The Jobbridge Scandal

Xenji · 05-04-2016 04:20PM

zero19 wrote: »

A listing for a solicitor in Galway, that's one profession I never would have expected to see on Jobbridge.

http://goo.gl/Z0Ea9Q

It is not the first time solicitors have popped up.

The Randy Riverbeast wrote: »

That's probably a highly paid internship for a lawyer when compared with other internships in that area.

I would not call a maximum of €238 highly paid, basically free labour Fidelma T. Bane as she is not paying anything and is not giving any training.

maudgonner · 05-04-2016 04:37PM

zero19 wrote: »

A listing for a solicitor in Galway, that's one profession I never would have expected to see on Jobbridge.

http://goo.gl/Z0Ea9Q

I like the skill requirements for that one:

The person should have an outgoing confident personality, be in a position to attend court, be confident in running a case for a client and achieve appropriate results in both plaintiff and defence situations. Must have a clean driving licence and a knowledge of the Irish Language would be beneficial, but not necessary.

No mention of any qualifications in the law. Be nice and outgoing, have a cupla focal, definite advantage if you've read a few John Grisham books, but no worries if not, be grand

CramCycle · 05-04-2016 04:40PM

maudgonner wrote: »

I like the skill requirements for that one:

No mention of any qualifications in the law. Be nice and outgoing, have a cupla focal, definite advantage if you've read a few John Grisham books, but no worries if not, be grand

Education Requirements:
Third Level - Must be a qualified Solicitor.

Bottom of page

maudgonner · 05-04-2016 04:42PM

CramCycle wrote: »

Bottom of page

Ah, missed it! Cheers

The Randy Riverbeast · 05-04-2016 04:44PM

Xenji wrote: »

It is not the first time solicitors have popped up.

I would not call a maximum of €238 highly paid, basically free labour Fidelma T. Bane as she is not paying anything and is not giving any training.

I wouldnt say it is highly paid in general, my internships during college were paid minimum wage but I think in law you usually get paid nothing for an internship.

05-04-2016 05:57PM

The Randy Riverbeast wrote: »

That's probably a highly paid internship for a lawyer when compared with other internships in that area.

It's jobbrisge. It's 50 euro on top of your 188.

CramCycle · 06-04-2016 09:48AM

Deleted User wrote: »

It's jobbrisge. It's 50 euro on top of your 188.

I think the point was in many internships, you don't get paid, or at least you didn't.

07-04-2016 05:51PM

CramCycle wrote: »

I think the point was in many internships, you don't get paid, or at least you didn't.

Wouldn't a fully qualified solicitor already have done their unpaid internship?

fin12 · 13-04-2016 12:20AM

Very good documentary on the channel 4 player, Dispatches: Britain's Benefits Crackdown, absolutely disgusting the way they treat vulnerable people. One man got his benefits cut and was found dead 5 days later, couldn't afford the electricity to store his insulin medicine in the fridge and had no food to eat. Makes me feel sick.

Not viewed as human being but as statistics.

Job centre staff disciplined for not sanctioning enough claimants. Have to hit sanction targets by management.

Sneaky f0ckers don't even give people the correct time they are supposed to arrive at their appointment. They give them a time in the letter but they are really supposed to be at the centre twenty minutes before the time given in the letter.

Wompa1 · 13-04-2016 12:28AM

fin12 wrote: »

Very good documentary on the channel 4 player, Dispatches: Britain's Benefits Crackdown, absolutely disgusting the way they treat vulnerable people. One man got his benefits cut and was found dead 5 days later, couldn't afford the electricity to store his insulin medicine in the fridge and had no food to eat. Makes me feel sick.

Not viewed as human being but as statistics.

Job centre staff disciplined for not sanctioning enough claimants. Have to hit sanction targets by management.

Will have to search that out...how does it get that bad? When did they make the cuts? How far behind was he on his bills. I thought the grace period for missing payments was pretty long. Or was he trying to be pragmatic?

fin12 · 13-04-2016 12:32AM

Wompa1 wrote: »

Will have to search that out...how does it get that bad? When did they make the cuts? How far behind was he on his bills. I thought the grace period for missing payments was pretty long. Or was he trying to be pragmatic?

Because he missed two appointments so they stopped his payment for 3 months. But he was dead 5 days after they cut him off so was clearly in a very bad way when they cut him off.

Wompa1 · 13-04-2016 12:37AM

fin12 wrote: »

Because he missed two appointments so they stopped his payment for 3 months. But he was dead 5 days after they cut him off so was clearly in a very bad way when they cut him off.

