Interesting article on the new sanctions for the unemployed that joan burton has set up

by unemployed and hounded Tue Sep 24, 2013 12:57

The carrot and stick approach that has been championed by joan burton illustrates there is no connection really to the unemployed by those in the upper echelons of society.

I have been hounded by social welfare to provide evidence i was working,forced to go on courses that do not relate to my work experience and told in no uncertian terms if i 'do not comply' i will be pushed off social welfare altogether,and told my welfare would not even be cut i would simply be 'cut off' and i would jepordise my position.

When unemployed parents were complaining about the cost of buying school materials for their young for school,Joan burtons response was to ''Shop around'',it is clear this woman is out of touch with the rest of society,many of whom are unemployed due to being layed off,redundancy packages,early retirement etc,etc.

Job bridge only benefits business players,not the ordinary joe on the street,which job bridge is supposed to be helping.

I believe job bridge was set up for two reasons:
1 . To massage dole figures, to make joan burton look good,and make it look like she is doing something about the job's situation,when she is not.

2 . To give employers free workers,in this situation they will not pay for workers ,therefore there will be shrinkage in the jobs market due to the fact employer will no longer pay for workers now that job bridge is available..

There is nothing like being kicked when your down,these people don't care,there is no social protection.

by ciaran o sullivan Tue Sep 24, 2013 16:25

JobsBridge has probably cost more jobs than it has created. JobsBridge has created a slave labour class. I am entirely convinced there would be more jobs and more money in our economy if it were not for JobsBridge. It’s a disgusting scheme.

by fred Tue Sep 24, 2013 18:49

During the "celtic tiger property bubble" When we had full employment, there were still a small percentage of the workforce getting unemployment.

These people were likely alcoholics, schizophrenics, and others with learning disabilities or literacy problems. In other words, the mentally ill people thrown out onto the streets and "privatised" by the HSE.

It's disgusting that violent offenders with no respect for other people in society, on becoming prisoners often have more security of daily food and a roof over themselves than poor honest law abiding citizens who are down on their luck. But then again, it makes sense in a twisted kind of way. The current system needs these criminal types to justify the expenditure on policing which in turn allows them to defend the interests of the rich from the "proles". See the likes of the Rossport protest for evidence of this.

In the US, privatised prisons have made such offenders totally essential to the system and in the pursuit of profits.

So violent criminals play their part in the system, and are rewarded, but honest poor people not able to get a job serve no purpose at all to the system and so can be harassed and left starving and homeless without means of support by petty bureaucrats acting on unreasonable guidelines.

Furthermore, there is a huge lie being perpetuated in the modern world about the assumed "nobility of work".
Often it merely serves to keep the proles occupied so they don't have time to reflect on their circumstances.

Caption: Video Id: 9Lfb8mlIe9I Type: Youtube Video
This famous essay by Bertrand Russell exposes the lie of work

by Forkhill Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:26

I'm on the same wavelength with you Fred when it comes to these issues. I'm in a less then ideal work situation at the moment and I've had my fair share of unpleasant jobs and psychopath bosses. What's the solution? , do we allow nature to take it's course and hope that the beast destroys itself or do we take affirmative action ourselves. They have the game so sewn up and tight at this stage , they've had thousands of years to perfect it after all!!.

by unemployed and hounded Wed Sep 25, 2013 16:49

I think there needs to be a new approach to the unemployed,those who are on the dole for over 10 years should be put on to the jobs market,and by that i don't mean job bridge which serves to sucker what could be real paid jobs out of the community..

Jobridge and FAS need to be cut from the social welfare expenditure and /or merged into one unit to save money.

People who are on the dole for short bursts and starts should not be hounded by social welfare to prove they are looking for work,it's hard enough as it is. But they should be encouraged to do courses and make themselves job ready for the market.

I have been in a situation where im unemployed and looking for work,some of the agencies and companies do not even email you back,or send out the rejection letter you have to chase them up and ring them to make sure they send out the letter.

Sometimes it's hard to provide the evidence,i was lucky i had a few rejection letters to hand,but i had to ring up and chase them up afterwards to send out the letter.

by fred Wed Sep 25, 2013 17:13

Forkhill

I don't know, but we have to start thinking about it the right way and give the problem shape before we can actually address it. Revolutions only work when everyone understands exactly why they are revolting and what the ultimate goal is. The arab spring "revolutions" have shown this to be true yet again.

Current society doesn't give us time to think and it frames the discussions so we don't address the root causes, because vested interests like the status quo.

So we need to start asking questions like "what is the whole point of an economy"?

The answers that fall out of that are things like:

"to provide for the basic needs of people"

But the current system DOES NOT DO THIS so it is fair to say it has no legitimacy and we probably need to replace it with some kind of a decentralised communal grassroots system of collectives that put basic human needs and the environment first and not profit for a very few at the expense of all else and everyone else.

Currently however, people are divided and sleepwalking through their enslaved lives and do not seem to have this kind of revolutionary consciousness, and that makes them easy prey to vested interests, their captive media and their government party political service providers. :-(