Emergency Employment Program?

[chem1st]

good idea in theory, but council workwear should not be handed out for people to keep at home until they would be called in, im not saying everyone would but theres bound to be the odd person who would misuse the unform to gain entry into peoples homes or commit some sort of crime. call me cynical if you want but you here too many stories about bogus workmen gaining entry into peoples homes and stealing stuff.

 

It doesn't have to be council work wear I was just thinking a hi viz for safety and recognition, we don't want people getting run over and popping on a logo is very cheap and makes it look smarter and more organized.

 

If you wanted to steal stuff it would be very easy to make your own, pinch borrow or buy workwear. Only a few people are that devious and immoral/ at least I hope so!

[chem1st]

And what about side streets where everyone works...

 

Areas of high population density could be used to source people to do that.

 

Considering they will have an excess of people vs jobs, commuters could give their local 2nd unemployed person a lift to their workplace and then back.

 

Workplaces would be happy to facilitate such practice.

 

At the end of the day just try to do as much as possible with what we have.

 

Better than doing nothing...

[Cyclone]

Commuters weren't going anywhere in the snow, and the unemployed might not have been where they'd be needed to shovel!

It couldn't hurt to have them shovel somewhere, but I don't think it would solve all the problems.

[Mecky]

Shouldn't we have an emergency employment program.

 

We have unemployed people and some disallowed to work and we have work that sometimes needs to be done with urgency.

 

I'm thinking, clearing roads & pavements that can't be gritted.

 

With the nature of the work being temporary, there isn't time to offer these jobs to people in the usual manner, it's also going to cause a lot of trouble for the whole multitude of council staff to process benefit off/on claims and possible legal implications.

 

Shouldn't we have an emergency employment program where the unemployed can be paid on top of benefits.

 

We have the figures available for UC which will be introduced in a few years time, current minimum wage rates will £1.42 - £2.07 NET for benefit claimants.

 

Surely we can run a program to employ people on top of their benefits for £2.50 or so per hour to deal with things like the snow. You could even offer such spontaneous temporary work to asylum seekers who are banned from working, whilst their claims are processed (which can take years).

 

I don't know how much the economic loss to the snow is estimated at, but surely having an emergency employment program has got to be win-win for all.

 

You do it, clear our road

[AlexAtkin]

But not everyone has wellies, good boots, warm clothes or a shovel, especially if you have been unemployed for a while.

 

So would the government be making sure everyone likely to be called up for these schemes have these items on-hand "just in case" we have snow?

 

Also the last thing someone struggling to pay their gas bill and eating poorly due to living on benefit wants to be doing is manual labour. The whole making unemployed people do manual labour is a stupid idea from the start for this reason.

 

You have to be looking after yourself to be fit enough to do manual labour, the one thing you are least likely to be doing if trying to live on jobseekers allowance.

 

I'm all in favour if they pay people a sensible wage and ease them into it, so they get fit enough to do it. But that isn't going to happen as if you paid people a proper wage to do it you are effectively giving them a job not benefit, and the whole point of this is to get free slave labour so that less people need to be paid to do those jobs.

[chem1st]

But not everyone has wellies, good boots, warm clothes or a shovel, especially if you have been unemployed for a while.

 

So would the government be making sure everyone likely to be called up for these schemes have these items on-hand "just in case" we have snow?

 

Also the last thing someone struggling to pay their gas bill and eating poorly due to living on benefit wants to be doing is manual labour. The whole making unemployed people do manual labour is a stupid idea from the start for this reason.

 

You have to be looking after yourself to be fit enough to do manual labour, the one thing you are least likely to be doing if trying to live on jobseekers allowance.

 

I'm all in favour if they pay people a sensible wage and ease them into it, so they get fit enough to do it. But that isn't going to happen as if you paid people a proper wage to do it you are effectively giving them a job not benefit, and the whole point of this is to get free slave labour so that less people need to be paid to do those jobs.

I was suggesting paying people.