Slave underclass; No voice, no money, no hope.

[HomeSliceKnowsBest]

Posting for a non Mumsnetter friend...

AIBU to think I am now part of the burgeoning slave underclass in England?

There is no political party which represents my interests or will stand up to the Tory juggernaut, nor does it seem likely there will be one in the near future.

I am stuck in a low pay job with no hope of owning a home nor living in a reasonable quality rental property.

I cannot access help with my increasingly dire mental health as the waiting list is huge.

I live hand to mouth each month, I have no social life or treats as money doesn't permit it and have budgeted down to the last 1p. I do not have the time nor energy to 'take in ironing' , 'do matched betting' etc between kids, work and (badly) running my home.

I will be worked to death, as by the time I am old enough to draw a pension I doubt I will last all that long due to the lifestyle that poverty forces me into.

AIBU to say there is a slave class of people in our population and ask if you think this is deliberate on the part of the Government, to ensure an adequate supply of workers to feed into the machine and earn their peers big money, while keeping us so miserable or strung out on medication that we quietly comply? We are disposable, despised and unheard.
There is not the possibility of working or educating our way out of this situation as there was in the past.
I feel entirely nihilistic and numb plodding through this daily grind for the next 30 years.

Well said @Maverickess.

We desperately need cleaners, shop workers, care workers, factory workers etc. Why not pay them enough to live a decent life and put some pride back into these jobs, instead of trying to pull everyone out of poverty by making them a “professional”?

Exactly. Everyone should be able to afford a decent standard of living, and be able to have some form of enjoyment, whatever their job. I get so angry at the stupid people who think getting a university degree is the be all and end all of life, and that everyone should be doing it. All that achieves is devaluing degrees so that they are needed for the most basic of jobs - and then no-one is in a better position than they already are. Also, the "go to university" brigade are still wanting the rubbish collected, the goods delivered, the caring done etc.

I take your point. I seem to recall the guardian or similar paper talking about a slave class. As pp said any chance of gaining more qualifications.? This would help you . So often the media bang on about working hard to escape poverty. The reality is that many people work hard and remain in poverty as well.

The way we are going, pretty soon you wont be able to talk about anything without someone getting offended.
That might apply to you, but I am confident most people can communicate without using offensive comparisons

The comparison of a poor worker to a slave ISNT offensive (an example of offensive would be implying a mother living in a mould infested flat was to blame, for not being self sufficient enough to fix the problem herself, as per your previous post).

The term “wage slavery” was commonly used by former slaves and trade unionists in America to advocate for better rights and working conditions, after slavery was abolished. It’s not unreasonable for some workers in this country to make the same comparison. Apparently the term wage slavery can be traced all the way back to Ancient Rome.

So impoverished workers have compared themselves to slaves before, this is nothing new and offensive. It’s not unreasonable at all for OP to make the comparison. No she’s not an actual slave (obviously) but realistically she is stuck in a low paid position with little quality of life and no realistic prospects of escaping. Her work is only benefitting someone else. There are clearly many similarities between her position and that of a slave, and she is not wrong to point this out. Nor is she offending slaves (remember former US slaves actually compared employment to slavery themselves, to advocate for better rights).

Exactly. Everyone should be able to afford a decent standard of living, and be able to have some form of enjoyment, whatever their job. I get so angry at the stupid people who think getting a university degree is the be all and end all of life, and that everyone should be doing it. All that achieves is devaluing degrees so that they are needed for the most basic of jobs - and then no-one is in a better position than they already are. Also, the "go to university" brigade are still wanting the rubbish collected, the goods delivered, the caring done etc

I agree. And politicians on both sides seem to think the only way to win votes is by offering everyone the chance to upskill or retrain. Like that is the ONLY way to have a decent life. That’s SO great for the ones who want to, and are actually able to, but what about the people who weren’t able to study their way out of poverty? Why shouldn’t the women cleaning our hospitals (for example) be able to afford a decent house, food and a nice life for her family. Why won’t any government implement a minimum wage you can actually live on and a mass house building program for affordable housing.

And what will happen is that those on the top of the tree will be paid a lot more, meaning the poor stay poor.

@HomeSliceKnowsBest

Posting for a non Mumsnetter friend...

AIBU to think I am now part of the burgeoning slave underclass in England?

There is no political party which represents my interests or will stand up to the Tory juggernaut, nor does it seem likely there will be one in the near future.

I am stuck in a low pay job with no hope of owning a home nor living in a reasonable quality rental property.

I cannot access help with my increasingly dire mental health as the waiting list is huge.

I live hand to mouth each month, I have no social life or treats as money doesn't permit it and have budgeted down to the last 1p. I do not have the time nor energy to 'take in ironing' , 'do matched betting' etc between kids, work and (badly) running my home.

I will be worked to death, as by the time I am old enough to draw a pension I doubt I will last all that long due to the lifestyle that poverty forces me into.

AIBU to say there is a slave class of people in our population and ask if you think this is deliberate on the part of the Government, to ensure an adequate supply of workers to feed into the machine and earn their peers big money, while keeping us so miserable or strung out on medication that we quietly comply? We are disposable, despised and unheard.
There is not the possibility of working or educating our way out of this situation as there was in the past.
I feel entirely nihilistic and numb plodding through this daily grind for the next 30 years.

I think that the labour party are the party for you. The major problems with the labour party (aside from not knowing what a woman is) are that -

(1) If they go centrist then they're not helping people like you as much as they should
(2) If they go left, the right wing press destroys them

If we had an educated, kind, compassionate population who didn't read and believe lies in the media then a left wing labour party would get in easily every time and you'd be much better off.

We are heading towards ouright-fascism or a seriously left wing party in the next 10-20 years - you cannot screw the bottom 80-90% indefinitely and not get one or the other. Whilst it is the vast majority being screwed, I do get that the poorest are being much more screwed than middle class people, but the tories screw them too.