Work Placement Scam

Katrina Melican

I am curious to know how the below role can be offered as a work placement scheme. Is this merely disguised to get cheap labour. There are many jobs advertised on fas like this.
The job above says Participants will gain experience in*: Customer care. Forklift driving
Then it goes on to say Forlift licence would be preferred.
I am sorry but this is a disgrace that positions like this are being advertised. Surely the point in this role is to train people to acceptable standards in forklift driving
https://jobbank.fas.ie/servlet/Watis?SESS=23887_6&SERVICE=CRITERIUMBROWSE&TEMPLATE=WWW_JS_VAC_CRITERIUM_BROWSE.HTM&ROW=8&BACK=TEMPLATE%3DWWW_JS_VAC_CRITERIUM_OVERVIEW.HTM
Warehouse Operative - WPP2

Job Reference: JB557325Description:
Area of activity in which placement is offered*:Warehouse- driving forklift and picking orders. Participants will gain experience in*: Customer care. Forklift driving. Person specification*: Fluent English language, able for heavy lifting, polite and helpful to customers. Punctual. Forlift licence would be preferred. No. of Jobs:1Contract type: Other / Full TimeHours per week:38Start date: To be advised End date: 9 months from start Requirements"This is a work placement programme and does not offer a salary."Location : LucanDisplay Until:17/11/2010Other Information, Interview Arrangements or contact person for this vacancyPlease Note: Contact arrangements must be followed exactly as stated by the employer as they are the preferred method of contact for this job.You must be registered with FÁS before you apply for this Work Placement. Apply with CV by email to graham@lucretiatiles.comEmployer:The Employer has requested that interested candidates follow the instructions under the 'Other Information' section or Use the [Apply] link if available

eire2009

Katrina Melican wrote: »

I am curious to know how the below role can be offered as a work placement scheme. Is this merely disguised to get cheap labour. There are many jobs advertised on fas like this.
The job above says Participants will gain experience in*: Customer care. Forklift driving
Then it goes on to say Forlift licence would be preferred.
I am sorry but this is a disgrace that positions like this are being advertised. Surely the point in this role is to train people to acceptable standards in forklift driving
https://jobbank.fas.ie/servlet/Watis?SESS=23887_6&SERVICE=CRITERIUMBROWSE&TEMPLATE=WWW_JS_VAC_CRITERIUM_BROWSE.HTM&ROW=8&BACK=TEMPLATE%3DWWW_JS_VAC_CRITERIUM_OVERVIEW.HTM
Warehouse Operative - WPP2

Job Reference: JB557325Description:
Area of activity in which placement is offered*:Warehouse- driving forklift and picking orders. Participants will gain experience in*: Customer care. Forklift driving. Person specification*: Fluent English language, able for heavy lifting, polite and helpful to customers. Punctual. Forlift licence would be preferred. No. of Jobs:1Contract type: Other / Full TimeHours per week:38Start date: To be advised End date: 9 months from start Requirements"This is a work placement programme and does not offer a salary."Location : LucanDisplay Until:17/11/2010Other Information, Interview Arrangements or contact person for this vacancyPlease Note: Contact arrangements must be followed exactly as stated by the employer as they are the preferred method of contact for this job.You must be registered with FÁS before you apply for this Work Placement. Apply with CV by email to graham@lucretiatiles.comEmployer:The Employer has requested that interested candidates follow the instructions under the 'Other Information' section or Use the [Apply] link if available

Im not sure if its Legal either. You should be getting minimum wage at least. The company should get subsidised Dole money towards your wages

Apprenticeships get an exemption because its seen as training..

pow wow

eire2009 wrote: »

Im not sure if its Legal either. You should be getting minimum wage at least. The company should get subsidised Dole money towards your wages

Apprenticeships get an exemption because its seen as training..

From what I gather you get your dole or the same amount while working full-time or close to it and that's the way the programme operates. The whole thing seems sort of pointless though, I've seen jobs that are so obviously positions that are 1) mid-career, and 2) likely to have been held by a permanent employee previously and may well have continued to be so if there were no WPP.

I understand the premise of the programme, I just don't think it works.

sambuka41

pow wow wrote: »

From what I gather you get your dole or the same amount while working full-time or close to it and that's the way the programme operates. The whole thing seems sort of pointless though, I've seen jobs that are so obviously positions that are 1) mid-career, and 2) likely to have been held by a permanent employee previously and may well have continued to be so if there were no WPP.

