"Volunteer" at Poundland or lose benefits

[dutchman]

Tesco job advert protest closes store in Westminster



Police were called after about 12 protesters forced the closure of a Tesco store opposite the Houses of Parliament.

They sat down or stood by the tills at the Tesco Express branch at Portcullis House, Bridge Street, central London.

The demonstration was over a job advert which looked for permanent workers at a Suffolk store in exchange for expenses and jobseeker's allowance.

Tesco has amended the advert saying the mistake was due to an IT error.

The store was closed for an hour. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said there had been no arrests.

The advert for a night-shift worker appeared on the Jobseekers' Plus website.

It was offered under the government's "sector-based work academy scheme" which is linked to the payment of benefits.

Placements last for six weeks, the Department of Work and Pensions said.

A spokesman for the Right to Work protesters said: "Tesco reports that over the past four months some 1,400 people have worked for them without pay.

"Only 300 got a job with the company."

A spokesman for Tesco said: "No-one is under any obligation to take part in the scheme, and Jobcentre Plus has assured us that all of those who have come to Tesco have done so as volunteers."

He added: "We understand the concern that those who stay in the scheme longer than a week risk losing their benefits if they drop out before the end of their placement.

"We have suggested to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that, to avoid any misunderstanding about the voluntary nature of the scheme, this threat of losing benefit should be removed."

Shopworkers' union Usdaw, which represents more than 400,000 workers in high street stores, said it was in discussions with major retailers about their involvement, saying that while work experience could be valuable, schemes should be voluntary and pay the going rate.

Sainsbury's and the Waterstones book chain have already withdrawn from the scheme.

Jobseekers' allowance is currently paid at £53.45 per week for under-25s and £67.50 for over-25s.

[dutchman]

A spokesman for Tesco said: "No-one is under any obligation to take part in the scheme, and Jobcentre Plus has assured us that all of those who have come to Tesco have done so as volunteers."

Yeah, right!

[Spuffler]

Interesting that TkMaxx has declined to have anything to do with the scheme (and some others, too, it's reported).

[dutchman]

Interesting that TkMaxx has declined to have anything to do with the scheme (and some others, too, it's reported).

Yes Spuffler, Sainsbury's and Waterstones were mentioned in the article as having already withdrawn.

The big joke is the same unions rolled-over and played dead when the Labour government first introduced this scheme, the same way they rolled over and played dead for all the other Labour cutbacks. Their less-fortunate members are now paying the price for that betrayal.

[dutchman]

Tesco in work experience pay offer

Supermarket giant Tesco has offered to pay youngsters on a Government work experience scheme amid continuing controversy over the programme.

One of the firm's supermarkets in central London was forced to close on Saturday after it was invaded by members of the Right to Work campaign who said they were angry at a job advert looking for permanent workers in exchange for expenses and Jobseeker's Allowance.

The group said it planned to hold protests at a number of Tesco stores, including two in London and one in Kingston upon Thames.

Tesco announced that from now on any young person accepted for work experience with the company will be offered a choice of participating in the Government scheme, which protects their benefits for the duration of the four-week placement, or being paid by Tesco for the four-week placement, with a guaranteed permanent job at the end of it, provided they complete the placement satisfactorily.

Tesco has suggested to the Department for Work and Pensions that to avoid any misunderstanding about the voluntary nature of the scheme, the risk of losing benefits should be removed.

Richard Brasher, chief executive of Tesco, said: "We know it is difficult for young people to give up benefits for a short-term placement with no permanent job at the end of it.

"So this guarantee that a job will be available provided the placement is completed satisfactorily should be a major confidence boost for young people wanting to enter work on a permanent basis."

Tesco has committed to 3,000 work placements under the Government's work experience scheme, with around half already delivered.

"We will offer the choice of paid work and the jobs guarantee to all of the remaining placements we will deliver under the scheme. Three hundred young people undertaking work experience with Tesco have already found work with us and we are confident that many more will through this approach," the company said.

[dutchman]

Tesco has suggested to the Department for Work and Pensions that to avoid any misunderstanding about the voluntary nature of the scheme, the risk of losing benefits should be removed.

Tesco can 'suggest' anything they like to the DWP. The DWP is under no obligation to respond to such suggestions and anyone who has had even the remotest of dealings with the DWP can tell you it is very unlikely they will respond.

[Spuffler]

Yes, the same thing can be said about virtually any government department these days. Spin and reality are divergent notions!

