My dad works for a large conglomerate corporation as a technician. He is given a bucket truck in order to go out and do maintenance and whatnot. The company he works for has realized that they have to let some people go. Instead of laying people off and giving them a severance package, they're firing as many people as they can for the stupidest of reasons. For example, my dad's friend was fired for opening an email. My dad went to go help someone, but didn't notify his boss, so he technically went out of range on the GPS built into his truck. Because he did this, they decided to suspend him w/o pay. Usually, this means they'll find a reason to fire him. The issue is that there is a 2 year appeal process in the union my dad is in. That means that, no matter how stupid the reason was for firing, they can't do anything for 2 years. So now he might be without a job, at a time in which getting a job is almost impossible. He told me he doesn't know how he's going to pay the bills, and I'm getting extremely anxious about this and I have no idea what to do or think. All that's going across my mind is seeing my dad lose the apartment he's in due to this, and it's stressing me to a point where my meds are starting to not work.
I'm sorry to hear that Chris. It does stink what some companies are doing to their employees. Since he is a union he probaly has a union rep to fight for his rights. In the mean time just be there for him and try not to worry. I know it must be hard to do. (*hug*)
I know how you feel, we're going through a bit of a black spot of a similar nature. Basically, some point last year, my dad lost his job for something he didn't do. He got it back again, but lost it again unfairly. He managed to get another job, but was fired from that one when the guy he was hired to replace wanted to come back. These were all boring factory jobs. He was unemployed for a long time, my mum had 3 jobs (she worked in a bakery shop 3 days a week, cleaned on a friday, and invigilated for exams at the college whenever work was available). Eventually my dad managed to get another job, but he's on a low wage, so we're still struggling with money. But he's looking for one a bit closer to home. So don't worry, even in times as hard as these, job-wise, there is light at the end of the tunnell. Your dad should apply for every available job, even if it isn't particularly desirable, and look into getting Jobseeker's Allowance.