I understand the premise of the programme, I just don't think it works.

Yeah i was applying for jobs recently and nearly every one of these was at the same level as the paid jobs i was applying for. I considered it at one point but you only get your dole,i would have been down a lot of money after i paid travel expenses and lunch. Luckily i got a paid version instead

Def cheap labour. Its a shame cause it could be a good scheme but its not working.

Denerick

This work placement programme is a fúcking disgrace, the state is subsidising companies who are more than able to pay for employees. Absolute joke.

tenchi-fan

The government is a ****ing disgrace.

Benefits are too high, so people on benefits get more than workers.
Next they allow Fas to place people in minimum wage jobs that are more suited to low-skilled labour, and the state pays the €200 allowance and the employer pays nothing. So there are no real job opportunities at all!

I'm in favour of scrapping all unemployment benefits apart from the bare minimum to allow people to survive (vegetable broth, bread and porridge) and stop this stealing from peter to pay paul.. it has the welfare bill at billions, and the public sector bill also a billions trying to administer these harebrained schemes.

greenbicycle

pow wow wrote: »

likely to have been held by a permanent employee previously and may well have continued to be so if there were no WPP.

Not standing up for the WPP at all but, I am fairly sure that for a company to be able to give a plae on the scheme they must not have made anyone redundant in a certain amount of time in any position within their orgainisation.

pow wow

greenbicycle wrote: »

Not standing up for the WPP at all but, I am fairly sure that for a company to be able to give a plae on the scheme they must not have made anyone redundant in a certain amount of time in any position within their orgainisation.

I know there are rules about it and I have no doubt employers stick by them. However if I resign from my job having found work elsewhere, is there anything to stop my employer taking a WPP person in my place rather than say, hire you at a regular salary as my replacement? It just seems that the majority of jobs I see are jobs that require someone at a mid-career level with reams of experience doing the job before, i.e. not training or career-change type stuff.

From the FAS website:
If you are unemployed and have not secured paid work, the programme allows you to apply your skills and gain valuable experience in a workplace setting. This could give you an edge when applying for jobs in the future. Employers benefit from having someone contribute to their business, whilst also enhancing the skills and career prospects of the individual.

I know any experience is good experience etc. but I think the benefit in the cases I'm referring to is more for the employer and less for the mid-career person who is doing their old job or close to it for the same dole they'd get staying home and investing their efforts in jobhunting. You're out the door at the end of the programme, no matter how much networking you do while you're there.

Mrs OBumble

tenchi-fan wrote: »

I'm in favour of scrapping all unemployment benefits apart from the bare minimum to allow people to survive (vegetable broth, bread and porridge) and stop this stealing from peter to pay paul.. it has the welfare bill at billions, and the public sector bill also a billions trying to administer these harebrained schemes.

It depends whether you get add-ons or not. The bare JSB/JSA is not enough to live on, in cities anyway (I know in technicolour detail ... personally got the food bill to E22 per head per week). But it plus accommodation allowance and medical card can be an ok lifestyle.

Either way, if you just scrap the benefits all you get is increased crime 'cos some people have to steal to live.

greenbicycle

Yeah i totally agree with you Pow Wow, as i said i am in no way defending the programme at all, it is very flawed and id say there is very little take up, would love to know the take up figures actually.

I wonder how effective is the monitoring process that supposedly should ensure that you are actually getting some benefit out of he experience and no just there for free labour...

tenchi-fan

JustMary wrote: »

It depends whether you get add-ons or not. The bare JSB/JSA is not enough to live on, in cities anyway (I know in technicolour detail ... personally got the food bill to E22 per head per week). But it plus accommodation allowance and medical card can be an ok lifestyle.

Either way, if you just scrap the benefits all you get is increased crime 'cos some people have to steal to live.

See the weird thing is some people get €200 dole which has to include their rent, and others get €200 plus rent allowance. And when you bring in the entire "suite" of benefits people can be better off on the dole than to work a full week.

Now, when you also consider low income workers generally look for cheap accommodation. But rental prices are artificially inflated because landlords receive standardised rates from the government for rent allowance and housing schemes. The same could be argued with food prices - prices fell a lot in the past few years because more people became unemployed. If benefits were reduced food prices would fall further.