Why can’t they see the people bound

by unemployment. Rendered poor

by lack of work, then harshly blamed

 when ‘progress’ is the problem’s core?

We’re thrown to dire circumstance

With millions losing jobs and pride

And all the while technology

Constrains and kills our working stride

Governments have lost the plot

They cannot see the problem’s traits

And all the while, computers steal

Our jobs ...and those of all our mates

Huge companies that once employed

These men and women every day

Now install computers built

To fill our roles and stop our pay

Just one appliance takes the place

Of thirty human’s manual toil

And strips them of their dignity

It’s bound to cause our blood to boil

How can a man preserve his trade?

There are more people now, than posts

Machines have stepped into our shoes

And turned our bosses into hosts

While we waste precious time in queues

Anxious, needy, tattered troops

Humiliated, pushed around

Filling forms and jumping hoops

For a lucky few, comes one great day

To dress their best and join the race

An interview has come their way

But hundreds vie for just one place

The one who gets the job will sigh

Just one mistake will cost him dear

For the hundreds, silent, standing by

It’s the only hope they’ve seen all year!

And what of he who pays the price

of taking time to learn the ropes?

The job was not his usual craft

How do they think that poor man copes?

Hundreds like him ‘cross the globe

Down-trodden, made to feel inept

Where once our working force took pride

In staying solvent, out of debt

Providing for our families

Loyal to our income’s source

Taking pride in what we did

And earning our true worth, of course

Now, stuck in limbo, rat-race rules

A growing core that thieves and robs

And all because technology

Has pushed us out and killed our jobs.