What if carers went on strike

marvin

HC wrote: »

Care work is a job that is open to anyone. No qualifications or experience needed. Therefore it attracts losers, no-hopers and worse.

I have acquaintances who are carers, so I know some are kind, decent people who do an excellent job for modest pay. For some, it is a vocation. For others, not.

However, striking...?

The Poles would fill your jobs.

Erm they are care workers not carers and as employees have rights denied to carers (Minimum holidays, minimum pay, sick pay etc etc.)

I spent 20 years as a carer until I decided I could not do it any more largely duee to the poor services available for them and the funding of their life. an extra £500 (in service provision not in cash) a week would have sorted it, now he is costing an extra £2000 a week in full time care, where he will stay for the rest of his life.

mrs_pepperpot_3

yes, thats so true. i was a office manager, and then suddenly the nursery was saying we cant cope, this isnt normal............. he's nearly 18 now, and ive leant alot about what i can cope with but ive missed something too.
i have a degree and other qualifications, but i will not be able to ever work, beause no one could cope with all three childrens needs and dh too.

oldMcDonald

mrs_pepperpot wrote: »

i get paid 50.00 a week for a full 24 hour x 52 days a year , most nights i chnge sheets for one or other and sleep on the sofa when i can

Most nights I am wiping nappy contents off of walls, bathing my son, changeing his bedding, scrubbing his bed and doing a wash load.

£50 a week is nothing, really. I was working part time for a while so we could try to raise our income, when my DH came home in the evening I would go out and work in a shop for a couple of hours - it was too much and I had to stop:(

HC_2

oldMcDonald wrote: »

And for some it is not a job. We wake up one morning and go from being an ordinary wife and mum to being a carer for the rest of someones life. BAM! Like that. No real choice, no chance to grieve for your old life, just get on with it. Nothing to do with being a no-hoper, a loser, or a vocation - it's just the card you have been delt.

And in my previous post I said, quite clearly, that when it comes to caring for a family member, or someone else that you care about, there is no choice. And it may come to us all.

However, the OP talked about striking. That implies people who are paid for the job and have no emotional involvement. Hence my post.

MrsE_2

mrs_pepperpot wrote: »

i get paid 50.00 a week for a full 24 hour x 52 days a year , most nights i chnge sheets for one or other and sleep on the sofa when i can

But that is for your Husband & children.
If my family were ill or injured I would do all those things for them.
I do understand it is different when the work doesn't lesson as they grow up, but they are still your family & we are all responsible for our spouses & children.

My friend has a disabled daughter (shes nearly 19 now), she has always had a little respite help from SS, but the "get-on-with-it" attitude from her has never ceased to inspire & amaze me.
Shes just a knuckle down & get on with it sort of girl.
The daughter has cerable palsy (so severely disabled, cannot walk).

oldMcDonald

HC wrote: »

And in my previous post I said, quite clearly, that when it comes to caring for a family member, or someone else that you care about, there is no choice. And it may come to us all.

However, the OP talked about striking. That implies people who are paid for the job and have no emotional involvement. Hence my post.

I cross posted my post with your second post:)

mrs_pepperpot_3

yup thats quite true, striking is the wrong term....... i want to demand respite, i want just one morning a week to go out, look at something lovely, actually go in a shoe shop, have a hair cut, meet up with an old friend with out distractions of smells or damp patches appearing on seats etc, just i could scream, i cant even have a bath till mid night when they are all settled. cross roads are not in my area, carers suppoort say they will access funding for me when oldest son is 18, but i have no family, no support. even now, i know that the time ive spent here i will pay for as i havent helped someone nd he's building for an explosion. thanks for all your comments. i asked for them

HC_2

marvin wrote: »

Erm they are care workers not carers and as employees have rights denied to carers (Minimum holidays, minimum pay, sick pay etc etc.)

I spent 20 years as a carer until I decided I could not do it any more largely duee to the poor services available for them and the funding of their life. an extra £500 (in service provision not in cash) a week would have sorted it, now he is costing an extra £2000 a week in full time care, where he will stay for the rest of his life.

Why do so many posters being with 'Errmm'? As if their brains are ticking over but not actually working?

HC_2

mrs_pepperpot wrote: »

yup thats quite true, striking is the wrong term....... i want to demand respite, i want just one morning a week to go out, look at something lovely, actually go in a shoe shop, have a hair cut, meet up with an old friend with out distractions of smells or damp patches appearing on seats etc, just i could scream, i cant even have a bath till mid night when they are all settled. cross roads are not in my area, carers suppoort say they will access funding for me when oldest son is 18, but i have no family, no support. even now, i know that the time ive spent here i will pay for as i havent helped someone nd he's building for an explosion. thanks for all your comments. i asked for them

Mrs P, you are a saint.

I'm sorry if I got the wrong end of the stick. I thought we were talking about people who 'care' for a job.

They don't, in the main.

However, you - and people like you - put the rest of us to shame.

May God - or whoever - bless you.

zztopgirl

This is not a dig at the non-carers on this thread, just what i was told once. I was discussing my 'job' with one of my friends, who is a fosterer, she said if her partner became disabled, she would leave.

I used to know a lady whose husband became disabled from an accident, i dont think she was able to cope with it and she eventually stopped emailing me. I know i wouldnt have been able to stand it. I dont think anyone should look down upon someone who decides they cannot care for their loved one, it would be better to walk away than to put up with a life of misery. I wont say what the disability was but its very severe.

My dh's disability, in America 90% of marriages with this same disability end in divorce within 5 years after the disability starts. There are no stats for the uk but i imagine they are quite similar. I dont know if the American stats apply to all couples where one spouse is disabled, its just this particular disability.