General Election: Who the hell am I going to vote for???

Yes but its true

 

Whats a oxymoron ???

 

An Mp thats using up to much oxygen to put their point across.

 

I think you must vote for whoever you think will be best for you, your family and your neighbourhood. Better to have a best of a bad lot than not vote at all because the worst of a bad lot can get in because you do not vote.

I worked for 32 two years, I served in the TA for 6 years and had a job and a 2nd job plus the TA as a specialist enlistment up to 1996. I got MS then so my limp peg leg was incompatible with the military life so left then, I had a family instead but carried on working in NHS as a pharmacy technician. Over the 30 years I worked in pharmacy in 6 different hospitals and in the beginning a retail chemist. Labour always listened to the |NHS they did get some things wrong but on the whole looked after it better than current government.
I worked on I had my daughter in 2000 and son in 2003 an older mother I experienced life first never married till 1994. They started school, I worked and became a school governor.

I had to retire in 2013 due to walking and dropping things due to weakness and fatigue caused memory problems. I did not cope well. I now have my NHS pension. I was entitled to contributory ESA. That gets reduced because my very small pension. I get £23 a fortnight. and DLA which I use for my car and the care part I need a carer to help me dress and check I don't choke when I eat, or fall down alone, I have to pay for that so my husband can work in the NHS on low pay in admin. He had a better job as a supervisor in medical records, it went computerised and he had to take a job he hates in the same trust a band below so money is tight. The only other benefit we get is tax credit. We have 2 years of our mortgage left.

This is where I worry. There is a strong possibility that they are going to abolish, Tax credits, Contribution ESA, Tax or abolish DLA. My husband must work to pay the mortgage so how do I pay for my essential care my whole pension is used, I have to pay for prescriptions. They are talking of charging for doctors consultations. Ironically if I did not have my pension just £6000 a year I would get everything free because or income is so low.

Think about people like me who worked 30 years volunteered and cared about the world. We need people to vote none voting is letting others down and if your life takes an unpleasant turn or your family and friends you may regret not voting after all I am considered a scrounger despite working hard since I was 16 , serving my country, my community as a school governor and my church where I was very active until recently.

If thinking of not voting, please vote don't waste it. VOTE NOW! Every vote makes a difference when so close. My vote was a postal one so already gone. I am not telling you who to vote for just think about the big picture when you do.

I am out to supervise my husband in the garden put my plants where I ask him shame I cannot do it myself.

Have a lovely day!

 

And thats why I could never vote Conservative because they only believe in the law of the jungle and to hell with everyone else.

 

Nothing showing up from my point of view

 

Why they suit certain people like me as someone with a fluctuating illness, or as a top up job on top of another one or as a job on the side while studying

Giving people of different curcumstances more options to work is better than being stuck with no options

 

Like Shiney, no-one has called to canvass here and the only information I've received is a leaflet from the main parties. I have had no opportunity to ask any specific question, although I know that canvassers are not there to deal with individual issues nor even general ones.

When I was first able to vote I felt like Marie that everyone should make their voice heard, sadly now I meet more and more people who say that they feel they can't vote because they really can't find a candidate who understands or represents their views. Our current MP represents a party I wouldn't normally support but he does seem to have some personal integrity and at least I do feel he is true to what he stands for.

At the moment, I'm still feeling that Thursday may find me busy in the garden.

 

I'm sure it may appear that way.
However, research shows that of the 13 million jobs offering low-skilled work, only around 16% are held by migrants. Not quite the "almost the entire workforce" which you speak of.

 

As an example what will happen to you if you get better and are passed as fit to work by a doctor on orders from the job centre and you are then offered some hours on a zero hour contract but you decide not to take them for whatever reason. You then tell the dss that youve turned down work offered to you and they decide to sanction you meaning you have your benefits suspended for 6 months. How will you pay rent,eat,travel etc when you have no sickness benefit,no income support,no housing benefit etc because you turned down a perfectly good job that you could have done as you were assessed as being fit to do it but decided not to ?

( this isnt a personal dig , get well soon , just an example of how unfair zero hour contracts can be)

Isnt it funny how politicians defend these contracts by saying a few students like them. What about the majority of the 1 million people on them that hate them?

 

"Zero hours contract" as I understand it is not a legal term in employment law and so that may be the reason why there isn't clarity about how many people have them, how they work and who benefits. Also the reason politicians can most easily make their respective arguments.

When I was a student I was able to be called in if and when the employer had work and I could say whether or not I was available, basically I was on a list. The problem now is that there are so many ramifications in employment law eg transparency concerning selection procedures, DBS checks etc it is difficult to find and employ people at short notice. hence the zero hours contract.

As far as I can see saying that zero hours contracts will become illegal won't alter the need either of the employer or the employees who like them and will simply foster more agency working. This will result in higher costs for the employer but no improvement in pay or conditions for the employee.

 

Well as i was on ESA and i was bullied and pushed into work by the job centre i would of preffered to have taken a zero hours contract instead i took a 16 hr part time contract and wasnt managing so the employer reduced me to 12hours but as part time you have to do overtime they request as part of your contract so was never just 12 hours. After 6 months i was hospitalised and had to quit my job to ensure my health didnt further decline

I now dont live on benefits and get nothing so started my own business where i can work from home

So in this situation a zero hours contract would have worked out better as a first step back to work so i could manage the fluctuations of my illness rather than having no choice to push through. And there would have been less pressure put on me as the employer kept saying to me while i was in hospital hooked up to a drip why arnt you coming in tomorrow and when i got back to work they said we dint understand why you needed to be off.

Your situation isnt a problem with zero hours contracts its a problem with assessment and understanding of certain illness and being pushed into work and they are two seperate things

Getting employed with a illness is hard enough but having options that are flexible to work around are better than none. There is no way for the forseeable future i would be able to manage the demands of a part time or full time contracted job but i might be able to manage a zero hours contract.

 

@Dips
Didn't want to like your post for obvious reasons but I agree, these contracts work for some people and even for those who would prefer not to have them sometimes they are the best option available. I agree with you, the assessment process for benefits needs a good overhaul and needs some flexibility so that local officers can use their judgement to account for individual situations.