Amsterdam employs alcoholics as street cleaners and pays them in beer

Xenji

I am sure we good get some good use out of this seeing we are meant to be a nation of alcoholics :pac:

The project, organised by the Rainbow Foundation charity and paid for by Dutch state subsidies and donations, rounds up alcoholics who have been “causing a nuisance” in parks and puts them to work.

They clean three days a week, from 9am to around 3.30pm, and are paid €10 (around £8), five cans of beer and half a packet of loose tobacco per shift.

The alcoholics are split up into groups of 10, and their beer consumption is carefully monitored.

“The aim is to keep them occupied, to get them doing something so they no longer cause trouble at the park,” the charity’s chief executive Gerrie Holterman told the AFP news agency.

“This group of chronic alcoholics was causing a nuisance in Amsterdam's Oosterpark: fights, noise, disagreeable comments to women,” she said.

The workers are given two cans of beer and coffee if they want it at the start of the day, followed by another two cans and a hot meal at lunch.

One alcoholic, named Frank, told an AFP reporter: “I think I can speak for the group and say that if they didn't give us beers then we wouldn't come.

“We need alcohol to function, that's the disadvantage of chronic alcoholism,” the 45-year-old said.

Frank said the added structure to the alcoholics’ lives “is good for us”. But he was under no illusions as to whether or not the scheme would serve to wean the workers off drink.

“Of course we drink in a more structured way, but I don't think that we drink less,” he said.

“When we leave here, we go to the supermarket and transform the €10 euros we earned into beers.”

On the four days his group is not working, Frank added, nothing seems to have changed. “When the supermarket opens at 8:00am, we're the first there so we can get some drinks,” he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/amsterdam-employs-alcoholics-as-street-cleaners-and-pays-them-in-beer-8951403.html

anncoates

Amstel trying to get my head around this.....

Banjo String

Beer tokens ftw.

anncoates

Banjo String wrote: »

Beer tokens ftw.

They must make sure to throw the empty cans on the street to provide more work and thus prolong the cycle.

Hande hoche!

Seems reasonable enough.

131spanner

“When we leave here, we go to the supermarket and transform the €10 euros we earned into beers.”

They get paid in beers and money, which they turn into more beers.

Now seems like a good time to invest in Bavaria shares.

irish_goat

If they're gonna be out drinking anyway might as well get some use out of them.

Friend Computer

Shouldn't they be given help to get over their addiction instead? I can't help but feel this is horribly exploitive.

"We'll pay you in gold...

Dutch Gold!"

goose2005

Friend Computer wrote: »

Shouldn't they be given help to get over their addiction instead? I can't help but feel this is horribly exploitive.

I suppose these are chronic addicts that are unlikely ever to stop, this is just a way of coping with it.

D1stant

We've been doing that for decades. It's called Tidy Towns

Oink

anncoates wrote: »

Amstel trying to get my head around this.....

Heino it's mad, but I like the idea.

Nodster

Invest in Dutch Gold = 5% return

win win

Lingua Franca

Friend Computer wrote: »

Shouldn't they be given help to get over their addiction instead? I can't help but feel this is horribly exploitive.

The help is there, but they would have to opt in.

Boombastic

and no complaining about their human rights and their entitlements..I could imagine if they tried it here!

Xenji

They would have it even better here, 30 Euro could easily get you 30 cans of Stella in Tesco, that and the 15 cans you get as a bonus, 19.5 hours work for 45 cans and a pouch and a half of tobacco, not a bad deal as they also get their state benefits on top of the scheme.

flutered

D1stant wrote: »

We've been doing that for decades. It's called Tidy Towns

you could not be faurther from the truth, the three guys in my locality never had a drink in their lives, bad enough to be working for buttons without having people to read schit posts, such as the one that i am replying to.

kjl

they are just going to spend it on weed.

Xenji

kjl wrote: »

they are just going to spend it on weed.

Surprised it was not a half pouch of weed instead of tobacco

Boombastic

kjl wrote: »

they are just going to spend it on weed.

they're alcoholics, no mention of weed. Do you just draw this conclusion because they are in Amsterdam?

c_man

Lived near a pub once that had it's local alcos out washing the windows, cleaning up etc during the morning in exchange for a few pints. It was a damn scummy thing to do imo, and I can't say I think any different of this.

ruthloss

D1stant wrote: »

We've been doing that for decades. It's called Tidy Towns

[-0-]

Great idea.

MonstaMash

Fook that...where do I sign up?

Boombastic

MonstaMash wrote: »

Fook that...where do I sign up?

just hang round the park with a few cans, they'll find you!

dd972

One of the things I like about the Dutch is their No Bull****, hard headed, pragmatism, while the Brits and the Irish dither and hand wave over social issues which are swept under the carpet.

ruthloss

flutered wrote: »

you could not be faurther from the truth, the three guys in my locality never had a drink in their lives, bad enough to be working for buttons without having people to read schit posts, such as the one that i am replying to.

'Flutered'!!!:D

Tar.Aldarion

As seen on the reddit thread; It's not about cleaner streets. We have machinery and a dedicated workforce for that. This about providing down on their luck people with some stability, companionship, income and a sense of self worth while under professional supervision. And that reduces crime.
It's the same with heroin clinics. People who are going to shoot up are going to do so regardless. With the clinic, however, they won't have to steal your car GPS to pay for it.

kjl wrote: »

they are just going to spend it on weed.

Xenji wrote: »

Surprised it was not a half pouch of weed instead of tobacco

Actually the netherlands has one of the lowest use weed rates, it's not like prohibition stops it at all, more is smoked here.
Same with other drugs, probably less people even want to try these things because they are not outlawed there. You can even get free heroin there, but people don't want drugs like other countries, due to their attitude towards them.

kjl

Boombastic wrote: »

they're alcoholics, no mention of weed. Do you just draw this conclusion because they are in Amsterdam?

well it was the joke that Stephen Colbert made.

wp_rathead

anncoates wrote: »

Amstel trying to get my head around this.....

Of Coors you had to make a beer pun

..be hopping mad not too

WilyCoyote

Please! Somebody tell Eamonn Dunphy that there could be life after the talking heads show

Boombastic

kjl wrote: »

well it was the joke that Stephen Colbert made.

ah, ok...I've no idea who that is