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Updated 11/09 10.50 am
CORK COUNTY COUNCIL may stop using the JobBridge and Gateway schemes to recruit interns.
This would make it one of the first local authorities in the country to opt out of using the scheme.
The schemes have faced opposition as a Government-imposed recruitment embargo means that those taken on by local authorities have no prospect of employment once they complete their placements.
It is hoped that the motion will put pressure on the Government to lift the public-sector recruitment embargo.
The vote is expected to pass, with Sinn Féin and Labour councillors predicted to back the motion, and a number of independents undecided. Fianna Fáil is also thought to be broadly in support but has yet to decide a party line.
A motion will be tabled by Sinn Féin councillor Kieran McCarthy. Speaking to TheJournal.ie McCarthy said:
If you are looking at the point of view of the local authorities, they are abusing the system. They cannot offer anyone a job at the end of it and have no problem accepting cheap labour.
“The big question here is not how much it is going to cost – it is the right of people to get full paying jobs anyways. If we get this motion passed it could force the Government to lift the embargo on recruitment.”
Speaking to TheJournal.ie about the motion, Fianna Fáil councillor Frank O’Flynn said that:
It is a good scheme in one way but in terms of future prospects and the wages they are getting it isn’t so good - staff should be taken on full time at the end of it.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Sinn Féin councillor Michael Murphy said “I think it is a crazy set up. There is an embargo so there isn’t a chance that [employment] will happen”.
On the possibility that a decision by the council would send a message nationally Murphy said:
That is what we are hoping will happen. It might open a few peoples eyes.
In reaction to the proposed motion by Cork County Council, Minister of State at the Department of Social Protection Kevin Humphreys TD, said: ”I would… strongly urge the members of Cork County Council to consider the benefits of the employment support schemes for jobseekers before they vote on any motion to discontinue the schemes… Let us avail of and support these opportunities, not knock them.”
A similar motion was passed earlier in the year in Cork City Council. However, placements still remain available with the local authority, as advertised on their website.
First published 10/09 at 18.16pm
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Excellent, this exploitative travesty of properly rewarded employment needs to be killed
Good for Cork! Rubbish and exploitative scheme.
In fairness to Cork, they also banned clamping. Other than that, their a useless shower of incompetents.
And first county to cut property tax.
They also voted to support a referendum to repeal the 8th amendment.
Nonsense, what will happen is headcount won’t go up, those on jobbridge will have to sit at home, rather than getting real world experience. I have several friend who did job bridge and got jobs out of it or thanks to it.
Cork also won Ireland’s freedom.
/runs away
dont see many romanians on job bridge either but they line up to collect job seekers every week in my local post office.oops shouldt say that, politically incorrect…….
Not really when its a fact!
Stop exploiting people!
Nice to see the second biggest local authority turning its back on this scam. Hopefully the government will take notice.
@ o’ Reilly. .. the worker in the gateway scheme is not there by choice.. they are told to do it or get their payments cut. . So even though it has been proven that some of these people actually end up with less money , factoring in childcare, travelling etc..they still have virtually no choice.
I know someone who was an intern for the local authority ..they started ambitious but after the first day they were informed ‘don’t get your hopes up ,there will be no job in this for you’..and 6 months of bullying by local authority staff ..well they were a shadow of their former self by the time they left ..
Love the sign “a day’s work for a day’s pay” so I assume he’s ok getting zero when the day isn’t worked
It’s a woman holding the sign. Haven’t seen too many women forced to work for the council on jobsbridge – but I’ve seen plenty of lads. Go figure.
The irony..
Oops, thanks Niall not obvious it was a woman from the pic in the article, only from the list of stories.
I have worked with 4 people who were on job bridge scheme, all were female. 3 got permanent jobs elsewhere in a related field afterwards.sometimes when you’ve no experience as you are newly qualified you need to show commitment to the role and prove yourself to potential employers. Job bridge isn’t for everyone but it is good experience
You’re missing the point Sandra I think. Job bridge was set up in the knowledge that people were desperate for work so instead of paying people a proper wage for their work experience they can get away with free labour for a period of time that would usually cost them. Where do we draw the line? How long before people have to partake in job bridge for let’s say 3 years before they’re offered a job? You see the point I’m making?
