Theme Day - People in their Workplace

Keiko works in a child-care centre in Crows Nest, a suburb of Sydney. On Saturday the children, and their carers, entertained family members, before retiring to a jolly good pre-Christmas feast with Santa AND a jumping castle! The "Snapdragon" class of 5 year olds performed their interpretation of Mem Fox's "Where is the Green Sheep?" Individual children recited their line, and Keiko gestured for the entire ensemble to join in with the chorus. Here is the blue sheep and here is the red sheep. Here is the bath sheep and here is the bed sheep. But where is the green sheep?

There are two categories of workers in Australia, who receive neither the respect nor the remuneration that their position deserves. There are probably more, but the disrespect afforded these two classes of workers are particular carbuncles upon our society. They are child-care workers, and aged-care workers. Interesting comment upon our values, methinks. We entrust them with our children, and we entrust them with our parents. They listen to their halting speech, patch their knee when they have a tumble, wipe their bottom when they have an accident. They try to make sense of their ego-centric, imaginative, concocted take on the world. Where black is white, and his is mine. Yet we pay them peanuts. A Child-Care Assistant receives about $35,000 pa. An Aged-Care Assistant receives about $34,000 pa. The National Minimum Wage in Australia is currently $33,400 pa. The average full-time wage in Australia is $74,724 pa.

Visit the contribution of other City Daily Photo members to the Theme-Day, "People in their Workplace".