What was the situation with his finances? Just not enough to cover rent, food and electricity? Was there any service available to get somebody into help?

It kind of sounds like he would have benefited from an actual human being there to help him out and support him.

ED E · 13-04-2016 12:39AM

Wompa1 wrote: »

Will have to search that out...how does it get that bad? When did they make the cuts? How far behind was he on his bills. I thought the grace period for missing payments was pretty long. Or was he trying to be pragmatic?

Tis on youtube. Won't link it as its grey area licensing wise.

fin12 · 13-04-2016 12:41AM

Wompa1 wrote: »

What was the situation with his finances? Just not enough to cover rent, food and electricity? Was there any service available to get somebody into help?

It kind of sounds like he would have benefited from an actual human being there to help him out and support him.

Honestly ur better off just watching the program. I think he was too proud to ask for help because he spoke to his sister just before he died and didn't mention anything to her. He was found dead around a pile of cvs.

Xenji · 13-04-2016 12:43AM

fin12 wrote: »

Very good documentary on the channel 4 player, Dispatches: Britain's Benefits Crackdown, absolutely disgusting the way they treat vulnerable people. One man got his benefits cut and was found dead 5 days later, couldn't afford the electricity to store his insulin medicine in the fridge and had no food to eat. Makes me feel sick.

Not viewed as human being but as statistics.

Job centre staff disciplined for not sanctioning enough claimants. Have to hit sanction targets by management.

Sheila Holt was ordered by one of the two companies that won the Jobpath contracts here to find work over in the UK, the main problem was that she was in a coma after suffering a brain injury caused by a heart attack, which she claimed was due to being terrified of having her benefits cut.

After the ordeal of what happened coupled with years of severe bi-polar disorder she took her own life, the same company is also being investigated by the UN's human rights comission, lovely country we live in when are government hire such a company.

Wompa1 · 13-04-2016 01:28AM

fin12 wrote: »

Honestly ur better off just watching the program. I think he was too proud to ask for help because he spoke to his sister just before he died and didn't mention anything to her. He was found dead around a pile of cvs.

Just watched it. His case was pretty extreme...he was speaking with his sister and never once mentioned the trouble he was in. It's very sad! I wasn't aware of the sanction system. (None of those English shows over where I'm living). Seems like a good idea but poorly executed. Awful that they are given quotas and expected to feckin' compete with other welfare offices.

The only questionable part of the program is that like with the second guy who seemed to genuinely be f*cked both physically and financially, he was in prison for cultivating, he got aggressive with somebody in the welfare office....it would be interesting to get both sides of the story completely. Either way, even with his record, I wouldn't cut him off, it seemed like he has a genuine disability and he has two semi-dependent kids.

The girl that got pregnant...I don't know what to make of. She got pregnant while on JSA...it's harsh but you kind of reap what you sow. Awful that she got Bells Palsy.

king2 · 14-04-2016 02:04AM

I've been on Jobpath for a few weeks. Its a joke. They take on unemployed people without any qualifications or experience in HR to act as "personal advisers". I had to sit through 10hrs of rubbish over 2 days this week on how to prepare for interviews. Basically after that its a case of going in every week or so to show your adviser what jobs you applied for. They dont even seem to match people up with job vacancies which is ridiculous as its being run by FRS recruitment agency.

The Raptor · 14-04-2016 03:22AM

fin12 wrote: »

Job centre staff disciplined for not sanctioning enough claimants. Have to hit sanction targets by management.

Sneaky f0ckers don't even give people the correct time they are supposed to arrive at their appointment. They give them a time in the letter but they are really supposed to be at the centre twenty minutes before the time given in the letter.

I had treatment similar to this about two years ago. They called me into one of their usual job activation meetings. The letter first came addressed as Mrs second name and surname. I'm not married, and i usually use my first and second name on anything official. But other things, I use my first name. So the postman was baffled and didn't know who i was, was confused with mrs as I'm not married. But then copped that i do use my first and second name.

I think this was a way for the letter to go astray, so it doesn't show up. Ok, it may have been a mistake.

But

They weren't helping me. Took a look at my CV and didn't care what would actually help. They tried to force me onto an unsuitable basic computer course on the same level as the junior cert, where i already have a level 6 and a level 7. The junior cert is on a level 3. To learn such things as library researching skills and internet skills.

