Unemployed used as unpaid staff at Jubilee event and expected to sleep outside

[HRHEightiesChick]

This story about unpaid workers doing the security at the flotilla event yesterday is bad. They were misled about not being paid, and had to sleep out in tents or actually outside 'under London bridge' was suggested to them. This is Workfare in action again, I believe.

MammaBrussels, you are right that all parties spin. That is why we are so lucky to have a great press which cuts through the crap and delivers the truth.

When you see those legendary words "Daily Mail reporter" underneath a newspaper article - no need to even mention the individual reporter, for no individual can compare with the words 'Daily Mail reporter', so trusted by the public - then you know that you will get the truth straight from the horse's mouth.

You know that 'Daily Mail reporter' will not accept what Lord Prescott says at face value, they owe a duty to their readership to research the facts. And so the storm in the teacup disappears, the peer refastens his ermine, and of the spin we hear no more.

No meditrina, that is not ALL that was 'wrong'

How about -

1. Having to bus in anyone at all. There are presumably no unemployed people in London ??

1. Using the general unemployed at all. Are there no security trained personnel with security cards looking for work?

1. Using general unemployed for this kind of work (unequalled proportion of spectators to area) is dangerous. These 'recruits' had no knowledge of London, had no knowledge of boundaries in place and could not cope

1. The moral aspect of not giving a living wage. Okay, if these people were on benefits and scared to lose them, perhaps understandable from their point of view, but in which case the system is wrong and the employers taking advantage.

There are probably more - how about promises of Olympic work?

Claig I can't tell whether you're being serious or ot about DAILY MAIL REPORTER.

I am having a laugh. It always makes me laugh when I see 'Daily Mail reporter' underneath an article.

Thank God for that! I can laugh now without feeling like a snooty bitch

happyinherts:

a) not familiar with how this contract was tendered. Can you explain whose actual bid was better? And who are you accusing of fraud or other malpractice in the tendering process? Can you actually confirm that no others were from outside London, and that London-based bids were rejected?

b) ditto - who bid for this contract with a complement of fully trained staff as part of their bid? Why was this rejected? Were the reasons for the rejection lawful in terms of the tender criteria?

c) whose assessment it this? Were they really working London-wide without direction?

d) a lower training wage has been permitted since the NMW was rolled out. Now, I think the NVQ that they were working towards is likely to be a totally useless qualification, but for as long as it exists then training level NMW can apply. I would agree that there needs to be a cull of "Mickey mouse" courses: but perhaps there is a MNetter who knows better whether this qualification does carry any weight. Stewarding is a pretty big sector.

"The boss of the charity which arranged a compulsory work placement in which Jubilee pageant workers were forced to sleep rough in central London is a Conservative peer. Baroness Debbie Scott heads Tomorrow?s People, who were responsible for botched arrangements which saw 30 jobseekers told to sleep overnight under London bridge ? before being woken at 5:30am and told to change their clothes in public.

Baroness Scott appears on page 14 of the Conservative manifesto backing the Tories? Work Programme. However she was later censured by the Charity Commission, who ruled that ?By agreeing to contribute to the manifesto, the charity has provided support to the party?, a breach of the rules on political activities of charities.

While a security company involved let their managing director take the heat ? Tomorrow?s People put up an underling in the hope no one would spot their political links."

IF this is true, then no wonder the right wing media are trying to put a better spin on things. FROM: politicalscrapbook.net/2012/06/jubilee-stewards-tomorrows-people-debbie-scott/

Meh, I don't trust that they were well treated. It's cheap labour AND IT STINKS.

'Mr Cooke, who hopes to work for CPUK during the Olympics, added: ?They have paid for all the training for my licence and an NVQ in crowd safety.'

Some of these NVQs do seem a bit mickey mouse. But the company Close Protection UK was helping these people gain an SIA licence, without which you can't work in the industry, so that is not a mickey mouse qualification, but essential. That is why I think people volunteered to do this, as the company was paying for the licence and the course to get through, as I understand it.

This is the SIA Close Protection licence, which is maybe what they were working towards, since the company itself is called Close Protection UK. I don't know what "close protection" is, but it seems it is a specific type of security.

www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Pages/licensing-close-protection.aspx

This appears to be unlike stacking shelves in a supermarket, as the company is actually paying for this SIA licence, which will then licence people to work for 3 years in the industry. The licence is valuable because people without one are not allowed to work in that industry. The company was offering something useful to people who were looking for a future.

") a lower training wage has been permitted since the NMW was rolled out. Now, I think the NVQ that they were working towards is likely to be a totally useless qualification, but for as long as it exists then training level NMW can apply. I would agree that there needs to be a cull of "Mickey mouse" courses: but perhaps there is a MNetter who knows better whether this qualification does carry any weight. Stewarding is a pretty big sector."

