Worker Two: The Woman Who Took on the Mob
TAFE: It’s the gift that keeps giving
The Mob
LESSON: They regulate our education, only have generational trauma contained in a system that is funded, but positions are not filled. Those left without a voice watch on as others who do have a voice are told to sit down and shut up. It is the penultimate in disrespect in a system that is structured to teach respect, future workers and, in this case, another generation of poverty due to an inability to find gainful employment. This is not about education, it is: RACE WAR.
1. How we met
2. Industry
Higher education within the public service.
3. The Cognitive Dissonance
I imagine it would be a challenge to be employed in a targeted role to address gaps in equality, only to have your education, expertise, and lived experience be weaponised.
4. Divide & Conquer / Conquer & Divide
Mobbing is about a group of people ganging up on one individual or a larger group with power over another. It is a method of ensuring one group maintains the status quo and, in doing so, the other group does too. It is historical and generational. The gap needs to be closed and not have identified workers who identify abuse be turned into the victims.
5. Who has the power?
The government that funds the institution, the Executive who permits a workplace culture of bullying, and those who perpetrate it. As the person who was mobbed by her mob noted, this sits at odds with the core of fundamental workers’ right:
The right to be safe at all educational institutions
Education is what our country is based on for all young people, and those who wish to upskill, retrain or change professions. How can we have a healthy future if we are denied the right to be safe while studying, on the way to and when at home as we continue to learn.
6. Lesson: Oh, the hypocrisy
These institutions, including my former employer, the HSU, are known and notorious for turning their members, and each other, against each other. This is why they continue to sink their ships, then wonder why people choose alternative methods to learn. Turns out there is now a pot of gold at the end of the accountancy course, and it looks like: loose lips creating blips on the radar at the end of the horizon: TOTAL REBUILD OF ENTIRE INDUSTRIES ONCE STEEPED IN TRADITION BUT NOW EDCUATED ON THE REAL WORLD, NOT THE WORLD THEY THOUGHT WOULD BE THEIR LEGACY.
7. What we have in common
We both value truth and integrity over comfort. We refuse to back down and document everything. On that note, buy a diary or find some way to document everything.
(c) Pink Collar Workers 2025