Yesterday I arrived, a little late for the start of 10-6 shift, but that's not the point I want to make here, as I walked in my team leader was there with his clipboard, the usual greetings were exchanged and then he told me that I was the only agency worker on the later shift today - fine, aren't I the chosen one - was the greeting I received throughout the day from the other warehouse operatives all full time staff on almost double my wage.
The thing is, and this is a something that really bothers people, there are 2 types of warehouse operative, those on permanent contracts and those employed by an agency on 7 and half hours a week contracts (and more labour is hired during busy periods, and people are working on a totally as hoc 0 hour agreement). I am on a contract for 7 and half hours a week, as are most warehouse workers.
In the team meeting that morning our team leader was handing out pieces of paper to all the permanent staff, he didn't look at me as he announced that this was an outline of the new benefit package awarded to staff,
'ah is that the benefits' package for the (...) staff?'
It was a subtle protest I thought later on, but I was glad that I at least I'd made some response, better to have reacted than not to have reacted. There I was standing around in a meeting with my co workers, we are all warehouse operatives and collectively responsible for moving the books around and getting them dispatched on to the lorries for distribution, on one level and on another I am doing this job on minimum wage and everyone else around me is paid considerable more/hour, in fact they get about £10/hour and now this updated benefit package waved under my nose, right in my face ... I don't know ... am I expected to just stand there, an exploited worker in dumb acceptance of such blatant inequality?
"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." George Orwell, Animal Farm
And we in the warehouse are at the bottom of the pile, low down on the hierarchy, working in conditions that are profoundly inhumane ...
Later on I was packing alongside Jim, who told me that if I'd been at the meeting last Friday, a special meeting with the warehouse management staff, he said it would have made me furious - the importance of teamwork was stressed - during the meeting.
Jim told me he was looking forward to April when he'd turn 55. He'd then start getting pension repayments from the 30 years he'd spent working for a bank, and then he would no longer be totally reliant on the wages he got from the 2 jobs he was doing; book packing like me, and delivering Chinese takeaways. I asked him what he planned to do when he didn't have to spend so much of his life working, his immediate response was
- to spend more time with my wife -
that was the most beautiful thing anyone could ever have said, spot on, I thought.
He is 55 years old, looking forward receiving his pension repayments, and the big change would be more time with his wife, wow, wow, wow, that was very humbling for me. Partly because I don't have a wife or a husband or any one person in particular that I share my life with, so I was in awe of that, and that such a basic and fundamental human condition was being denied because of the time spent working to cover basic costs of putting food on his table; that was shocking, he's worked all his adult life and just wants time with his life-long partner,this doesn't really add up.
Seems very wrong.
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