Comment On People's Attitudes To Finding Jobs

This morning I have been browsing through Facebook and Twitter briefly, as usual on my days off, and I came across this comment from Conservative Party Activist, Walaa B.Idris that stopped me in my tracks, concerning the latest Union dispute with BA:

"I don't understand why can't those who don't like the way their employer is treating them do what rest of us do, just go and get another job"

Now Walaa is someone who, whilst I disagree with her on a no of things, I actually respect as a thoughtful and decent individual who clearly cares greatly about our country and wants to see it reach it's full potential. Those are aims which are laudable and which many activists in the mainstream political parties share, even if we disagree about how to achieve those aims. This comment however struck me as a throwaway comment I have heard from some Tories over the years and it irritates me. In fact it irritates me more than most throwaway Tory comments and my reasons were given in my reply:

"Having been unemployed for a while I can tell you it's hard. If you quit to look for another job there is no guarantee you will swiftly get another one and by quitting and not being sacked it could affect your chances of getting benefits! I appreciate middle class Tories (esp those of the Thatcherite variety) like to simplify and see these kind ofscenarios through rose-tinted glasses in terms of pigeon-holing those on the bread line in terms of who fits into their ideological worldview, but unless you have been in the Job from Hell (as I have. Twice!) and have also been unemployed, and these being jobs that do not pay well, then you have no idea what it is actually like and what it does to your self confidence."

Thankfully I am now in a job where I am happy, content, and enjoying myself professionally in a way I have not done for years, but it does leave me concerned.

Thing is, a no of middle and high income earners, and indeed those involved in politics, feel that if you don't like a job then you can just change it! Now some can do that easily and all credit to them, but the further you are on the breadline and the further you are lacking in experience, then this is a very risky option to take and many, understandably, will opt for safety, especially if they have a family and/or dependants to support.

Now if someone has actually gone through this kind of situation and holds such views, as the one I have just mentioned (further points if they are a Tory and this happened to them during the 1980s), then they have my full respect and attention, even if I disagree with them, but I do find such comments (however well or badly I think of the person who said them) to be ill-thought out and hurtful to those who are struggling to keep their heads above water. If ever you wonder why I am a Labour Party activist (as some readers of Mars Hill do), then it was seeing patronising attitudes to the unemployed from monetarists in the 1980s that helped me along the way.