There are many issues relating to employing young people, but I can't see how forcing them to go shelf-stacking at Tesco for no wages (or any other store) will equip them for a career.....it's more likely to make them bitter and twisted, IMHO. They must be able to devise something better, and it needn't cost a fortune. It's very easy for the government to claim there isn't any money, but they always find it when they want to, don't they? And there's a big difference between 'spending money' and 'investing money'. Unfortunately, in the UK, accountants have too much say; they are probably one of the bigger reasons for the decline in our industries. Where I last we worked we had a collective noun for accountants: an impediment. They were so vocal and so busy demanding that the company MUST only go after work with high margins that the company losses mounted rapidly. The accountants wouldn't pass off proposals based on less than 60 % margin; we lost so many tenders on cost that the actual margin being made was around 5% - and they couldn't (or wouldn't!) see that reducing the margin sought, making tenders less costly and therefore actually getting the work, would increase the margin achieved. A lack of something called common sense backed up by incompetent management.

[dutchman]

Burger King leaves work experience scheme for jobless



Fast-food chain Burger King has become the latest firm to pull out of the government's controversial work experience scheme for jobless people.

It said it had registered to take on youngsters at its Slough headquarters but withdrew due to "public concerns".

Critics say the project is a form of "slave labour" because people work for nothing, while keeping their benefits.

The government said those campaigning against it should think carefully about the consequences of their actions.

Burger King said it registered for the voluntary Get Britain Working programme six weeks ago, but had not recruited anyone since.

"Given the recent concerns expressed by the public we have decided to no longer have any involvement in the programme," it said in a statement.

'Some commitment'

Participants continue to receive jobseeker's allowance (JSA) and may receive a contribution to travel or childcare costs.

But anyone who cuts a placement short after more than a week may have their benefits stopped for two weeks.

Tesco has offered to pay people on the scheme and asked ministers to remove the threat of benefit sanctions.

Rival supermarket Sainsbury's said the small number of its stores that took part in the scheme had since ceased participation, as it was not company policy.

Fashion chain Matalan said it had suspended its involvement pending a review and book seller Waterstones and electrical retailer Maplin have already left.

But Employment Minister Chris Grayling defended the scheme, saying half of those who joined had found a job, often with the company that placed them on work experience.

"All of the evidence we can see is that this does better than simply leaving people on JSA, it actually helps more young people get into work.

"I don't accept that the scale of the campaign is very large, it's a small number of activists who are deliberately targeting these companies and trying to destabilise them," he said.

Conservative MP George Eustice said companies considering leaving the scheme should not bow to public pressure.

"The truth is that the first step to getting a job and getting back into the jobs market is having some work experience and learning to work and turning up for work on time and being part of a relied on team," he said.

"And so I think this scheme's incredibly important. It's only for a few weeks. It's not slave labour or anything like that and I think that if it's to work... you do need them to show some commitment."

The programme is aimed at 16- to 24-year-olds unemployed for more than three months, but less than nine.

Participants have an unpaid placement for two to eight weeks, working 25 to 30 hours a week.

[Spuffler]

"Conservative MP George Eustice said companies considering leaving the scheme should not bow to public pressure." Funny statement this, since these companies rely on customers - the public! What makes this scheme different from work placements for 14 year olds? The fact that there is coercion involved, and that the people concerned will get little from it, paid or not. Our school leavers, if they can't find a job, need something a lot more imaginative than just being put on a workfare placement for a few weeks at most, in a seriously menial job. If it was effective, I suspect the firms concerned would be lauding it, not pulling out. Surely we can do better than this?

[dutchman]

Ministers drop work experience scheme sanctions

The government has agreed to end all sanctions for youngsters opting out of a controversial work experience scheme.

Businesses had expressed concerns about the programme - which sees 16-24-year-olds on job seeker's allowance doing up to eight weeks' unpaid work.

They volunteer for the scheme, but if they later dropped out they faced having their benefits docked.

The announcement came as dozens of firms met ministers, following protests by the Right to Work campaign.

Critics say the scheme amounts to "unpaid forced labour" for many young unemployed people - but Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith accused groups protesting against it of being "anarchists". On the protesters, he said: "This bunch of anarchists, half of them who are are unemployed, actually need to be cleared out of the way."

The work experience programme allows young jobseekers to keep their benefits if they do an unpaid work placement. They may also get travel or childcare expenses.

But anyone who cuts a placement short after more than a week may have their benefits stopped for two weeks.

No mention there of older workers - including the elderly and infirm - who are forced to take part in "work placement" schemes?