The German way of dealing with unemployment

Eurovisionmad

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1482371/If-you-dont-take-a-job-as-a-prostitute-we-can-stop-your-benefits.html

'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'


A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.

Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.

The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.

She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.

Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.
When the waitress looked into suing the job centre, she found out that it had not broken the law. Job centres that refuse to penalise people who turn down a job by cutting their benefits face legal action from the potential employer.
"There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."
Miss Garweg said that women who had worked in call centres had been offered jobs on telephone sex lines. At one job centre in the city of Gotha, a 23-year-old woman was told that she had to attend an interview as a "nude model", and should report back on the meeting. Employers in the sex industry can also advertise in job centres, a move that came into force this month. A job centre that refuses to accept the advertisement can be sued.
Tatiana Ulyanova, who owns a brothel in central Berlin, has been searching the online database of her local job centre for recruits.
"Why shouldn't I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?" said Miss Ulyanova.
Ulrich Kueperkoch wanted to open a brothel in Goerlitz, in former East Germany, but his local job centre withdrew his advertisement for 12 prostitutes, saying it would be impossible to find them.
Mr Kueperkoch said that he was confident of demand for a brothel in the area and planned to take a claim for compensation to the highest court. Prostitution was legalised in Germany in 2002 because the government believed that this would help to combat trafficking in women and cut links to organised crime.
Miss Garweg believes that pressure on job centres to meet employment targets will soon result in them using their powers to cut the benefits of women who refuse jobs providing sexual services.
"They are already prepared to push women into jobs related to sexual services, but which don't count as prostitution,'' she said.
"Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centres to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do."

Immoral and wrong or should they be forced to become prostitutes?

LighterGuy

that is fucking mental

starbelgrade

Is there any brothels advertising here through the Job Bridge scheme?

Eurovisionmad

starbelgrade wrote: »

Is there any brothels advertising here through the Job Bridge scheme?

Well mainly it's illegal but there's no requirement on people to take Job Bridge posts.

Overheal

The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars.

No it's pretty ****ing easy in fact.

seems to me she would have had to select sex-work as one of her interested fields in her unemployment status. Adding bar work shouldn't force her into prostitution, irrespective of how much I want to say bow chicka bow wow.

Gee Bag

This law is absolutley outrageous!

It could mean ugly chicks get to work as strippers and hookers. Who the hell wants that?

Ghandee

you vill obey ze orders Fraulein!

Gee Bag

Eurovisionmad wrote: »

Well mainly it's illegal but there's no requirement on people to take Job Bridge posts.

There is if you take their passport off them and get them hooked on heroin.

Nodin

starbelgrade wrote: »

Is there any brothels advertising here through the Job Bridge scheme?

Well there are quite a few places where it looks like you'd be fucked over, certainly...

starbelgrade

Nodin wrote: »

Well there are quite a few places where it looks like you'd be fucked over, certainly...

Still, it'd be better than working for Currys.

dxhound2005

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp

Canard

So they wanted to reduce trafficking and to do it, they force women into prostitution.

What a great solution.

AckwelFoley

I bet this is a load of bollox

Ghandee

dxhound2005 wrote: »

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp

Don't let facts/source get in the way of a good story ffs!:rolleyes:

Saila

hookers are legal there?

to the airport! \0/

gigino

do ye remember about a month or 5 weeks ago in Limerick, the Ban Garda who "entraped" men kerbcrawling? if the Ban Garda was let go / lost her job, and could'nt get another, could we send her off to Germany to get a job there ?

later12

Oh FFS, OP

By Clare Chapman
12:01AM GMT 30 Jan 2005

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1482371/If-you-dont-take-a-job-as-a-prostitute-we-can-stop-your-benefits.html

The_Thing

I hope wish to God this were true - it'd be guaranteed to have every single cellulite-encrusted, Hunky-Dory-Ad hating, Irish feminist foaming at the mouth for weeks.

MungBean

OP I think its time to get off the dial up, your internet is lagging by about 7 years.

tayto lover

next week they will make unemployed men take jobs building walls. They are good at building walls the Germans.

Gee Bag

The_Thing wrote: »

I hope to God this is true - it's guaranteed to have every single cellulite-encrusted, Hunky-Dory-Ad hating, Irish feminist foaming at the mouth for weeks.

They could just spit it out....

The_Thing

Gee Bag wrote: »

They could just spit it out....

Agreed. Maybe we should use superglue on them?

Gee Bag

tayto lover wrote: »

They are good at building walls the Germans.

They are also very good at putting up barbed wire fences and watch towers

dxhound2005

People will believe any old nonsense. Like this so called letter to the Indo. It was even quoted on Newstalk by Marc Coleman as an example of all that is wrong with the country.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/cheesed-off-by-officials-2973094.html

Of course it is just a local copy of a spoof which has been floating round the internet for years. Very poor journalism all round.

http://www.svpvril.com/Jokes/Letter%20to%20Passport%20Office.html

KeithM89_old

dxhound2005 wrote: »

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp

Yuuuuuup.


*cancels flight*