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.

i think that is more that the system has not been thought through properly.

if people are expected to work for an organisation - any organisation they are going to be ill sometimes

i'm ill sometimes - i work full time. i am remunerated accordingly.

if someone takes time of for a job interview or training - this should also be allowed.

it just needs more thought

more thought

not a lot of fucking thought
just some thought

its not the charity that is the problem - its the lack of process thinking.

long term unemployed person starts work

1. is more likely to need extra support
2. who will give this support
3. does another agency have to be involved to support
4. should there be an employment mentor
5. what happens if sick - if sick once? if sick twice? if totally taking the piss? if got doctors note and is genuinley sick?
6. what if the person sees a job
7. what if the person needs help with confidence or literacy
8. what if the person gets an interview

thats just me asking things i have thought of in 10 seconds

Oh the links make it sound all beautiful and cosy. It's only when you think it through, you go Hang on...

fucking proof positive this isn't about the person - and all about bullshit

Carers Allowance claimant who cares for a partner with stable chronic HEART failure starts a forced work placement at a British HEART Foundation charity shop.
Claimant then has to take time off when her partner has to go into hospital or is having trouble breathing/chest pain etc.
BHF then report her non attendance to the provider resulting in a benefit sanction.
These charities are suppossed to be there to help people in these situations not to blackmail and sanction them.
And when i next see them collecting in our town centre i will be voicing my disdain.

Regarding Shelter, I actually wonder if its occurred to them that they might feasibly be contributing to people becoming homeless. You see, CAB have a rule about not doing anything that would make a person homeless. Shelter might also, given their ethos? Might leave them in a pretty pickle.

The emotional tone of those opposed to workfare tells me that workfare is right. And Tesco pay taxes too.

Quite true, tinkertitonk.

And slaughter of the first born is right for the same reasons.

trip trap trip trap

Of course Tesco pay taxes, well the ones they don't avoid.
They also get PAID TAXPAYERS MONEY to get this free money, £1200 per head to be precise. What a waste of resources.

Take your dispassionate responses and shove them where the sun don't shine, yeah?

It's not the answer, speaking from a LP point of view anyway (my area of interest ahem).

A lot of us have the same problem. Childcare, lack of. I could apply for more jobs if I could get childcare. In my area, there are few childminders, most are already full, none start before 7am. Breakfast club starts at 8am. I could get to work for 9am but even Admin jobs now all seem to start at 8am. Cleaning jobs earlier. Retail jobs are shifts all over the place, factory jobs the same. I know a couple of women who work nights in supermarkets, I cant do that.

Childcare is the biggest issue for many Lone Parents, but it's never mentioned. Many employers are not family friendly and dont want to employ us, which I personally think is madness. I've had to have a day off here and there in the past with a sick child but i've more than made up for it with extra hours. I've seen office juniors spending the day on facebook, mobile going off every few minutes, asking to leave early on a Friday so they can get ready for a night out. All while i've worked my butt off, because I have responsibilities, I dont take the piss. I'm less desirable though because I can't start until 9am.

What would workfare teach me exactly? I can understand why many people on it have a stinking attitude, it's the final humiliation. The real scroungers just wont do it. I know real scroungers who have no intention of ever working, they dont care if they lose benefit because they can go out and steal instead or go bleating to the cab for food vouchers. Sitting in darkness without heat is no big deal to them, they just go off to the local and scrounge drinks then fall into bed when the pub shuts. Sometimes they sell the food they got from the vouchers. I know someone who does this. It is a fact. I am not like her, but it's people like me who are being punished.

Do they take any of these 'volunteers' on in the corporate side of the business. Most shop floor jobs could be learned in a day or 2.

Glitterknickaz, have you got a link for the £1200? I've been trying to find out what this is costing in placement fees!

