Boycott workfare in Sheffield

[duncx 10]

Dunno if this has already been said (too busy to read 11 pages!) but I think that......

 

People unlucky enough to find themselves on the dole should be asked to earn their benefits, but at the minimum wage rate and in useful community projects. Thus it would not be 'slave labour' and it would leave them plenty of spare time to search for jobs etc.

 

Surely it's got to be best for everyone's self respect to be able to earn their keep?

 

I guess the main problem with this is that the cost of running such a scheme would be very high. This is why they use companies like Tescos etc who already have the employment infrastructure in place.

[Shef_Fitness 10]

You have to be very careful of schemes like this because as others have said major employers are given a free workforce, and this of course takes away real paid jobs from jobseekers.

 

Its hard enough for small retailers to compete with the giants with rents, red tape etc.....and to compete against a giant who has a freeby workforce puts the small retailer at a huge disadvantage.

[fake 10]

Why is it such a problem people working for their dole money. Are they so work shy?

 

Its not about working but about whether people should be required to work for no wages as dole is not classed as wages. Cant see any challenge succeeding though as they are not being forced to work.

 

If the unemployed are required to work for benefits then they should be accorded the same rights and be covered by the same laws as those in paid employment. That means equal rights in every aspect including the minimum wage.

[anywebsite 10]

Dunno if this has already been said (too busy to read 11 pages!) but I think that......

 

People unlucky enough to find themselves on the dole should be asked to earn their benefits, but at the minimum wage rate and in useful community projects. Thus it would not be 'slave labour' and it would leave them plenty of spare time to search for jobs etc.

 

Surely it's got to be best for everyone's self respect to be able to earn their keep?

 

I guess the main problem with this is that the cost of running such a scheme would be very high. This is why they use companies like Tescos etc who already have the employment infrastructure in place.

 

So people working on community projects don't deserve a wage? You'd sack them, put them on the dole & replace them with people forced to work for their dole? No matter where you make them work they're going to put people already working those jobs out of work unless they're paid at least minimum wage & their wage is paid by their employer, not the state.

Edited August 6, 2012 by anywebsite

[Total Chaos 10]

I'm not 'shoehorning' the immigrants....I'm 'shoehorning' the government for allowing it to happen!!! If I thought I could move to Australia and get the same housing and benefits that our government gives to many immigrants here and lets face it, the government don't expect anything in return, then I'd be off tomorrow!!!!

 

All I'm saying is if you want to live in another country (and I'm talking about those who make the choice to move) that's fine. But why should that country pay for you to live there and get nothing back in return??

 

Im already contemplating it.I watched a programme the other day, about English moving down under and they have a lot better quality of life,The wages are trice as much as in the uk.A family had been scrimping and scraping,working all hours over here and just managed to pay for food,bills etc and could not do anything at the weekend as the could not afford it.Now they are 10k better off per year.

 

They might have forums that allows you freedom of speech,as this country is supposed to have, instead of throwing suspensions for the tiniest things

Edited August 6, 2012 by Total Chaos

[Leah-Lacie 10]

A lot of this thread seems, although I haven't read it all, to be people annoyed that places like Tesco and other giants are using the program. They are, yes, but all the available vacancies are advertised in JCP, and I looked at them a few weeks ago, and theres everything from Jack Fulton, British Heart Foundation charity shops and Kelham Island to restaurants and cafes in town. Local businesses can use it too. They give forms to jobseekers to hand to places they would like to work so they can join the program. Anyone with a small business might want to look into it!

 

 

Posted from Sheffieldforum.co.uk App for Android

[anywebsite 10]

A lot of this thread seems, although I haven't read it all, to be people annoyed that places like Tesco and other giants are using the program. They are, yes, but all the available vacancies are advertised in JCP, and I looked at them a few weeks ago, and theres everything from Jack Fulton, British Heart Foundation charity shops and Kelham Island to restaurants and cafes in town. Local businesses can use it too. They give forms to jobseekers to hand to places they would like to work so they can join the program. Anyone with a small business might want to look into it!

 

 

Posted from Sheffieldforum.co.uk App for Android

 

So Jack Fultons & the British Heart Foundation are small businesses now?

