labour’s not working
I couldn’t resist using that title from Thatcher’s gangsters but getting people back to work, or youngsters into work for the first time, is not and should not become, a right/left political argument. Attempting to create meaningful employment and aspiring for a nation of workers is not an issue which should be determined by any particular hue of political allegiance. Way back in the day, the idea of putting an element of compulsion into ‘back to work’ schemes enabling individuals to get a foothold in the labour market was a central tenet within the establishing of the welfare state. THE man himself, ol’ boy Beveridge explicitly stated that the dole “should be conditional upon attendance at work or on a training scheme”.
Over the last month or two we’ve seen loads of companies, including Sainsbury’s, Waterstones, Oxfam, Burger King, Shelter and Tesco, pull out of the coalition’s flagship employment policy and it makes me question the approach of the left-wing action group, ‘Right to Work’. Mind, it did bring a chuckle to my lips when I saw they’d occupied and closed a Tesco Express…as it was far more convenient to do so than a proper Tesco! Public pressure and the thinly veiled accusation of slave labour are the reasons for such avoidance but is this the best thing for our young and our unemployed?
Contrary to my current Champagne Socialist lifestyle I was brought up in a working class family where me dad had two jobs – one a night shift and the other during the day – and me mother was a dinner lady. Going to work, tugging our forelock and working hard was in our genes and was not to be questioned. My first proper job was as a 15 year old and starting at 6.00am meant I was soon in the swing and rhythm of work. It’s not a bad routine to establish early in life.
The Government’s scheme is fundamentally on the right lines and its aims can not be contested. It makes common and logical sense to ask jobseekers to work for their benefits…but…and it’s here where (thankfully I diverge from coalition’s view) large, often international commercial organisations should not necessarily gain from this. If real jobs exist and the individuals are to be used in proper, meaningful and commercially benefitting tasks, they should be rewarded as such and the organisations should pay as such. It should be the duty and obligation of these companies to bring the payment to the jobseekers up to the minimum wage. That way everyone wins and everyone should be happy, even the organisations as a full contribution can be expected. The slur of cheap labour would be banished in a whisker and the scheme would operate with a clear conscience.
If no additional contribution is to be forthcoming from the commercial organisations wishing to be involved then the jobseekers should work solely on government or local authority initiatives so that the gains go to taxpayers who are subsidising their benefits. An ill-thought out and half-cocked scheme is better than no scheme at all but it would be oh so easy to tweak it into a half-decent one.
