Let me tell you how upsetting it is to hear @jkenney double down on UCP comments that people on CERB don’t want to go back to work.

I’ve been unemployed since late March. I’ve been applying for jobs within my field, an average of around 1 per week without success. 1/ #ableg

But @jkenney and the UCP would paint me as a lazy millennial who just wants to live on the government dime.

It’s already bad enough applying for job after job and not getting anywhere, and now my government is happy to call me lazy for not working. 2/ #ableg

Getting a job can be hard when times are good. I’ve participated in hiring people, and have seen 150 or more applications for every job I’ve ever been involved in hiring. Even getting an interview can feel like winning the lottery, never mind actually getting hired. 3/ #ableg

But, according to the @UCPCaucus, I’m lazy. I just sit at home eating cheezies. Instead of actually trying to help people, the UCP just wants to pick fights with its own citizens and other levels of government to distract from its own failings. 4/ #ableg

I want nothing more than to be working. This is the longest I’ve gone without work since I started working at 16. It’s awful. I’m lucky that I have put myself in a position where I don’t *need* a job today, but that doesn’t mean I’m sitting here enjoying myself. 5/ #ableg

@jkenney and the @UCPCaucus demonstrate again and again they actually don’t care about the people they are supposed to represent. I could go on for 20 more posts about health care, but I think I’ll save that for another day. The next election can’t come soon enough. 6/6 #ableg

Well this certainly blew up a lot more than I was ever expecting, to the point I had to turn notifications off. And the response has been overwhelmingly positive, so thank you. I want to add a couple things.

The main thing I hear conservatives talk about with people not wanting to go back to work when they were on CERB was that they were making too much money which made them not want to work. That's laughable in several ways.

Firstly, we're in the middle of a pandemic. If someone is uncomfortable being in a job or a workplace, we shoul support them. If someone has medical issues that make them even more vulnerable to COVID-19, they should not have to literally risk their lives by working.

That's literally what programs like CERB were for. They were for people who are unable to work because of the pandemic, and that takes many forms. If you're immunocompromised you should not be in an enviornment that could literally kill you. That's number 1.

CERB was $500/week. That translates to 12.50/hour in a 40 hour work week. That's less than minimum wage. If people think that getting less than minimum wage is better than working, perhaps employers need to be paying staff more, or treating staff better.

Let us not forget that CERB is taxable, so that $500 is gross income, not net income. come spring we're all actually going to have to pay taxes on that money. That is an entirely different can of worms I could talk about for a long time, but I won't at this second.

If I wasn't super clear before, I'm very fortunate in that I'm in a position where I don't *need* to find a job I don't want to pay the bills right away. Eventually, that will change, but for now, I can look for something I actually want.

I work in technology, my last job was a Systems Administrator position. Those are fairly specialized jobs / job descriptions. I have 10+ years experience but if the systems I've worked with don't match the systems an employer uses, it's hard to even get an interview.

And having 10+ years of experience means I'm "overqualified" for more entry level style positions. I should know. When I've participated in hiring, if it's an entry level job and someone with a ton of experience applies we usually don't even consider because....

because we know that as soon as something better comes along, that person will leave immediately, and we have to go through this process all over again. The irony is almost funny, having more experience actually means it can be harder to find a new job.

But, you know since I'm having a hard time getting traction in finding a job that I will actually succeed in long term, my government, the @UCPCaucus, likes to paint me as lazy.

So yeah, this has been a lot. I'm open to work. If you or someone you know is hiring a sysadmin, I'm available.