I done one for 6 months and the crowd I was working for weren’t going taking me on afterwards (I found out in my last month). Worse then that the dole weren’t giving me the extra 50 euro I was told countless times I was entitled to and after 3 of those months I got through to a manager in the dole office who told me I wasn’t entitled to it even though I was in the scheme.
But in the end I got a job in the alumina refinery in Co. Limerick and I think somehow that the fact I had I was working 45 hours a week for my 122.24 euro dole on my cv pushed me over the line. But still it’s very demoralising and a cheap employment scheme for alot of companies.
Crap…. i applied for a JB internship with CCC yesterday :-(
I did another internship last year,also with CCC. It was made quiet clear to me that there was no postion at the end of the 9 months.i worked anything from 25-45hrs a week. Our ‘mentor’ did have a monthly review on how we got on and learnt etc. In my placement there were 2 women hired to work on a site with about 30 men on various other schemes, the other female lasted 4 months,i stayed for the 9. When i left,again there was no offer of fulltime work even though there was a need for my position,6 months later it still hasnt been filled. Would i recommend job ridge? I would be hard pushed and honestly, the money is insulting to anyone willing to work.
So those in the scheme should go home and sit on their hands? How about SF let adults make their own decisions…
No, those on the scheme continue to do the same job. For a real wage. How does that sound?
But there is no job. That’s the point. So what do these obviously ambitious people do if SF have their way?
Jobsbridge only favours the employer, who gets hours of free labour, and the government, who get to brag that unemployment is falling. The employee benefits not at all, unless he or she has s private income which enables working for no return
I would imagine that anyone on the scheme currently would be able to see out the remainder of their stay. As you say, there’s no real job at the end and they can’t take up the same position under the scheme again, so doing away with JobBridge would have no bearing on these people. It would only apply to new recruits.
These are positions that need filling and JobBridge is merely a tool for the government to worm around the public sector embargo and massage the figures on the live register. Doing away with JobBridge would force the issue.
As regards the private sector, it is an absolute scandal that JobBridge is available as a means of cheap labour. Multinational companies aren’t hiring on this scheme out of goodwill. They hire on this basis as they need positions filled and this is a way of doing so at no cost. Removal of this scheme would force them to pay proper wages for proper jobs. A lot of these now demand a minimum of a masters as a requirement. €238 a week for that? No thanks.
do you secretly fancy SF cos every post you are on about them…..are you secretly in love with gerry, pearce and mary lou
Connor, no doubt there are abuses. But your writing the whole scheme off despite the fact that many thousands have used it to get work, learn new skills etc…
If there no job why are they on job bridge. Think what you mean is that there is work to be done but no permanent positions to be filled and no wages to be paid. In other words slave labour for no reward.
I don’t doubt there are some how have found work as a result of it, no more than you can deny many have lost out on work because of it. As someone who graduated in the last couple of years I can tell you that this scheme has destroyed the graduate job industry.
I was offered two internships, neither of which I could accept as I didn’t qualify for JobBridge because I was still employed in my part time retail job which funded my degree. Essentially, this system would’ve meant I would have to quit my job, go on the dole for 3 months and then apply for JobBridge in order to get into the field I had studied. Absolutely ridiculous.
It got to the stage where I had to beg to intern for 3 days a week (for free & a 120km round trip car journey) and work my part time job the other 4 days to keep my head above water. I kept this up for a year and luckily have recently found employment in a paying graduate job.
As soon as I left, the next guy came along to fill in. It’s a conveyor belt of free labour and it’s there to be exploited.
Exactly !
I saw an ad on the local paper recently, it was advertising a job bridge place in which the applicant would have 3 years experience. They wanted 3 years experience to work in a warehouse for free! They clearly wanted employers but saw their opportunity for free labour.
The concept of job bridge is not a bad one. The concept of helping people get paid intern ships isn’t bad at all. The problem is like most ideas in Ireland, they do not think it out fully or have any follow through. The employers should be monitored once they take on an intern, there should be monthly check ins with the intern to see if they are learning etc. Intern ships should not be for low level jobs that require zero actual training beyond the basic of any job. An intern deli assistant is taking advantage, an intern teaching assistant-who has not yet done the h.dip but is considering teaching as a career- is not really taking advantage. But, employers take advantage, have the interns working over the allowed hours, working as though they are full time and do not act as they should – mentors. The interns are make feel as though they are lucky to be there so they keep quiet despite poor working conditions so… Concept good, follow through sh!t
About time!!
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