To be purple with rage over workfare

[HoneyandHaycorns]

Sorry, I know there are loads of related threads on here, but I am getting really, really really upset and angry about the fucking workfare programme. It's an absolute outrage that my taxes are funding slave labour to line the pockets of huge tax-avoiding corporations, while the most vulnerable in our society are having their lifelines snatched away from them one by one.

I want to voice my protest, but apart from writing to my MP (which I have done) what is the best way of fighting this crap?

I simply can't believe that anyone in a civilised society could possibly think this was a good idea. Why on earth would a private company ever create any new jobs if they can have government-funded slave labour for free?

Will someone please come and tell me why the fuck anybody other than the boss of tescos would conceivably think this was a good idea?

And if you can't tell me why it is a good idea, please tell me the best way to protest.

there's a national day of action on facebook

Ah, not on Facebook. Can I see it if I don't have an account? Will have a look.

Ive joined the FB but does not seem to be anything happening in Hampshire.

Yeah, had a look but doesn't seem to much happening in my area either. Will keep an eye out.

I am amazed that there doesn't seem to be more organised protest.

YANBU. I think there will be riots and this could be their poll tax along with all the other shocking cuts to disabled people etc.

It's a crappy idea. You only have to look at the US to see where the problems are. Non working poor too often end up working poor. Mothers of 6 week old babies forced to use substandard childcare and commute hours away doing crappy long days for crap wages. People living in tents while the smug's dent there is a problem.

Luckily, I am convinced this government won't last long. I think people will stand up to them, I hope so anyway.

I see no circumstances whatsoever where someone who can work, ie, is not too disabled to work and who does not have children under 12, should not be expected to work rather than claim benefits, even if the amounts are equal, so that they can chose to stay at home and do nothing.

Nobody should be able to chose to stay at home and received benefits if they are able to go to work. Providing of course they are well enough to do so. The discipline and commitment required for a low paid job give one the discipline, commitment and work related skills to apply for the next step up.

But MIW, please tell me what possible incentive there will be for companies to create jobs if they have access to state-subsidised slave labour?

I'm going to regret this, and get flamed I know but...... actually I think you ABU.

I think calling the workfare program slavery is using deliberately provocative and emotive language to make anyone not agreeing with this POV sound like right-wing scum (which I am not, BYW).

While safeguards need to be in place to ensure that these positions ARE actually real work experience jobs and not encouraging employers to get labour on the cheap (which seems to be the case with some of the current scheme), what is actually wrong with encouraging (or even compelling), people who are out of work and claiming benefits long term to do SOMETHING (volunteer, training, qualifications), to help them back to work, to make them more employable? Should they just sit there claiming while they become less employable as their skills rust away and the hole on their CV gets bigger?

I do think though, that rather than compelling people to stack shelves (hardly the worst job in the world, I did it while I was a student), the claimants themselves should be able to arrange their own workfare, if they can. I don't think a few weeks/months unpaid (on benefits), work is slavery, but it should (if done properly) make you more employable.

runs away to hid in flame-proof bunker

read the thread tesco should pay there staff, there are alot of links for a petition

It seems like only a year or so ago, it was all bankers bonuses, politicians expenses, Murdoch phone hacking, etc.

And now somehow the solution to the countries problems is to make the terminally ill work as slaves?

How did we get here?

hide!

marriedinwhite, but workfare isn't a job. Your tax money will be paying for these companies to profit from unpaid labour. No tax money will be going back into the coffers. The more workfare placements available, the fewer proper jobs there will be. Thus more and more paid out in benefits. It won't help anyone.

Because eventually the economy will turn upwards and those who would otherwise have become completely deskilled will have absorbed a work ethic and there will be fewer unemployed to place on such schemes and fewer who think they can claim benefits in return for nothing.