The first I learnt that they were to send me on this course was a very vague information sheet on the course in the post. It was just an information sheet but why were they sending me information on a course rather than a range of courses. I knew I was shafted. There was the phone number of the course provided but it was a wrong phone number. I reckon it was a way to catch people out and they would pretend to ring looking for more information. Well, they aren't really seeking work or course opportunities?. I used my internet skills to find the real number and i did find out information on the course. The next meeting I had, i was told that I was being signed up for the course.

A wrong phone number being provided as well as letters addressed wrong. I found it too weird.

The course 11 months long, with half days every day, where you're finished at 2pm waiting for a bus in the middle of nowhere, at the side of the road for two hours.

I was 30 years old and they expected mammy and daddy to give me a lift to and from the course!

It was laughable. I'm not against learning and I'm open to learning new things and upskilling but not going backwards. I would have preferred to do a course in town where you're not waiting after the course at the side of road. But there wasn't a course that they could have me on ASAP.

For anyone that is ever in the same position as i was. I did find a course that i could have started the week after. It was a week long private security course but then they wouldn't help me out with the funding. I contacted them over and over about the course and if there was any updates on the funding. But they never got back to me. They wouldn't help me when it came to it.

I honestly felt suicidal with the way I was treated.

The Raptor · 14-04-2016 03:25AM

I knew that after my experience from above that they must be getting paid for each person they catch out. It happens in the UK.

If they didn't get paid for each person they catch out, they do now with the companies from the UK taking over from fas.

737max · 18-04-2016 12:08AM

official report of bullying/assault/exploitation of jobbridge interns:
http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/examiner-5.jpg

cost of scheme is €282 Million.

Thread title is apt: Jobbridge is an absolute scandal.

fin12 · 18-04-2016 09:53AM

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/allegations-of-physical-assaults-and-bullying-sees-companies-barred-from-jobbridge-scheme-393565.html

PopePalpatine · 18-04-2016 10:26AM

fin12 wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/allegations-of-physical-assaults-and-bullying-sees-companies-barred-from-jobbridge-scheme-393565.html

And of course, all suspensions have now been lifted. Praise be to Rand!

The Raptor · 18-04-2016 05:33PM

How long has this scheme been going on? Where's the recovery from the recession? Or another five years is ok?

fin12 · 19-04-2016 02:50PM

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/usi-calls-for-jobbridge-abolition-393737.html

Xenji · 19-04-2016 03:23PM

This should of been on the front page of all the national papers.

starlit · 19-04-2016 04:36PM

The government and companies think they are saving money but I think its costing them more?

fin12 · 19-04-2016 04:58PM

doovdela wrote: »

The government and companies think they are saving money but I think its costing them more?

Its definitely costing the government more but its not about the money, its about them being able to take people off the live register when they are on this schemes even though they are still paying them., companies are definitely saving money.

ArtSmart · 25-04-2016 09:27PM

Brothers of Charity in Ennis, Clare advertise Support worker pt positions - paid, on their site and another site.

then the same jobs turn up on jobsbridge.

Now, of all entities, I do think that voluntary organisations should be the ONLY ones allowed to accepts JB interns, but the BOC is a huge worldwide organisation, and certainly has (and to be fair, always have to my knowledge been very good employers) the capacity to hire staff and pay them properly, so this is a unsettling and sad development.

ETA. It is a CE scheme, not jobsbridge. Still, same thing really - real jobs replaced by non-real.

It may be that they wish for both, and the CE schemes will lead to actual positions, but it's all just a bit much.

Employment Activation schemes need to be REGULATED, and properly. And as the Irish Examiner has shown, they are not.

Xenji · 25-04-2016 09:36PM

IMPACT are the latest organisation calling for the scheme to be scrapped, it seems in the last two weeks there has been a lot more public disquiet about the scheme in the press.

ArtSmart · 25-04-2016 09:42PM

To add, if done right, Jobsbridge may well have a function.

But only if done right. As it stands, it's facilitating a lot of unnecessary anger and disgust from many participants.

As it stands it is crude, unstructured, undefined, and indiscriminate in identity, function, clarity and desired outcomes

Just to add, I know there is a JB 'hotline', I know they have 'agreement contracts' drawn up, but someone on high is definitely saying 'let it slide' - as long as the unemployed numbers are reduced, 'let it slide'.

It also needs to be clearly differentiated in function from CE schemes.

There is no real desire to do it right. Rough and ugly is faster, cheaper and it meets the true objective - unemployed number massaging

Some have been lucky, because some employers are decent people, but the rest?

Shocking shame. and shameful it is.

The Jobbridge Scandal

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