 

I wouldn't want to employ anybody that didn't choose to work for me & was forced to work for their benefits. If I want a job doing then I'll pay a fair rate for it to somebody who wants to do it.

 

It isn't worthwhile for any small business to go through the costs & risks of doing the scheme if they're only taking on a couple of people.

Edited August 6, 2012 by anywebsite

[Leah-Lacie 10]

Not everyone is forced as such. When they first sign on, they can choose to do it and get a placement totally voluntarily, which I did. I just signed up for it and went to the focus groups though, but didn't start a placement. The groups give you interview skills and help you talking in a group and stuff and were always full of people who had volunteered to go along. They only force people onto the scheme after a long period on benefits. Not everyone looking at temporary placements doesn't want to work.

 

 

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[Leah-Lacie 10]

Quote:

 

Originally Posted by Leah-Lacie

 

A lot of this thread seems, although I haven't read it all, to be people annoyed that places like Tesco and other giants are using the program. They are, yes, but all the available vacancies are advertised in JCP, and I looked at them a few weeks ago, and theres everything from Jack Fulton, British Heart Foundation charity shops and Kelham Island to restaurants and cafes in town. Local businesses can use it too. They give forms to jobseekers to hand to places they would like to work so they can join the program. Anyone with a small business might want to look into it!

 

 

Posted from Sheffieldforum.co.uk App for Android

 

So Jack Fultons & the British Heart Foundation are small businesses now?

 

I wouldn't want to employ anybody that didn't choose to work for me & was forced to work for their benefits. If I want a job doing then I'll pay a fair rate for it to somebody who wants to do it.

 

It isn't worthwhile for any small business to go through the costs & risks of doing the scheme if they're only taking on a couple of people.

 

I never said they were all small businesses either, just a list I remembered off the top of my head.

 

I've got a few forms here they gave me to take to local shops and pubs and the like to get them to apply to join. It costs them nothing as far as I can tell from reading it, and they don't have to stay on the scheme or employ anyone else or guarantee the person who applied for a temp placement a job afterwards... It leans towards 'helping young people in the community back to work' but they have people off all ages applying for it. Having just come off jobseekers myself, I would have seen it as a great opportunity to get some recent experience!

 

 

 

 

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[Eckolad 10]

Well the judges didn't rule against the government. They did however state the letters from.the dwp should be clearer

[G51065 10]

In the 80s when i left school, I did two schemes.

 

Job share: 12 months of half a weeks work for half a weeks wage, a choice of job types with proper practical experiance, cynically viewed as a good way to reduce the unemployment figures as we were only "half unemployed".

 

Restart: 12 mnth job placement on benefit, choice of placement (you provided a list of places you wanted to work and they did there best to place you) proper on the job experience in a chosen line of work.

 

The Restart scheme led to my employment an I have worked ever since.

 

The recent economic situation is beginning to make my current job look unsteady and I have to say, if I do end up on benefits i doubt the scheme in place will do much to get me quickly back into employment, or provide any pertinent training.... If it would be to teach me the "work ethic" then I think I'm already ok in that respect, so yes...it stinks.

Edited August 6, 2012 by G51065

[Lexikia 10]

I don't disagree with 'work experience', as Argos puts it. However, work experience should be for school leavers who want experience in a particular field that they are interested in and would like like to go on to having a career in.

 

It's been made far too easy for people to 'not work' and as Archi3 says, the stigma of being 'out of work' has change dramatically over the past 2-3 decades.

 

What makes my blood boil is the very poor immigration control this country has had over the past 10 years or so and giving those people the right to claim benefits. It was their choice to choose and come to this country, they should be expected to pay their way. If I (or anyone else) decided to move abroad, we'd be expected to do pay for ourselves, afterall, it was our choice. We wouldn't be entitled to claim any benefit. Before someone jumps on my back about 'refugees and persecution in their own country' which is why they came to the UK, ask yourself why they came to a small island and didn't choose to go to another country instead.

 

Totally agree. There are not enough apprenticeship's around and this is going to leave a dire shortage of skilled labour in the coming years as older people retire.