John Angliss takes on Conservative Assembly Member, James Cleverly, over workfare.
Protest on Saturday in a Westminster Tesco
The task of defending the indefensible must always fall to someone, but I was still shocked to see the personally genial Conservative leader of the London Assembly, James Cleverly, argue that opposing people being forced to work for no pay was “snobbery” on behalf of the elites, who happily intern for no pay at the BBC, The Guardian and law firms around the country.
After I challenged him on it, he wrote a response on his blog, here.
As you can see, his argument is that the left are damaging people’s prospects of employments by opposing state-sponsored work experience.
However, this leaves out some important information which makes the coalition’s intentions clear: those with experience will also have to do it or lose their benefits; it will be compulsory and unlike the BBC and Guardian, which now follow guidelines limiting unpaid work experience to two weeks, it has no maximum time limit. Everyone who hasn’t worked for more than six months is liable for this conscription, unless they have fewer than 6 months to live.
Some of the most enthusiastic corporate adopters of the scheme have already been posting job ads for permanent unpaid positions, and over 24,000 people have already been blackmailed in this way. Clearly, after more than a few months of working for free at Tesco, you’re going to know the job pretty well, yet what incentive have Tesco got to pay you then? And what incentive have Tesco got to keep paying any shop-floor staff when the government will force others to work in their places for free?
James tells us that “[t]he government’s plan is to allow job-seekers to get experience without losing their benefit. At the BBC, the Guardian, etc. youngsters are supported by their parents while working for free to get experience, under this scheme youngsters are supported by the state to do exactly the same thing. I’m genuinely at a loss as to why the Left are so against it.”
The reason is this: those working ought to get paid.
That’s why we have trade unions to protect workers’ rights; that’s why we have Minimum Wage Legislation and that’s why the government should not undermine its own citizens by enlisting unfree labour. Every person forced to work for free is another paying job lost to an honest employee. At times of high unemployment like this, when there are tens of people applying for every job, it is criminal to make more people unemployed whilst forcing those already on the dole into a race to the bottom.
In 1957, the United Kingdom ratified an International Labour Organization convention promising not to make any use of forced or compulsory labour. 55 years later, it has effectively re-introduced it by threatening to take away all material sustenance from someone who does not accept a JobCentre “work experience” job. It is a great shame that some of our London representatives do not see this as a problem.
You can sign the government e-petition against workfare here.
1 Comment
A treatise for keeping NEETS under-skilled, inexperienced and unencumbered by opportunities.