What can you say to your son when he asks, “Why is my life so sh*te?” All you can do is listen and sympathise.
Nearly 21, my son works as a sheet metal worker for a small company making parts for the car industry. He is the father of a beautiful 17 month old daughter, my gorgeous granddaughter, but that is only light in his life. When he knew he was to be a father, he took responsibility; he was putting in the overtime shifts to earn the money to provide for this life he was creating. On average he was working 58 hours a week to take home £2,100 a month, but that is not enough to house a family. So on the birth of my granddaughter, while my son stayed with us, the mother and baby had to stay with her parent hoping that in the future they could make a home together. But this was not to be. The arrangement and the excessive overtime put intolerable pressure on the relationship and it sadly came to an end.
But now with the recession, and the collapse of the car industry, the overtime has stopped. After Easter the working week is to be reduced and there’ll be no more shift premiums, so the take home pay will now be less than £1,300. My son now feels he cannot provide for his daughter and he is trapped in a job waiting for the eventual redundancy.
It is not only my son but all his friends who are suffering and struggling with the decisions on what to do next. My son’s best mate was working for removals firm, but with the end of the housing market and no work he is considering joining the army to be shipped off to Afghanistan in twelve months time – another economic conscript as I was 37 years ago. Another friend who did well at A Levels and had a place to read Law at university is not willing to take on the debt of higher education but would rather work at the checkout at the Co-op. Another friend has rejected university to work in Domino Pizza working on minimum wages until the early hours of the morning.
Whilst bankers are bailed out and have astronomical pensions and payoffs, our kids are left to stew. The future may not be bright for the majority of our youngsters today in Britain, but our kids are resilient and will bounce back with an energy and vigour to lead the fight back. If my son has his finger on the pulse of the youth in Britain it is going to be a red hot summer for the bosses.
