Jobs scam is all a government plan
LET’S talk about the blatant exploitation of young Australians trying to enter the workforce.
I’m talking about young people who are desperately seeking fulltime work but who, in increasing numbers, are finding themselves victims of a perverse Federal Government scheme that provides financial incentives to businesses to hire them — and then get rid of them when the funding runs out.
It matters not one iota how good a job these young workers do, how reliable or conscientious they are, or how eager to please.
When the funding runs out, they’re gone.
To add further insult to injury, this dodgy scheme also allows the employer to head back to the trough time and again to employ another young person, obtain the same financial benefits, only for the young worker to suffer the same fate as their predecessor — being finished up from your job after the funding ends with no real training, no skills, no qualifications and certainly no job.
More importantly, it is the profound effect upon these young people that is most alarming.
According to those who have lost their jobs in such circumstances — and there are many — the initial feeling of shock is followed by an overwhelming sense of failure, that somehow it is all their fault when, quite simply, it is not.
And the methods used by unscrupulous employers to get rid of staff is also disturbing, especially in cases where the young person has worked hard, done everything asked and had no complaints made against them.
Take the 17-year-old who took up a storeman’s apprenticeship with an importer.
Initially his boss was full of praise and support, but as the government funding started to wane, so did the boss’s attitude towards him, replacing his previous congenial attitude with relentless verbal abuse.
In the end, the teenager, unable to cope with the daily verbal attacks, quit.
Another youth was rapt when he thought he had landed a plumbing apprenticeship and em- braced the hard work, lengthy travel and long hours. But towards the end of six months, things became difficult when his boss started telling him he was to come into work on Sunday (without pay or time in lieu) and wash the company vehicles.
When he asked why, his employer gave him a choice: “Do it or don’t come in on Monday”.
With his dad to back him up, he did not return to the job but was just as devastated at its loss.
The third young man, elated at having finally got work with a Melbourne glazier, travelled back and forth daily, was always on time, never missed a day and by all accounts was liked and respected by his fellow workers.
But again, when the funding ran out, so did his job.
He arrived home from work one day to find a letter of termin- ation in the letterbox. No one had approached him, mentioned any kind of problem with his work or any other aspect of his employment. In fact, he was already on the following week’s work roster. Yet, the reason given for his dismissal was “Not suitable for the job”.
And there appears to be no comeback for these vulnerable young people, especially those forced into quitting through bullying and intimidation. Most prefer to keep their mouths shut, rather than speak out and risk being seen as whingers.
As for the three young men I described, two eventually gained full-time work in their chosen fields. But for the third, the pain of being sacked with no reason given other than he was “not suitable” for a labouring job is still hard to swallow.
I’ve no doubt he will bounce back, but it’s a pretty miserable state of affairs when the Federal Government seems to care more about enriching business than the blatant exploitation of the young.
The system does nothing more than enable employers to churn through as many young people as possible to keep the free labour rolling in, many equating it to the equivalent of slave labour.
It’s time for the Federal Government to scrap the financial incentives scheme to business altogether.
If a company needs to employ someone, they should do it fairly and squarely, based on the applicant’s individual merits, work ethic and performance, without repeated government handouts to do so.
It’s called, believe it or not, giving (young) people a fair go.