Tinker is it just paying taxes that qualifies one to benefit from workfare? Because people on benefits pay taxes too- VAT. And in fact I'm a taxpayer, income tax as well as VAT, so can I have someone on workfare to come round and work for me for free please? I'll even do it for cheaper than them- how about £1000 a head instead of £1200, sound fair?

Boycott the organisations taking part. There are alternatives to buying your groceries at Tescos. If participating organisations lose market share/profits they'll think again about taking taxpayers money instead of paying minimum wage for these roles.

Vote with your pocket - it's the only way to defeat this, or it'll be YOUR children who face a lifetime of working for food money only.

If a role is available and needing to be done for 6 months then it's for the businesses concerned to pay minimum wage for the role to be done. It's not for the government to subsidise private enterprise to this extent. These roles are NOT apprenticeships with a REAL educational component.

The money spent by government on these roles would be better spent on genuinely upskilling individuals to revitalise our economy.

The scum of the underclass will mug old ladies & flog a few more drugs rather than do these roles, it'll be decent people who would love to retrain after redundancy or illness that will be exploited.

the NMW was hard fought for and was to be applauded, how then can we agree to this being ignored when it suits for JSA claimants to work for a profit making company.
If there is a job, offer it for proper pay, even if that is NMW its insulting and immoral not to.
Why are people ok with someone like TESCO who made 1,9 billion profit last year using cheap labour instead of following employment legislation and paying people to do real jobs at real wages. The 'jobs' on offer are not skilled work so 'work experience' is just really patronising especially to those with lots of experience and skills,
I can see the value perhaps of disciplined experience for those long term claimants who have little or no previous experience of work but still think that they should be valued enough to be paid properly. letting big business exploit our claimants is not keeping unemployment down and is not reducing the benefits bill so what actually is the point?
I fear for this country I really do, we are going backwards and getting more and more devisive as we do it, so much hate around for those who are claiming benefits and so mant stereotypes that people believe about claimants living the life of reilly doing nowt all day, HA, I have been made redundant from a £33.600 pa job last OCT struggling to find anything and am looking and considering anything that pays me more than £67.50 a week. all offers welcome. Believe me after that salary JSA is not much at all, and will stop soon as after 6 months my contribution based JSA runs out and I have a DH who works.

I would do it, i'm not proud. I'll stack shelves for minimum wage, i'll clean loos. I have done in the past. I finished my Admin job at 5pm and then cleaned the offices of the same company, how about that for humiliation but I needed the money! Just find me the childcare.

I did think of not claiming at all and trying to find something that would pay around £60 a week but guess what? That's mostly cleaning jobs and they require early starts too...back to square one.

the froggy its less than minimum wage though, that's the point.

tinker so sorry for getting emotional about things that actually matter and will impact seriously on the lives of real people.

In future, I will do my best to just shrug and say "I'm alright jack, because I'm not poor or disabled or out of work." That would be a much more mature response, wouldn't it.

why are they not making it easier for people like you the froggy to train for something like a teaching assistant or another job that could fit round your children? that would be a better use of money, to get willing workers back into worthwhile employment and proper training for real jobs rather than all this creating cheap labour for big profit organisations, not belittling the less skilled jobs at all but if someone is highly skilled they should be helped into the highly skilled jobs leaving the less skilled jobs for those who really need them, aware this sounds shit but hope you all know what I mean, not wanting this to come accross as patronising as it possibly sounds

That's not what I meant stepaway . I meant the job, not being forced into it on workfare. I would do that job if I could get childcare, so it's not about snobbery. That's my point. I'll be betting plenty of lone parents would. We cant, because there is noone to look after the kids.

honey NO don't practice the shrug, there is enough of the 'I'm alright jack, and all benefit claimants are scrounging bastards out there as it is

Oh yes thefroggy see what you mean now, getting a bit uptight here my next post still stands though

warning daily mail link, back to work Tsar fraud claim

stepaway, don't worry about it, I'm not very good at it. And yes, I agree there are too many people already who don't give a toss.

Until it happens to them.