to think my friend has a good argument for refusing to attend this job interview?

[listsandbudgets]

She's going anyway because even though she argued until she was in floods of tears, the job centre have told her that if she does not she'll have her benefits taken away.

She's strictly vegan and has been since her mid teens - she's now in her late 30s. She won't even wear leather shoes. They are sending her to be interviewed for a job in an abattoir Normally I'd say if people can work they should but surely she's got a good argument for not going for this job?

What on earth can she do? Will she be sanctioned if she lets them know her views during the interview and does her best not to get the job?

Well, according to some 'hard working taxpayers' it seems if one is unemployed one should submit to all sorts of humiliation and debasement rather than 'be a drain on hard working taxpayers'.

needs a sock I would be making sure that the Guardian got wind of it.

In 2000/2001 after completing 3 months workfare in a charity shop/local council combined. I was told I would have to do another 3 months workfare in a local soup factory.

I took a job in a sex chatline office and was able to sign off. I made some great friends there.

Workfare was going on back in the 90s and previously. Due to the rise in social media in recent years though its not so easy to cover up the figures these days and try and dress them up as jobs.

I wish I could dark but I can't. I did spend several hours in a police station trying to deal with the after effects and will say the police were bloody fantastic.

I'm a meat eater, and i couldnt do it. Money or no money, i physically couldnt.

I honestly think a lot of people on this thread have no idea what goes on in an abattoir. Do you think theyre just watching the line? She will have to handle the meat. When i was in recruitment we tried to provide temps to the abattoir, it was ridiculous, people werent finishing anywhere near half a shift before they walked out. Holding dead chickens open to spray them clean was the job they were doing. And the water sprays back onto you. And the smell of the place is indescribable. And the smell of the workers in our office after they walked out was enough to make you sick.

That's awful, your poor friend. I'd rather work in the sex industry than in an abattoir and I'm a meat eater who's practically asexual!

I admit I have little understanding of the benefit system but why don't some people seem to get a choice of what to apply to?

My friend was unemployed for almost 2 years (got a job 2 months ago so I am talking recently) and she applied for lots of jobs but they were all in fields at least vaguely related to her own. She wouldn't have had time to fill in more applications for irrelevant posts and her field is quite specialised so I would have thought most people would have plenty to apply to without resorting to something so very far from what they want to do. She hated the job centre but nobody tried to force her apply for anything, she picked her own. Is it because she's got 3 degrees? Are they more likely to treat people like dirt if they haven't got educational advantages?!

As a taxpayer, I would rather contribute a bit more so that people were not forced into jobs that they found morally repugnant. It does not seem to me to be a civilised approach.

Obviously, people who are capable of work should try to find it, and it isn't reasonable for them to be too picky about which jobs they would or wouldn't do. However, there is a difference between not fancying a job and finding it ethically unacceptable. The job centre staff should be allowed to exercise some discretion in these circumstances, I think.

I would suggest your friend has a look at the links provided above and prints off any pertinent clauses. Or finds somewhere she can ask about her rights.

Being informed and calm is a good thing.

Unfortunately the Job centre's job these days seems to be to find as many people to sanction as often as possible.

YY Jinsei. I'm happy for my taxes to go on benefits until people find a suitable job. Not paying shitty private companies to force people into unsuitable jobs, workfare or sanctions.

Thanks oh greenwinter that's interesting

The link posted including an objection to working with anything designed to kill animals or humans as being a valid objection. It also included an objection to gambling but said having a moral objection to gambling wouldn't justify refusing a job as a waiter in a casino. Which seems wrong; bit like saying we can't force you to be a stripper but we can force you to be a bar person in a strip club.

Solomon's advice was good but I suppose as an abattoir might struggle to get staff they might actually have support they offer to help people adjust.

And following the casino analogy it might be difficult to refuse a job in the office or at the very tail end of the process once meat is safely cut up and in packaging.

needsasock I understand. I bet the police were fucking livid with the JC

I no longer advertise at the Job Centre because you get applications from totally unsuitable people who have obviously been forced to apply. A waste of everyones time.

