elderly people in too short a time every day, you're facing the S word: stress. Maybe journalists like the woman on Sky don't face that stress but sure as hell the rest of the workforce does. And it'll reduce your lifespan. Nothing surer.

Because I loved my job, I imagined for a long time that other people were happy at their work. It took me a while to realise that other people hate their work. Get no satisfaction from it. The job is just something they have to do to live. And they would happily cut corners or skive off if they could. I imagine there are also employers who think people should be grateful to have a job - and a few who encourage that attitude by holding the threat of redundancy over people's heads.

I nearly choked on my Americano recently when a friend of a friend asked on Facebook if it was ever okay to cross a picket line. The general view was: no. Just for a minute, it was like we were back in the 1970s with all that trade union posturing. Poor Bob Crow - trying to hold the line killed him just when working people needed him. Right now, we've got academics and entrepreneurs telling us that a lot of workers are going to be replaced by robots and drones in the next 20 years. People are expensive, so if there's a way for global capitalism - which is triumphant at the moment, with no other model acceptable - to do away with human labour and produce a bigger dividend for the shareholders, our 'entrepreneurs' - sorry, that was sarcastic - will go for it.

What ever happened to the deal workers had with capitalism? We do the work; you provide the jobs; you get a reasonable return on your (and your shareholders') investment; we get a living wage. The whole system ticks over nicely. These days, I'm shocked to see companies boasting of a 30% return for shareholders. Annually. You just know when you see that kind of profit margin, it can't go on. The bubble is bound to burst.

Maybe we just have to let the system run a while longer: so automation takes over, prices go up to pay for the robots and the drones, wages go down, working people who are also consumers can't afford to buy stuff, fewer people are working so they can't afford to buy either, profits start to crumble. Capitalism is a man-made system. Its direction can be changed. Maybe someone somewhere will eventually ask: what's this about? I won't be around to see that but good luck to those of you who will.