The last five days have been very interesting indeed. Last week, an amazing outburst of anger followed a Tesco advert for nightshift workers who would be paid only their jobseeker’s allowance plus expenses – and as the issue was frantically discussed just about everywhere, a steady stream of employers announced that they had pulled out of the government’s latest “work experience scheme”.
Sainsbury’s and Waterstones had already exited; they were followed by such charities as Marie Curie Cancer Care, Shelter and Scope, as well as the electronics retailer Maplin, and Matalan, who suspended their participation and put it under “review”. Tesco seemed to hold its nerve – but today, it announced that such placements will now be “paid” (though how much is unclear), and come with a guarantee of a full-time job “if the trial goes well”.
Such is the result of a very quick campaign conducted through social media, the outpouring of public opposition via endless radio phone-ins, and the threat of a national day of action tomorrow. But while everything shifts around the government, the Department of Work and Pensions isn’t budging – and with that slightly unhinged air he occasionally affects, Iain Duncan Smith has been given space in the Daily Mail to malign those of us who are opposed to supplying free labour to huge multinationals as “job snobs”.
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