We didn't cause the credit crunch. The people who did were handed billions from the government. Those billions will be recouped somehow.
For those who have felt the effects of the global economic downturn directly, i.e. those who lost their jobs in the financial sector or those duped into extortionate loans or mortgages, it is, obviously, a tremendously difficult and frustrating turn of events. For the rest of us, the 'credit crunch' can appear to be a blessing: lower mortgage rates, reduced VAT, cheaper goods and a smug satisfaction that we were never greedy/stupid/unfortunate enough to get involved in any high-risk or highly dubious practices. If the bank is closed, we joke, just use the ATM.
The truth is, we have little reason for schadenfreude.
The truth is, the dubiousness hasn't stopped and the opportunism afforded by the current situation stretches way beyond popping into the Halifax in a cheeky attempt to track the base rate. Indeed, other opportunities present themselves, such as the opportunity to reduce pay and working conditions, the opportunity to 'balance the books' regardless of the long-term well-being of your work force and community and even the opportunity to cut jobs.
It stands to reason. Imagine that for years you had been irritated by an employee, a certain way of doing things or even an entire department under your control. Every day you were irked by petty squabbling or apparently unreasonable demands. The people above you want changes, the people below you want continuity. You become seen as indecisive and ineffectual by everyone around you - hamstrung by employment law and lively unions. The credit crunch arrives like a gift: a brilliantly vague term, like rhetorical tear gas, working on subconscious fears and miraculously rendering even the most ludicrous decisions 'justifiable'.
Sure, the direct impact of the credit crunch was devastating. But the indirect impact is somehow more sinister, slimy and destructive.
As a college lecturer I naively felt immune from the effects of the crunch, until this news:
On 5 June the Principal of Tower Hamlets College, Michael Farley, emailed staff a document called “Securing the Future” that hit like a shockwave. The ensuing 30 day “consultation process” left staff with the following:
Redundancies (voluntary and compulsory) in the region of 30 “full-time equivalents” (i. e. about 50 people) across teaching and support staff
The loss of 1, 000 of our 3, 000 ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students. The need for ESOL at Tower Hamlets is huge: last year there were 800 on our waiting lists.
Withdrawal of college ESOL classes from up to 11 Outreach centres on estates and in the community. Outreach students are almost all women, most of whom are only able to attend classes because they are near home. The plan is that the provision at the low levels will be provided by charities, mosques and churches, who can bid for government money to hire their own, (isolated and low paid) teachers.
Attack on our working conditions and working culture - in the weeks before the cuts were announced, a leaked email from Senior Management referred to the need for a “culture change” at the THC. Clearly this just the beginning of the attacks to come, with the recession used as an excuse to force the business and skills agenda further into a place with a tradition of creative and critical education.
There will be people like the management at Tower Hamlets at YOUR work place, and the credit crunch is their window of opportunity. Now is the time to fight back. Join your Union. Write to your MP. Donate to the strikers at Tower Hamlets. Join their Facebook group. Join their march on Saturday 12th September. Be vigilant and don't take anything for granted.
