Ook steeds meer dwangarbeid in Ierland

Its “Gateway” scheme puts claimants to work in public sector jobs for twenty hours a week for nearly two years, all for a bonus €20/week on top of the ‘dole’. With a thousand placements already having taken place and a further 3,000 planned, it’s clear unpaid work on this scale is plugging the gaps left in a public sector which has already lost over 45,000 jobs in austerity’s squeeze. The fact that workfare clearly replaces jobs has been no deterrent to the Irish government, who also continue to push the JobBridge scheme as a solution to unemployment: This despite the fact that 200 employers (3% of the total) have admitted to displacing paid workers with claimants on JobBridge. A further 29% admitted they would have advertised a paid role if free labour hadn’t been on offer. JobBridge sends so-called “interns” to businesses and charities on 30-hour a week 6-9 month placements, while the government pays the claimant a top-up €50/week on their ‘dole’. Current advertised roles include a butcher, a chef and a medical receptionist, clearly core roles in the businesses profiting from free labour. If you refuse to either attend a course or become free labour for a company which used to pay wages, you risk your benefits being docked for “not engaging”. Campaigners told us that since local Social Welfare offices have discretion on how they apply sanctions, prejudice is rife: it is often people from lower income backgrounds, manual workers and non-graduates who face the penalties first.

In Workfare doesn’t work in Ireland either (Boycottworkfare)