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A
lot of comments have been made about the exploitation
of men who worked on building sites in west Belfast
and who were paid on average two pound per hour. Working
in all weathers on building sites for less than minimum
wage, and being paid in bars, with the bar making
sure you bought some drink out of it first is no laughing
matter. Exploitation is no laughing matter. Last week
in Fort St the child of a young single mother died
after being taken from his burning home. A tragic
experience. But young single women are raising families
alone and their exploitation is no laughing matter
either. For young mothers in that position life is
not easy. Abandoned by men for what ever reason these
young mothers are preyed upon by unscrupulous landlords.
In the community classifieds section of the Andersonstown
News there is another advert for a house in Forfar
St the next street to Fort St. It reads:
3
bedroomed house Forfar St. OFCH
Available immediately. £450. pm
On
average a let in west Belfast will cost from £450
-£500. Much of these properties are rented by
newly arrived immigrants but the majority are still
rented out by young single families with no home of
their own. The housing shortage in west Belfast is
chronic with at least three hostels for the homeless
providing temporary accommodation. This shortage provides
an opportunity for landlords to move in and charge
what they like while doing minimum repairs.
Job
Centre adverts in the Andersonstown News reflects
and advertises this exploitation.
PSV
drivers wanted. Depot £50.
The
private and public taxi market in west Belfast is
flooded, with private depots having sprung up all
over the place. The average depot rent is £50.
You don't pay your rent, you don't work. To make any
money in these depots the average driver hangs around
possibly for over an hour on a job, for the average
fare of £2.50. Discrimination is rife. You keep
the desk man sweet, you get the odd extra job. Who
can blame the desk man, he is getting £20 for
the average 10 hour shift. The depot owner collects
the rent once a week and pays a manager for the day
and night shifts. The manager is paid by being allowed
to work while paying no depot rent. Desk men can actually
be men, but in the majority of cases it is a job favoured
by women. There is one particular depot in West Belfast
where the owner owns the depot, the filling station
at Poleglass and lets out the shops in the filling
station, as well as newly built flats in Andersonstown.
The
taxi market here whether black taxis or private is
usually an area dominated by men although there are
the odd women working within these depots, mainly
during the day or early evening. The areas of cleaning,
ironing and child minding is exclusively female. For
a large black bag of ironing to be done for you it
will cost £12. A large bag of ironing can take
up to two hours, mind numbing and draining work. For
cleaning the average house to child minding the rates
will vary between £3 - £5 per hour. The
average length of hours is two, and there is no provision
for transport; you want the job how you get there
is down to you. Taxi and bus fare can be subtracted
from the wage you are given. Still if you don't fancy
leaving home, you could have a brilliant opportunity
with Ann Summers. Have a girlie night in. Provide
refreshments and have a party in your home to sell
these goods and for that you will receive a gift for
the hostess, and anything up to 10% off the night's
takings. If you sell £200 worth of goods that
qualifies you to £20 and your gift. The £20
would only cover for the refreshments but at least
you break even with your gift, which is usually a
nightie.
Going
down the Falls Road early in the morning is an eye-opening
experience. You will see queues of women outside bars
and chip shops waiting to be let in to clean them.
Most of these women operate in groups and work on
time and motion. A certain amount of work needs to
be done within a certain amount of time and for this
you will receive around £2.50 an hour, no questions
asked. Cleaning a bar the next morning is dirty work,
this will include male and female toilets floors and
tables, and the only perk of the job might be a drink
before you go.
Going
out for a drink in west Belfast is a matter of choice.
For example you can go to the Celtic or the Red Devil
or to Caffreys or maybe try the Fiddlers Inn, what
difference does it make — your pound is going
to the same family. On your way out for your drink
if you look a little closely at the shop doorways
along the road, you may spot the odd ex-prisoner or
two doing security. For this ball freezing work, done
in all weathers, they will receive a paltry sum to
help contribute toward feeding families. Men who have
been away from families and who are anxious to now
provide for them are turning to taxi-ing and shop
doorway security. They have been well looked after
for their sacrifice. Oh, I know there are jobs for
the boys — but then, not all the boys are equal.
Being
at one with my MP is difficult for me. The Sinn Fein
terms of equality and economic justice, are just that:
abstract terms. Not too long ago outside the Sinn
Fein HQ's at Sevastapol St. hung a huge poster saying
Stop The Water Rates. How long will it be before
water rates are introduced by a Stormont Assembly
containing Sinn Fein? For me to be at one with my
MP I need to ask him a question posed by Tommy Kearney
in Fourthwrite.
Where
do you stand for instance on the issue of absolute
and uncompromising democracy? Are we content to
confine democracy to electoral participation or
are we capable of expanding it and clearly defining
it to include practical economic, social and intellectual
democracy? Are we able to create a social order
that provides for the poor, young old and weak?
My
MP might contemplate this while going on a bus tour
around his native west Belfast. It will only cost
him a fiver. The driver on the bus will receive £5p/h,
but only for hours worked. Maybe being at one with
our west Belfast MP is not the way to look at things.
Perhaps it is time he was at one with us.
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