I don't care if it's legal, it's still exploitation. Are their living costs lower than everyone else's? The political class, including new Labour, have been shitting all over the working class by permitting this stuff.

My ex has been a 'temporary' worker (street cleaning, dustman) for two years. He can't find a permanent job. He regularly falls behind with his money and bills. He doesn't know whether he will be working one day to the next. The council use an agency and use hundreds of 'temps' for their street cleaning and dust services. These agencies are poverty pimps and scum.

This wasn't just pointless training, but a means of getting future work.

They won't be given permanent jobs. They might get work during the olympics and then aferwards they will be back in the revolving door system of dole and temporary work. A lot of them came from Plymouth, which is where we are. Proper jobs are like rocking horse shit down here.

This is some of the stuff you need to do to get a licence

www.sia.homeoffice.gov.uk/Pages/training-cp.aspx

It is good that there is training for such a responsible job, and you can't just walk off the street and do this. This company helps train people up and has experience in doing close protection. Lord Prescott may be wrong in his reamrks about this company.

FrothOM, I agree with you about the problem of temporary jobs and contracts. It is not good enough, and all of the political class are responsible, and that includes New Labour.

They should scrap some of these contracting out arrangements and reinstate permanent council jobs, so that people have security of employment and so that teh public gets a good service from people who are in regular employment rather than those who come and go.

It's not all about cost. It's about quality of service and providing a livelihood to hard working people.

But in the meantime, we have a system where people are desperate for work, and for peers, who need to get no licences, to disparage companies who offer a way out, is a bit rich.

Claig, this SIA Certificate and NVQ are only helping people to operate in stewarding. I don't see how you can draw a distinction between shelf stacking and event stewarding. If they can find work as stewards (unless vacant positions are filled by Work Fare) it's going to be temporary work ( 3 weeks at the Olympics, 5 hours at a football match). This Certificate and NVQ is not equipping the unemployed with the skills they need to find work in anything other than Stewarding.

If the government knew what they were doing, if the government understood anything about the causes and effects of unemployment they would not implement the 'Work' Programme. There are lots of policies they could use to do this but they're no arrogant, ignorant and narrow minded that they won't even countenance them.

MammaBrussels, you may be right that "close protection" is just a fancy name for stewarding, I don't know, but I think you may be right. This sosrt of goobledegook speak to hide things behind fancy exteriors was typical of New Labour Britain.

If that is the case, then it does sound that the work will be temporary, which is a shame. But the people working towards these licences know more about it than us, and they obviously do see value in doing it.

But, I agree, that much more must be done. We need growth from public infrastructure projects that will train and employ tens of thousands of people. I hope that things like that will start soon. They have relaxed some of the planning rules and it wouldn't surprise me if public works are started soon. I hope so.

One good thing about this government is that they are not too arrogant to change direction. They have made lots of u-turns, when they realised that they were going in the wrong direction. I think they do listen to the public and are prepared to own up to mistakes and change course. They may not eat pasty pies, but they are prepared to eat humble pie, and that is good for the people of the country.

Growth from infrastructure projects is just the start...

I just wish we had a competent government that didn't need to make so many U turns. They're weak, ill-informed and too arrogant to take on board advice. It's one thing to modify an unpopular tax on foods heated beyond ambient temperature. It's another altogether to have an economic policy that is causing the UK economy to shrink, causing unemployment to rise and forcing people to live in relative poverty. They won't U turn on that will they? No, because they're completely fucking incompetent.

Furthermore, the U turns totally undermine any credibility they may have. If the Eurozone was in better shape this would cause bond yields to rise and capital flight, causing the pound to weaken further against other currencies. They're a shower of shit who don't know the first thing about running the country or how people live. The sooner they're gone the better.

Who will replace them? Labour? Are they really going to do things better? They had 13 years to prove themselves, didn't they?

What Frothy M said about her ex basically sums up exactly whats wrong. Its the situation many of these stewards will find themselves in. Thats if they can get any temporary work at all which wont happen if the positions are filled by workfare. look at what this country has become. If people had been told around the time of the Silver Jubilee in "77 that by the time the Diamond Jubilee got here the crowd stewards wouldnt even be paid a wage people would have laughed.

Josephine, I don't think that Labour could do as bad a job as the Conservatives. So yes, Labour will replace them, do a better job and work on the huge economic, social, legal and constitutional reforms that this country needs.

The economy was growing when the Conservatives left office, now what's happening? Oh yes, record unemployment, rising government spending, growing deficit and a recession. They're doing a simply marvelous job aren't they?

Josephine, name one good thing this government have actually achieved.