Uniting for Jobs - your stories
When we march in Birmingham on the 16th March, calling for real action, we will speaking for hundreds of thousands of people affected by the recession. We want to tell their stories, just a few are below.
If you, your family or work colleagues have been touched by this recession, tell us your story, and be heard. Click here to join in > > >
Your stories -
It's our money that's kept the banks afloat, and they should be told to help people through this recession - Lorna, Manchester
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I apply for any job that's going, even though they all pay a lot less than I was earning. I've worked all my life, and began doing paper rounds when I was 13. Now I get £60 a week, and that's really nothing - Jenny, Staffordshire
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After 37 years at work I've been made redundant and had to sign on, and at the age of 53 it is a damned long way yet to retirement. I find it totally amazing that irresponsible banks should be bailed out with taxpayers' money while the taxpayers are then kicked out of a job - Steve, Telford
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People just want to do an honest job. They're not greedy, they just want to work. All our industries need support, and after the government has invested so much in the banking sector it should be strict about regulation and ensure that investment gets to industry - Stein, Coventry
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I am 59 and concerned about the future of my pension as my aerospace employer has a shortfall of several million pounds at the moment. It may be that we will have to sell our family home and still try to support our son and daughter, who are both in their twenties and have recently lost their jobs - Paul, Gloucester
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I was made after 24 years at work, and I've been looking for work ever since but there's just been nothing. I feel abandoned by the government, with no real opportunity for training and starting another career. We're really struggling and we just sit at home and try to avoid spending anything. The government needs to invest in people, and create jobs so we can all get back to work and help boost the economy - Jayne, Stockport
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Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money has been poured into the banks but there's very little support for the ordinary working men and woman of this country. I feel very strongly about how lightly the bankers have been let off - Peter
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I resent the way our bosses have no respect for skilled work, and are deskilling jobs so that they can farm the jobs out to unskilled foreign workers at a lower pay rates and under Victorian working conditions. I am now unemployed aged 56, with a wife and a 13-year-old son and mortgage - Chris, Gatwick
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Billions have gone to banks, and we now own the larger percentage of the banking system. However they are potentially going to throw us out of our homes if we do not pay mortgages to our own companies. Does this make sense? - Georgina
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Our manufacturing industry has not been supported by the government. We were once a proud and well known manufacturing nation. This and previous governments have let us down badly - Dagmar, Stratford
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What is the point in spending time, energy and money on education if you never get to use your skills - Jo, London
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If we keep losing jobs and companies what is going to be available when there is an upturn in the markets? If other countries are supporting their firms they will surely be in a stronger position to bid for these opportunities - Sheila, Tyneside
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I was made redundant last July after 22 years service. Nobody seems to care. I went sub contracting until now, but I'll have to sign on the dole next week. There is no work. Jobs should come first to give families hope and a better future - Stephen
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I have worked in the electricity supply industry for 45 years since leaving school and was looking forward to my final few working years. I now find myself redundant at almost 60 years of age with a basic legal minimum payment of £10150, which I think is an insulting figure for the efforts of a lifetime of paying my taxes - Alan, Renfrew
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I'm a good tradesman who has been made redundant, thanks of other people's recklessness and as a knock-on to global crisis. To say it's unfair, degrading, and bloody hard is an understatement. A man, or a woman needs to work, to live, survive, to provide, to breathe, and for self worth - Tim
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Who is going to do all the skilled jobs in 10 or 15 years time? I'm a steelworker who has just been made redundant from Corus after 36 years. They've just closed the workshops at Rotherham, with electricians, machinists, boilersmiths all out of a job - Mick
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I've worked in my sector for over 20 years but there are no jobs and any potential employer that I could work for is in the process of making redundancies so has nothing to offer. I'm terrified of losing my home and everything I've worked hard for - Janice
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My colleagues and I were made redundant through no fault of our own and ‘decline in the economy' was the reason given. The same 'fat cats' who caused the recession will be 'fat cats' again when recession ends - Mary
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The government has protected the banks' trading element, but has disregarded the workers who actually bring in the business - Sue
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Jobs have to come first - lives are being ruined. Something has to be done now - Marion