Many of us are noticing that no matter how hard we work and no matter how closely we follow the rules, we can never get ahead.

We no longer believe in the Australia of the “fair go”. Even families with two working adults struggle to pay a modest mortgage, put food on the table, and have much in the way of savings.

The Corona virus has made us take a moment to reassess our situation. We work and work and work and work, then when we do get home we have maybe 30-60 minutes to ourselves before we have to do housework and prepare for another day of work.

We work and work and work and work, yet we never have enough money to step away and enjoy ourselves. We never have enough money to invest in our future. We never have enough money to invest in our community.

In the 60’s through to the 80’s we collectively had an idea of a future “robo-Utopia” where we could get computers and robots to do the hard and repetitive work, while we humans sat back to focus on art, education, and community. At the very least we expected that, with in increasing prevalence of computers and roboticisation, we will need to work less. We’d still be paid handsomely, but only need to work a couple of days a week.

While computers and robots have increased productivity and profits 20 fold since the 1980s, we ordinary people haven’t shared in the rewards.

In Australia, the average wage earner takes home around $85,000 per year.
An Australian CEO takes homes a median $4,500,000.

That’s nearly 53 times what their workers make.

CEOs, politicians, and the heirs of even small family fortunes are safe. They don’t need to struggle to pay their latest mortgage payment. They don’t need to rely on ever deteriorating public transport to get to work. They don’t have to fight against 3 levels of management to get a cost-of-living wage raise. They don’t have their wages stolen by greedy bastards who don’t need the money, they just like seeing the number in their bank accounts go up.

Instead of sharing the profit from increased productivity, they fire human workers and replace them with computers. Technology changes, and we as a community needs to change with it, but technology is not being used for the benefit of all, just for the benefit of the people who already had enough money to invest in it.

There are solutions. They aren’t sexy, they aren’t immediate, but they do what they need to.

Join A Union

Your employer has an army of managers, HR reps, lawyers, and accountants all looking for way of minimising your wages, entitlements, and powers. You can get people behind you fighting for your benefit by joining a union.

Caveat: A vast majority of unions are great. A handful are not. In particular, you should be wary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association which is not Queer friendly and has even campaigned against queer rights and protections.

You can see what union you could join by visiting https://www.australianunions.org.au/.

Demand Better Of Politicians

Politicians for better or worse, are still responsible for setting laws and community standards. Make it clear to them that you are concerned about wages, wages growth, and employee entitlements.

Don’t accept three word slogans, dismissives, or form letters. They should have the courtesy to address all of your concerns, and make time for a meeting should you wish.

You can contact your local representative via https://www.aph.gov.au/senators_and_members/guidelines_for_contacting_senators_and_members.

Contribute To Your Community

Fewer people than ever are participating in community forums, events, or boards. The money rich are also time rich, so go out and lead groups, community organisations, and events. This leads to those groups, organisations, and events being great for them, but less than great for queer, disabled, poor, and working people and families.

Being a part of just one group and a regular (not constant, just regular) attendee, volunteer, or board member means that you have the opportunity to have your voice heard, and your needs met.

Prepare For The Future

On-Line maker community Instructables has instructions on how to make a guillotine frame at https://www.instructables.com/id/Full-Scale-1792-Guillotine-1/.