As an employer, I can assure you that I would not pay NMW for some of the attitudes and lack of commitment that have tried to walk through our doors for more than minimum wage if there was a choice of candidates. The experience of arriving on time every day, doing what you are supposed to be doing and the satisfaction of earning money far outweigh the disadvantages in my opinion.

See, I thought that George Osbourne and his cronies wanted to shrink the size of the state by making loads of public sector workers redundant, the argument being that the private sector would somehow magically expand to create new jobs to fill the gaps.

But even he can't be so obtuse as to think that the private sector will create real jobs when they can benefit from the ready availability of state sponsored slaves instead. It is obvious that this policy is going to push unemployment up not down, and potentially millions of people into bonded labour to boot. Nice.

I can only assume that Cameron, Osbourne and their cronies have shares in the companies that will profit from this scandal, and therefore stand to benefit.

But my taxes will be helping them to do something more constructive than to sit at home. I don't believe companies will be able to do this on a long term basis without making full time jobs available at the end of a satisfactory term. That may different for community schemes.

And from what i understand, they're not only working the number of hours it would take to earn the JSA, they're expected to work much longer hours, taking them below minimum wage.

there's a national day of action on facebook

lol tesco and dave will be quaking in their boots PMSL

Peoples skills do not "rust away" MIW,

The placements offered by employers through the workfare scheme offer little value in regard to earning jobseekers new skills to improve employability.
There aren't enough jobs out there in the real world, or are you not aware of that?

Nobody chooses a life on the dole (which is a pittance and in no way enough £ for any sort of lifestyle) over well paid employment.

Maybe money would be better spent giving access free further education for everybody that needs to improve their jobs prospects.

No, we just throw it away on scams like A4E, New deal and the like.

Luckily, I am convinced this government won't last long. I think people will stand up to them, I hope so anyway.

sadly there is no credible alternative

even with this govts record so far, labour cannot get past them in the polls - that says an enormous amount

There are people who would benefit from having to get up and be on time but very many unemployed people these days are former professionals and white-collar workers. People are being made redundant and going back to their old jobs as workfare participants at the expense of taxpayers. How is that satisfying?

miw, I think the evidence is that Tesco is doing this on a long term basis without making full time jobs available at the end of a satisfactory term.

my objection is not that I think unemployed shouldn't work if work is available, but that when they are working, they are still paid by the taxpayer. why isn't Tesco paying them?

totally agree with H&H, where is the incentive for Tesco to create new paid jobs?

But it is akin to slavery, oldmum. People will be forced to work for next to nothing, and will have little choice but to suck it up.

I don't want lazy shirkers to sit around on their arses all day either, but what about those people who are genuinely unable to find work? People with disabilities who don't quite qualify for DLA? Carers who don't quite make the cut to be excluded from this programme? people living with terminal illnesses.

Yes, we all want those who can work to go out and get a job, but there won't be any bloody jobs if companies can get their staff for free.

I could just about see the logic in getting benefits claimants to work in the community in some way - volunteering in schools etc. (even though I still wouldn't agree with it) But TESCO? ARGOS? No, I'm sorry, but I do not want my taxes going to boost the profits of major corporations and to pay the bonuses of their morally bereft CEOs.

I'd only heard of workfare via all the threads on MN. It sounds wrong, somehow.

Yanbu.

It works out to something like £2.25 an hour IIRC. Job interviews are supposed to be guaranteed at the end of the placement but 'participants' are saying that this is not happening.

"The experience of arriving on time every day, doing what you are supposed to be doing and the satisfaction of earning money far outweigh the disadvantages in my opinion."

So just missing that last bit, then?

If this was genuinely about helping people then these would be fixed-term paid work placements.

Oh, and the scheme would only apply to those without skills, not those who've worked for years - including many who've retired on medical grounds from jobs that were reyther more responsible (and less physically demanding) than stacking shelves.

(NB scheme currently for people who've been declared Fit to Work but with medical condition. Govt is now planning to roll it out to people who, even by their new low standards, have not been declared Fit to Work).