The difference between a place that kills things and gambling is one would cause extreme mental trauma the other is just moral outrage

My friend is a vegan and works in a restaurant. She handles meat and animal products as she cooks with them but doubt she would do this! Im a meat eater and i couldn't do it either.
I went to an abattoir a few years back when i was studying and whilst majority of the staff were respectful of the animals and the animals didn't see what was happening to each other i could never ever do that job!

I would be sanctioned no doubt about it.

How awful for, I dont know whatvI would do under those circumstances. She is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't. She should go to the interview but not make hersrlf be the star candidate I suppose.

In the mean time help her with her CV & register it with as many temping agencies as she possibly can.
I sm not sure where you are based but Brook St, Manpower etc are nationwide agencies.

www.brookstreet.co.uk/

If she lives in a university town, then its worth having a look on their job pages as they hire cooks, receptionists, lots of different posts aswell as teaching staff. I am not sure what her background is but these are just ideas to put her back in control of her career.

Generally, I think if you can work, you should, even if the job is less than desirable. But this isn't a case of someone not wanting to apply for a job as a housekeeper because she feels she's above doing that type of work. This is an actual moral objection. I'm a plain old omnivore, and I wouldn't want to do that job. Hopefully allowances can be made for the OP's friend so she can find a more suitable position.

Gosh, sounds like a complete waste of everyone's time. What on earth benefit is it to the slaughterhouse to have to interview someone who doesn't want the job? I wouldn't want to hire someone who didn't want the job, either.

They don't give a shit. I was told that I had to go for a job where the only way home would be walking through dark alleyways which are a hub of crime for 15/20 minutes or walking through a public park where numerous rapes had occurred during the previous month. I was told that if I got the job I should get a taxi then. It was for the hours an evening or something ridiculous so even getting a taxi for the mile or two to three station would cost as much as I earnt in that time.

I would purposely fuck up an interview at an abattoir. Almost lifelong vegetarian, I just couldn't do it and I don't even care if people eat meat.

I have to say anyone who eats meat but would be unwilling to work in an slaughterhouse is being bloody hypocritical. Ignorance is bliss and all that.
Could your friend start cold calling, asking in shops, restaurants etc and really try her hardest to get a job somewhere else before the interview? I know that's what I would be doing but I would also be making a complaint to the DWP.

parentalunit said "I see no reason for taxpayers to fund her personal choices"

Presumably, parental, you have children. That was your personal choice. Your child is supported by taxpayers.

I wonder if all the people so keen for the unemployed to take any job and cease being a burden on the taxpayer would be personally willing to work on the line at a slaughterhouse themselves ?

OP, possibly a line your friend could take at interview would be that she is ever so keen to take the job, but never fails to vomit/ faint at the sight of raw meat?

I don't think it is fair on her or the abattoir to send her to this interview. I doubt that she will get the job if she informs them that she is vegan and she is only at the interview because the job centre forced her to go.

If she did get the job I wonder whether she will have any rights under the equality and diversity act? It may be worth contacting Acas in advance of the interview www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3017

How horrendous for your friend - and what a waste of taxpayers' money that she's being forced to apply for this. I bet the abattoir doesn't want unsuitable interviewees to be sent either: it's bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy, and a complete waste.

I'm vegetarian and have been since I made the choice for myself as a young child. I have always been revolted by meat, though for the sake of others I try to keep my reaction to myself. I went to an empty abattoir when I was 12 and I'd say I found it traumatic. The smell was appalling and the vision of the killing apparatus is still vivid for me 18 years later.

I've worked in service industries by the way, for many years, and handled raw and cooked meat. It made me feel ill, but I did it. It would be a thousand times worse to work in a slaughter house.

In short I think it's outrageous that she has to go to this interview, though I expect the job centre has heard similar (but false) excuses. I doubt anyone wants the job. If only she could call the abattoir to explain she doesn't want to waste their time - I bet it would only cause her further trouble though

Unethical, discriminatory and possibly traumatic for your friend to make her do this. She should make an official complaint about this citing the Equality Act.