This is Brett's story
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A: As a volunteer in the community the support from public sector workers as value to our work.
A: Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU-PSU)
A: 70 or over
A: I am retired
A: Anti-privatisation
A: Supporting the public sector workforce
A: Hospitals
A: Public Prisons
A: Supporting the community through services.
A: State School Teachers Union (SSTUWA)
A: 25-34
A: I work in the WA public sector
A: Supporting the public sector workforce
A: Ensuring quality public services
A: Hospitals
A: Schools
A: “Public good” means shared duties and responsibilities towards a society’s progress and prosperity. It relates to essentials services a country/nation needs to ensure a future for itself, which are: Safety, Health and Education.
Regardless of political ideologies and cultural discourses, children and young people should be guaranteed access to Safe homes and neighbourhoods, Initial and secondary instruction, and Health and medical care on the other hand. Public good remains the only way to guarantee this access at all time and in all places.
A: Other (please add details at the final question)
A: 60-69
A: I am retired
A: Ensuring quality public services
A: Ensuring quality public services
A: Hospitals
A: Hospitals
A: Of benefit to the community as a whole as opposed to narrow self interest.
A: I have to say that Treasurer Wyatt’s comments regarding public sector pay freezes shook me to the core. Just because COVID-19 hit, didn’t mean that my work had to stop. I didn’t stop developing materials when the virus hit. We all adapted, shaped and changed our work to suit the conditions, and got stuck into the task. We stuck to our deadlines as per what we had before the pandemic. We had to, we didn’t have the choice to push things out. We made it our duty to make sure that the public got what they want out of us. We work hard to make sure our services keep running. Hearing these comments about us deserving a pay freeze, is basically the treasurer saying “thanks for helping out during COVID-19. Here’s a pay cut. Fuck you.”
Now considering that for one, we were in a per-capita recession before the pandemic, and now we’re officially in a recession due to the per capita recession and the pandemic making a complete shit storm of the economy, the last thing we all need is a pay freeze. Wages have been stagnant for over a decade now, and inflation has only creeped up higher and higher. Stagnant wages when compared to inflation should be seen as what they are. Gradual pay cuts.
All I ask is for a simple cost of living adjustment to align our pay with the rate of inflation. This means that I get paid mathematically the same, year in, year out as the economy fluctuates. This isn’t a payrise, but rather it’s tacking the wage bang on to the rate of what a dollar is worth at the time.
Anyone with a basic understanding of economics should know this. I am by no means an economist. I’m just a filmmaker who happens to nerd out over policy a bit. But I’ve felt what it’s like to be well and truly poor. I know the difficulty of putting food on my own plate, and struggling to keep a roof over my head. Over the years, this gets harder and harder if you just get paid the same as you did last year. That’s because over time, things get more expensive.
This is what it means to be in a stagflated economy. The basics get more expensive whilst your pay stays the same.
Its about time we fight this.
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A: Community and Public Sector Union - Civil Service Association (CPSU-CSA)
A: 25-34
A: I work in the WA public sector
A: Ensuring quality public services