The grandeur of the Jubilee

The current British Government is refining the concept of work and Travel away from home allowances as it seeks to create dynamism and flexible and effective job creation programs. The answer appears to be that the workers don’t get paid, they are bussed to remote locations and are required to sleep under bridges prior to undertaking their unpaid work. As the the official Government statements tell us “The Work Programme also ensures value for money”. These developments are beyond even the dreams of the most entrenched neo-liberal.

The UK Guardian article (June 4, 2012) – Unemployed bussed in to steward river pageant – reported that:

Coachloads of jobless people brought in to work unpaid on river pageant as part of Work Programme … A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

The following picture (taken from the Guardian) shows the salubrious accommodation that the unpaid staff were provided in London after being bussed from out of town. The caption under their photo read – “Some of those hired as stewards had to spend the night before the pageant sleeping under London Bridge.”

According to the official UK Department for Work and Pensions homepage – The Work Programme:

The Work Programme provides tailored support for claimants who need more help to undertake active and effective jobseeking. Participants receive support to overcome barriers that prevent them from finding and staying in work. It is delivered by DWP contracted service providers who have been given complete autonomy to decide how best to support participants while meeting their minimum service delivery standards.

They tell us that “The Work Programme also ensures value for money” because the workers do not get paid and when required to work away from home they are accommodated at no cost to the government under bridges by the River Thames.

The main explanatory document – The Work Programme – tells us that:

… low levels of labour market regulation and taxation mean that firms have incentives to create new jobs alongside new business opportunities, and can offer flexible working arrangements.

Yes, very flexible.

The Work Programme is designed on the Australian Job Network model which has been a spectacular failure. I have written a lot about this in the past and the following free working papers (subsequently published in revised form) will help you understand why these privatised so-called work schemes fail – False Promise or false premise? Evaluating the Job Network and Employment policy and active labour market programs.

I was also hoping that the upcoming Olympics might give a boost to the British economy in the face of it being undermined by fiscal austerity. But as the Guardian reports that the “job provider” which had the contract to person the Jubilee said that:

… the unpaid work was a trial for paid roles at the Olympics, which it had also won a contract to staff. Unpaid staff were expected to work two days out of the three-day holiday.

The charity which apparently was the conduit between the workers and the job provider comes with the name “Tomorrow’s People”. They might start thinking of people as being here and now.

Conclusion

Is this a joke? As I noted in yesterday’s blog – We do have a choice – we just need to identify it.

A full coverage of the Australian National Accounts for the March 2012 quarter will be coming later today.