Boycott workfare in Sheffield

[andygardener 10]

i have a very good understanding of how they work, i am on one. i know that your speaking from an employer stance, but just for a sec read the top qoute!

 

Molly I'm sure you worked hard on your placement and were an asset to the company you were working for. However not everyone on these schemes will so realistically they will tend to be larger employers with management systems in place that will be able to offer these opportunities for people. Small businesses and community groups don't have the resources to manage people who may not be particularly good at the tasks they are given and may not have a good attitude or work ethic etc. It would be nice if there was a win/win in terms of community results but the management costs would probably end up outweighing the benefits to the community.

[Darth Vader 10]

good read

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/columnists/view/236154/-Slave-jobs-stacking-up/

I TOOK a quick holiday last week and came home to find myself transported back to Victorian times. Yes, the spirit of the workhouse is alive and well and in a Jobcentre near you.

 

Well, what else to think when Tesco advertised a job paying the magnificently generous “wage” of...wait for it...Jobseeker’s Allowance plus expenses?

 

So let me get this right. You work full-time, for benefits, and Tesco puts in precisely nothing?

However you look at it, this is forced labour.

 

Ahhh, you might say – but it’s a chance for the unemployed to get themselves back into work and gain experience rather than lazing around on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle (oh hang on – you do realise that the vast majority of the 2.67million unemployed would dearly love to be in work but the jobs just don’t exist, right?).

 

But even if that is your (sadly misguided) view, why on earth should hugely-profitable companies like Tesco get workers for free?

 

Basically, Tesco is being subsidised by the taxpayer – it gets a free temp and the rest of us pick up the bill for paying out the Jobseeker’s Allowance.

 

Something is very, very wrong here.

 

I’m sure the bean counters at Tesco think it’s fantastic – why bother creating real, paid, permanent jobs that get people off the dole when they have an endless supply of benefit claimants forced to work for free?

 

NO doubt that’s why schemes like this – which have been dubbed “workfare” – have proved popular with many other high street names – ASDA, Boots, Argos, Poundland, Primark and Topshop to name and shame just a few.

 

But if a company has a job that needs doing it should pay someone to do it – not benefit from free, forced labour.

What terrible exploitation of the unemployed!

 

From an article by Sally Bercow

 

Surprisingly good article. Worth a read of the whole thing.

[DixyHol 10]

Have you been sent to A4e/serco by the jobcentre to do work for your benefits programmes then come along to national day of action

 

http://www.boycottworkfare.org/

 

You want to protest because you may have to work for your money?

Well get a job then?

[melthebell 862]

You want to protest because you may have to work for your money?

Well get a job then?

 

not read the thread then?

[woodmally 10]

When will people get it into their heads that people claiming benefits were also 'hard working taxpayers' right up until the moment when their jobs were taken away from them.

 

Sadly not all of them were which is where this problem stems from. A lot of people are on benefits all their lives. Their parents were on benefits and I am sure their many children will be too.

[DixyHol 10]

not read the thread then?

 

Just have so feel kind of silly now.

Im leaving the comment in though as a warning to others who are silly enough to comment without reading it all first.

 

Tescos can suck my danglies!

[andygardener 10]

Surprisingly good article. Worth a read of the whole thing.

 

The article was the sort emotive rubbish you'd expect from Mrs Speaker but the sole fact was interesting. 20% of participants get a full time job. Among the long term unemployed in a tight labour market that seems like a very good end result.

[melthebell 862]

The article was the sort emotive rubbish you'd expect from Mrs Speaker but the sole fact was interesting. 20% of participants get a full time job. Among the long term unemployed in a tight labour market that seems like a very good end result.

 

when the companies involved could invest in 100% of the jobs instead of taking cheap / free labour?

[Shef_Fitness 10]

Dont be so daft this is about getting people to earn their benefit rather than lounging about watching jeremy Kyle while the rest of us work and pay taxes.

 

I honestly thought I would hate this conservative government but this is a great idea. About time.

 

 

 

Well good to see one or two people who support this, it may become a reality for you one day.

 

First they made the sick work for their benefits, then they came for the single parents. Who next, perhaps you?

 

Do you not think this undermines your own job security? unless you have your own business, you could easily be replaced by someone who doesn't need paying.

 

Sounds great to some people, but perhaps will be a dangerous reality one day for many people.

 

If this happens to you, lets hope that the bailiff knocking on your door will be a sympathetic chap. When you can't meet your bills, you can't pay your mortgage, your gas has been cut off, your car is being taken away to be auctioned, you can't afford to feed your family etc.....

[molly44 10]

company's that have the management and the finacial clout to exert on the goverment will do well out of these schemes, i doubt very much wether the people will. they might get a job part time, but the tax payer will end up subsidizing them through the tax credits anyhow, so as i previous poster has said, its a loose, loose situation for the tax payer and a win all round for the big companies.

look the plans to bring in work for prisoners, now that is slave labour. even the Chinese cant compete with the 30 pounds a week wage that they pay.

so thats 40,000 extra jobs that could have been filled by the unemployed, being taken up by the prisoners!!. and they say crime dosent pay!!. you are literally better off in prison than being unemployed on the outside. i have nowhere near 30 pounds a week to spend on myself,

[TheGuy 10]

http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lp2gng47qv1qjql2lo1_500.jpg

[millsands 10]

Just a thought about one of the Sheffield companies involved with the welfare to work program..

 

The company run by David Cameron’s ‘Back to Work Tsar’ Emma Harrison is at the centre of a fraud investigation.

The Department for Work and Pensions confirmed last night that a probe into A4e – headed by Mrs Harrison – was under way.

A source at the company told The Mail on Sunday that on Friday afternoon, officers from Thames Valley Police visited the company’s offices in Slough, Berkshire.

The source said they stayed for up to four hours and demanded staff hand over documents and computer files dating back two years. He confirmed: ‘Police were in the office on Friday going back over contracts.’

The source added that police had indicated they planned to make further visits to other A4e offices throughout the country.

It is also the source’s understanding that the police were investigating claims that the company had put some people in jobs for just one day, but claimed the funding nonetheless.

It is believed that Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling was last night made aware of the investigation into A4e.

The company is majority-owned by Mrs Harrison, who has made millions from running her work programmes under both Labour and the Conservatives.

Last week it was revealed that she had been paid an £8.6 million dividend after A4e’s turnover rose to £234 million.

The disclosure that A4e is being investigated for alleged fraud will be an embarrassment for Mr Cameron.

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2103252/Back-work-tsar-centre-fraud-probe-claims-funding-went-jobs-lasting-just-day.html#ixzz1mrFPuhyC

Edited February 19, 2012 by millsands