Working for free breached laws banning slavery and forced labour

[Mister M 1,608]

She looked like a soap dodging arrogant keffiyeh wearing guardianista to me mate. Her actions confirmed it. Why would any real business want that?

 

Depends if you think working for some cheapskate exploiter is the 'real' business.

As I1LT23 said - she's intelligent, assertive, has excellent communication skills. Many employers nowadays value these qualities.

[MrSmith 10]

Bit short-sighted of the hotel. But I guess some mug will agree to do the night shift on standby for free.

 

It wouldn't be so bad if they offered permanent accommodation, with the job being a live in job. Free accommodation in return for being on call at night wouldn’t be unreasonable because it would save him renting his flat.

[scentral 10]

I find one aspect of this confusing.

If she was drawing dole money she would not be entitled to take paid work.

If Poundland had paid her she wouldn't have got dole money.

 

And there's the crux. She found a job off her own bat BUT that would not permit the DWP (or here 'Work Provider' ) to tick their boxes and claim credit/funding.

 

Can't have that, can we? So this job she had has given her bosses to see her in action re. willingness, timekeeping etc. She'd have had to give it up to work for Poundland for nothing.

 

And these people claim to be 'helping people back into work' when the truth is, like bankers, they're only interested in meeting targets and keeping their miserable jobs.

[Mr Bloom 10]

Good luck to the rest of her career which she's probably ruined now. Would any employer risk taking on someone like her?

 

On the contrary, I think she's saved herself a lot of heartache, disappointment, and bitterness, because she'll never have to work for a total arse.

 

---------- Post added 14-02-2013 at 09:40 ----------

 

If i was an employer i wouldnt touch her with a bargepole ............. she has got "Troublemaker" written all over her.

 

Case in point.

[ricgem2002 11]

That’s what I thought, the lad would have been happy with a retainer, which covered for a couple of hours work if necessary, so he sleeps for 7 hours but is paid for two of them whether he works or not.

Just hopping now he gets the new job because I think his life will be made more difficult now they now he’s looking for other work.

thats your trouble you think you dont know what the lad would have been happy with. maybe just maybe he thought he would have been paid overtime at the going rate. then maybe he wouldnt have to tell his landlord/council that he cant afford his rent because his employer didnt pay him. how do you pay rent/mortgage/bills etc from fresh air?

[MrSmith 10]

I was posting this on another thread but its closed so I thought I would share it with you here.

 

"if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys"

 

Monkeys don’t work for peanuts, they will work for Cucumber and grapes but only if they get equal pay as this video demonstrates.

[alchresearch 213]

While there are obviously failings at the job centre who gave out wrong information, the biggest concern of mine is that she finds working at Poundland a hindrance to her job seeking (erm, what about evenings and days she's not working?), but she didn't find working those same hours in the museum to be a hindrance.

 

Her statement yesterday primarily focused on it impeding her volunteer work. That is not acceptable. She should be available for work, and if not working, then looking for work in that time.

 

Video here: 2 minutes 44 seconds in:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21426928

 

"I brought this case because I was prevented from doing my voluntary work at my museum and forced to work in Poundland for free for two weeks."

 

When I was once made redundant I was asked if I did any voluntary work. I did, and had to jump through all kinds of hoops to prove that I wasn't doing it during work or work-seeking time.

[Tony 10]

The way that I would see the volunteering angle is that "The Pen Museum is operated entirely by volunteers" in any case. One would assume that the other volunteers have all the same calls on their time as she does, except that she didn't have any work to go to.

 

She's really pushing it to claim that she should have been at The Pen Musuem instead of Poundland (or somewhere else).

 

Whether she should have been sent to Poundland is another thing altogether. If she genuinely picked up valuable work skills there, then she should appreciate that. Whether she would pick up any valuable work skills by doing extra volunteering at The Pen Museum is very much open for debate.

 

As for Poundland / Jobcentre / Government, a reasonable compromise would for Poundland (or whoever) to pay her an amount equal to benefits plus expenses, unless they can demonstrate that they are giving her training worth more than the value of her benefits.

 

Putting Poundland aside, there are lots of employers out there that take part in these schemes and take them seriously, not just as a source of cheap labour. That should be encouraged and integrated properly into the benefits / job seeking system.

 

From what I've heard in reports, I'd not be very keen to have her on my staff if she turned up for an interview with me.

[*_ash_* 88]

On the contrary, I think she's saved herself a lot of heartache, disappointment, and bitterness, because she'll never have to work for a total arse.

 

---------- Post added 14-02-2013 at 09:40 ----------

 

 

Case in point.

 

Given many people's views on employers in here, then it would not be on the contrary at all.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

You mean they can re-write the rules to make it a condition that those on JSA must do 'slave labour?

Well, apart from your use of the pejorative reference to 'slave labour', yes.

[TeaFan 10]

 

Whether she should have been sent to Poundland is another thing altogether. If she genuinely picked up valuable work skills there, then she should appreciate that. Whether she would pick up any valuable work skills by doing extra volunteering at The Pen Museum is very much open for debate.

 

 

As I have already pointed out, she already had retail experience, so had nothing to gain from working for Poundland for nowt. The only people who gained were Poundland, therefore they should be paying. The taxpayer lost out, she lost out, anyone looking for a paid job at Poundland lost out.

[TeaFan 10]

Interesting how it's Cait Reilly who comes in for the invective when the case was about two people, the other a man called Jamieson Wilson.

 

Mr Wilson, a qualified mechanic, was told that he had to work unpaid, cleaning furniture for 30 hours a week for six months, under a scheme called the community action programme.

 

He objected to doing unpaid work that would not help him re-enter the jobs market and refused, leading to him losing jobseekers’ allowance for six months.

 

Let's think about this. First, why is a woman refusing to work for free berated and hated by some people but a man refusing the same receives no such treatment? I get the impression that some people think she doesn't know her place, and that her place is different from a man's. Imagine if she was a black woman - imagine a black woman getting all uppity about not working for free. The cheek of it!

 

Also, cleaning furniture for free for 6 months?? How does that work? "Well, I've been cleaning furniture day in day out for 4 months now, so only 2 months to go before I have learned how to clean furniture to a required standard to get me a job as a ... furniture cleaner??"