Is stacking shelves really so menial?

TOO many people seem to think that if you stack shelves or flip burgers, you’re pretty lowly and are learning nothing. Labour and the Left shamefully mock those doing those jobs, suggesting it isn’t ‘meaningful’. A friend stacks shelves in Morrisons, and she’s a decent person who wants to provide for her family. She doesn’t regard herself as ‘lowly’, and as for what you can ‘learn’ from stacking shelves, she has learned that decent people respect you for working hard to support others, irrespective of what you do. This appalling ‘job snobbery’ is a feature of the Left even though Labour and the trade unions claim to be the defenders of the working class. But they don’t defend their members who are doing invaluable jobs — and paying union dues. Why is work experience in such jobs attracting such vitriol? Years ago my daughter took part in a YTS scheme and no one thought any less of her. I’m sorry this latest scheme has attracted so much criticism. Sadly, we have a lost generation on our hands, largely as a result of a liberal Left that refuses to allow people to grow up and take responsibility for themselves.

Mrs DAWN JENNINGS, Nuneaton, Warks. I’M CRITICAL of the ‘workfare’ scheme, not least because it fails to match people with jobs that suit their expertise, talent and experience. For the participating companies, it’s actually a form of cheap labour. There are many instances of unpaid work experience or internships. I’ve done unpaid work myself, but that was in a voluntary position to observe a possible career path, not stacking shelves at a supermarket for free. If we’re going to employ people, we should pay them at least the minimum wage, even if only temporarily.

OLIVER B. STEWARD, Norwich.