Work experience? Or just free labour for big business?

[tallybee]

https://www.guardian.co.uk/society/...FCONX01FRS-33dhzXXX&fb_source=other_multiline

I am all for giving people the chance to gain experience, but how can this be productive? Those who 'express an interest' won't be the workshy losers that SHOULD be getting pushed to get off benefits, but more likely those who have been made redundant as a result of these tough times and want to do the right thing anyway, want to work but there just aren't enough jobs out there. So many people applying for so few jobs...

These big companies are massively profitable - if they need the labour they should hire paid staff surely, meaning more jobs - in turn meaning more people paying tax rather than drawing benefits!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I think that's awful! If they were guaranteed a job at the end of the unpaid period providing they had worked satisfactorily, then ok, but I'd still not be comfortable with it really, it does seem like a form of slavery and as you say, they're picking on the wrong people!

Also how can they afford travel to work costs if they are not earning.

If they have a need for more staff, I think it is disgusting that companies like Tescos are not hiring people properly and paying them, they clearly have the money to do so.

 

[tallybee]

I think that's awful! If they were guaranteed a job at the end of the unpaid period providing they had worked satisfactorily, then ok, but I'd still not be comfortable with it really, it does seem like a form of slavery and as you say, they're picking on the wrong people!

Also how can they afford travel to work costs if they are not earning.

If they have a need for more staff, I think it is disgusting that companies like Tescos are not hiring people properly and paying them, they clearly have the money to do so.

Yup, bus fares really add up when you're trying to live off £50 or £60 a week...

 

[deafgal]

made me think of this: https://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg#p/u/243/u6XAPnuFjJc

 

[tallybee]

That's an interesting video deafgal.

 

[Lydiarose]

i have personal experience of this!

Oh voluntarly signed up for work experience in WHsmith as the job centre said he may get a job at the end,which he was desperate for! he was told no other details . . .


Then the day he started he was told if he quit,his jsa would be stopped for 6 months and he'd be working 9am - 5:30pm everyday.

They also wouldnt refund his travel expensies for weeks which left us short on rent.


Heres my reasons why i think its unethical and so wrong.


Dan wasnt able to look for a job,only weekends where very few buisneses were open to take calls etc.

He was made to work in a warehouse,working his arse off for a pittance.


He was told after a week (this is what they ussually do) there were no jobs going for anyone at the end but thanks for there time and they cant quit for another 3/4 however many months or they will loose there benefits.

In the end dan walked out and told the job centre to shove it up there arse and they could feel free to cut his benefits because he would now be spending his time looking for a job not doing free slave labour.

He did actually get a job the week he quit!


But dans a grown man and can look after himself but what they did to my mum makes me sick.

She signed up through the job centre also but with house of fraiser she did a course at the same time in retail (she previously worked with disabled children but left after having breast cancer)

She was told shed be on the perfume counters etc,and they actually told her she would 99% be getting a job at the end of it,she still wasnt fully over the cancer and got very tierd but trudged on because she needed a job to support us all.

The day she got there she was told shed be working in the warehouse 8 hours a day,NOT on the shop floor like promiced.

She was trudging boxes around and doing all the shit no one else could be arsed to do.

A girl who was doing this also,was actually told she shouldnt really be on the shop floor incase due to there clientelle . . . she had learning disabilities.

Then after 6 months they were told,thanks for your help but we dont need you goodbye.


There should be very very strict rules put in place,if someone has been out of work for so long,hasnt attempted to find a job,has never had one then yes possibly it would be good to get experience.

But in all the cases ive known its people who ARE experienced who have lost there jobs for whatever reason and want another one being forced to do slave labour.

wrong wrong wrong.

 

[BlackBerry25]

I personally think its horrible and disgusting and could trap people into working with unethical conditions.

So glad we don't have this in Canada!

 

[fantastica]

Lydia - that's shocking

It would be okay if there was some sort of guarantee at the end of it. It's great for people to be able to get experience to make them more employable, but this just sounds like slave labour, and is completely unacceptable.

 

[tallybee]

Yeah Lydia I remember now you saying about Dan doing that. And yes I agree any scheme should be targeted at those who wouldn't do it off their own back.

I would like to say I am astonished that it can be allowed, but unfortunately I'm not because so many effed-up things seem to go on!

 

[trgirl308]

Wow that is crazy... we don't even have un-paid internships here that I know of... I think either way the company is benefiting from the labour, they should still receive minimum wage. I can see how it could be inconvenient (for the company) to have a guaranteed position after if the company is seasonal, or their business goes down.. but they should pay for the work they get when they get it.

 

[EllaAndLyla]

My OH has been part of something like this. He was on jobseekers allowance for a while and they said in order to keep claiming he needed to do a mandatory job course. Fair enough, until he started!

He was assigned to the british heart foundation, he thought it would be working on tills and shop presentation but it wasn't... After his first day he came home with cuts and scratches all over his arms & hands, he had been loading and unloading 40 foot lorries all day by himself! That meant taking things like sofas, fridges, cabinets etc out of a lorry, carrying them down into the basement until the lorry was empty and the refilling it with sofas etc from the basement, carrying them up flights of stairs and putting them all back into the lorry. At the end of his first day he was knackered but politely sid to the manager 'at least its for charity'. The manager laughed and replied with 'You'd think so wouldn't you' he then went on to tell OH that only 10% of profits made through the charity shop were donated to charity!! the rest went to all the employee's other than shop staff!!!

Within 4 days he quit, he had had enough, his hands were cut and swollen, he had bruises up his arms and was aching all over. Sad part is, he wasn't even allowed a job at the end of it and they expected him to work for 13 weeks unpaid and still actively search for work!!! They would have cut his benefits by 6 months if he hadn't worked, which they did but so luckily for us he got a job within 2 weeks and is on his first shift as we speak

 

[EllaAndLyla]

Lydia, just read your story, sounds way to similar to mine, they must be doing this to everyone!!