AGEISM? IT'S THE SAME OLD STORY
09-06-2006
Later this year, it will become illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of age.A fine principle, but will it really make any difference asks Derrick Campbell
Next month sees the introduction of yet another law - this one aimed at ensuring that older people do not suffer discrimination because of their age.It's a noble idea, but one which causes me some concern, simply because I can't help but wonder whether it will have any real effect on businesses, which in the main are largely interested in making money?
I mean, who is this government trying to kid?
Are they trying to convince us that they really care about the older people in this country?
If they are, they have a strange way of showing it.Isn't Gordon Brown the one ‘raping & pillaging' the pension fund to the tune of circa £5 billion a year, thus panicking the industry fat cats who are, of course, looking to maximise profits? And yes, you got it: in nearly every case it's at the expense of the older worker.
These workers end up losing their final salary pension and are, in most cases, the ones first out of the door through the ‘get rid of the liabilities' tool called - wait for it - ‘the restructure or rationalisation process' which, in many cases, is simply blatant discrimination hiding inside a suit called ‘a fair and transparent process'.
Surely we should be working towards changing the hearts and minds of the people - not using the big stick approach that law-making effectively is - by having a mature debate, without the discussion being hijacked by the ‘super do-gooders' who claim to be defending the poor innocents of our society but in reality are making a total mess of things by interfering in areas they know very little about.
These conceited people continue to fool themselves with the notion that they are helping, but in reality they are only hurting those they claim to defend.
The older worker faces discrimination in many different ways - the lack of respect shown to them by society at large through the miserly way in which it gives them a few pounds each week and calls it a pension, and the Government acting like Pontius Pilate every winter, claiming that it has done enough to stop them freezing to death in their homes by giving them a tokenistic handout called the ‘winter fuel payment'. Please, give me a break!
Haven't we seen the scandal of older people being forced to sell their homes to pay for medical or residential care when they are too ill to look after themselves, even though they have paid National Insurance contributions throughout their working lives?
Now we are expected to believe that the new anti-ageism law will ensure that employers will keep older workers employed or not discriminate against them when they sit across the table in interviews.I believe pensioners deserve better: let's not forget that many of their peers fought and died for our liberty.
This new law may go some way towards helping to counter ageism, but I remain sceptical it will have any significant effect. Many previous laws have not noticeably delivered the goods. Nonetheless, I am trying to remain optimistic on this one.
What do you think?
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