YABVU and I’m pretty sure you know it!
“Those who can’t find work and get benefits .. should be required to give something back for the money they get ...not be forced to work for a big co operation but to contribute . Things like park maintenance , listening services , support to the struggling public services”
1 those are jobs, if they are working they should be getting paid at least nmw
2 if you had benefits recipients doing work like this you’re merely making the person that normally does that job unemployed or taking hours away from them so simply shifting the problem elsewhere
3 HUGE problems if you’re suggesting unqualified/untrained people take on such work especially things like “listening services” whatever they might be, though I’m assuming it would involve listening to vulnerable people, could do far more harm than good.
4 why should the poor unemployed be punished for the lack of paid work which isn’t within their power to change? Even according to this govts own stats the number of people claiming benefits purely on the basis of being unemployed far outnumber the number of vacancies available - and that’s ALL vacancies not just full time ones, but even just a few hours a week.
5 under the current system they are basically expected to treat job hunting as a full time job anyway. They’re not sat doing nothing! Do you have any idea the amount of time it takes to search for and apply for jobs and go to interviews? If you’re to have any chance of success?
6 who’s going to cover their costs of doing this? Transport, the right clothes and shoes, safety equipment etc?
Op have you EVER been on benefits? If so when and for how long?
“I didn’t say that they would be paid less than mimiun wage”
Ahem
“Those who can’t find work and get benefits .. should be required to give something back for the money they get” which is less than nmw!
“Weird and impractical combination of socialist job creation and Thatcherite heartlessness.” Yep!
“The reality is though they send people to do shelf stacking in Tesco doing others out of a paid job, and helping no one but big business. It makes me furious” exactly! There was a scheme that did this and supposedly if the person doing the job did it well they were supposed to get the chance to do the job permanently and be contracted and get employee rights etc, but the companies taking advantage of it would bump them saying they no longer had a business need, not fill the role for however many months in order to “prove” that then apply and get another free employee!
“as you obviously took my comment on the other thread and just ran... And came up with this bulshit.” Interesting, which other thread?
“Many skilled and able people are unemployed” and why shouldn’t them using those skills be suitably rewarded? Why should they receive less than the market rate? Let alone less than nmw? For using those skills?
“I am not a policy maker and admit I do not understand the technical application of a view I hold .” You don’t have to be, basic common sense, compassion and empathy should tell you what a fucking disgraceful and punitive idea this is.
As for the fucking workhouse idea - I barely have words! What the HELL is happening to this country that people think these suggestions are REMOTELY acceptable even to ponder?!!
“Should the older residents be gotten rid of somehow...?” Shades of “animal farm” and poor boxer come to mind!
“Victorian workhouses were awful and one way traps. I'm not proposing rat infested dormitories next to a laundry. It's more giving goods and services rather than cash - and could resemble student halls family accommodation.” You think when the workhouses were first proposed they were presented as barely habitable slums?! Of course not! They were presented as a frugal but utilitarian way of addressing poverty and unemployment, mainly by making the poor seem akin to criminals and workhouses had very similar designs to prisons. They were intended to be unattractive certainly but not deliberately uninhabitable.
“Building the houses would get a lot of people back into work for a start.” Something I and others have said many times. A good social housing building/renovation programme would do great things for our country, provide jobs and training, provide affordable housing, provide housing security (which we KNOW has effects like reducing crime and improving children’s educational achievements), improves communities generally, reduce housing prices ... and therein is WHY those with the power to do this DON’T, there is a shocking number of politicians at all levels and of all party colours who are landlords/property developers and oh what a surprise - they always vote against ANY policies that would lead to lower housing prices - imo its a conflict of interest that should be banned.
If there is work that needs done it should be done by employees NOT people effectively enslaved to do the work!