When Work for the dole was introduced by the Howard Government in 2002, many of the projects involved light community programmes such as assisting a food co-op or working on a history of migrants in the Marrickville area. Many supposedly progressive organisations took advantage of the scheme and were co-opted. These schemes, incidentally, should have been carried out by award paid community workers. Since then the work has got tougher and the hours longer. Older unemployed have also been forced to do it if they are classified as �shirkers�.
Work for the Dole has meant slave labour, doing tasks such as concreting; teachers� and nurses� aid work; light construction and bush regeneration. For this, unemployed are paid a mere ten dollars per week on top of their dole payment. The extra money may not even cover fares. Whilst the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations has clamped down a bit, safety and amenities on many projects are totally inadequate.
Work for the Dole is a serious attack on the employed workforce. The jobs should be carried out by workers paid award rates with award conditions. Work for the Dole as well as Centrelink�s �mutual obligation� provisions are part and parcel of the government�s programme to undermine awards. Employers prefer free rather than paid workers. Work for the Dole is therefore a job destruction project and not a job creation project. If unemployed refuse to comply they are breached and this may mean eight weeks without any income.
On the whole it is the public and community sector which has been taking advantage of this free labour. Churches have also benefited with unemployed working on church schools and community centres. So too have farmers suffering from the drought. They crying poor but get plenty of money from government hand-outs.
This current �reform� is based on Howard�s belief that the low official level of unemployment means effectively full employment. Everyone on Newstart for any length of time is therefore a bludger. From now on all long term unemployed, �shirkers� or otherwise, will be forced to do Work for the Dole.
His reasoning is faulty. For a start, the unemployment figures are wrong. They do not include those who live off savings and don�t register. They don�t include underemployed who work for eighteen hours a week and are statistically considered employed. Nor those who choose not to register nor illegal immigrants. Just because there are plenty of jobs doesn�t mean unemployed will be chosen. Discrimination against older unemployed is rife. Many who were unemployed before this new boom do not have the skills to get a job in the current environment. Many are understandably demoralised. The jobs are not necessarily in an area where unemployed live. The jobs boom is linked to a boom in mining so those communities which need workers are in parts of Queensland and Western Australia. It is extremely difficult for those in the Hunter Valley (where there is a jobs shortage) to move thousands of kilometres. Often there is a shortage of housing in the new growth areas.
Howard�s reforms will not create jobs. They will create suffering. It is difficult to survive on the dole and look for work. It is tougher when you have to work for it and search for jobs as well.
It is crystal clear that the �welfare reform� programme is not merely aimed at the unemployed. It is part and parcel of an overall programme to undermine the wages, conditions and union organisation of all workers. It is disgraceful that �welfare reform� or Work for the Dole hardly rates a mention at massive rallies against Work Choices. The unions, including the supposedly �left� CFMEU (covering miners and building workers) and the Australian Manufacturing Workers� Union, have dumped attacking it in the too hard basket.
Especially treacherous is the Labor Party. When Work for the Dole was first introduced �Left� leader Anthony Albanese made strong statements against it. The problem is, one institution taking advantage of free unemployed labour is the NSW Labor Government led by Morris Iemma. The state government uses unemployed labour to maintain gardens at Lidcombe TAFE as well as state schools. Albanese�s political ally, Carmel Tebbitt, state member for Marrickville, explained that �Work for the Dole was part of the scenery� and was �OK when it was working well�. She explained that this was the case at Lidcombe TAFE.
Slave labour is never justified. If Lidcombe TAFE wants labour to maintain its gardens then the state government should pay for the labour at full rates!
Work for the Dole is one issue on which ALP Federal leader, Kevin Rudd maintains his silence. He has actively support Howard�s reactionary �reform� to have single parents and those with disabilities work tested and, if required, do work for the dole.
Work for the Dole must be smashed. We don�t object to unemployed people doing work. All work must be full time work with proper conditions, paid at proper award rates. REAL JOBS FOR REAL WAGES!
The attack on unemployed people not only forces them to suffer.It is part and parcel of Howard�s offensive against the workers� movement. Whilst is a disgrace that the workers� movement refuses to act, it is not surprising. It is a product of reformist and Stalinist politics which dominate the union leaderships and the degeneration of their politics.