I graduated from college in the mid-90's. I was offered a six month contract with a guy starting up his own business through an IDA sponsered scheme. He was given a grant of £100 a week to employ someone to work for him. The dole at the time was approx £70.
Even though I was not earning much more than the dole I was happy with the work experience and it led directly to me getting a very good job with a large irish company.
Now ask those here whether after 12 months of constant rejection and failure to secure work, a few months on social welfare and working "for free" was worth the entry into slavery.
Well according to IBEC
Loughlin Deegan, a solicitor in IBEC’s employment law unit, who delivered the conference paper on the topic, said: “The notion that the Charter creates an obligation to introduce compulsory collective bargaining is incorrect for two reasons. Firstly, Irish industrial relations laws do not implement EU law and are therefore outside the scope of the Charter. Article 51 specifies that the provisions of the Charter are only for Member States when they are implementing EU law.
“Secondly, Ireland has extremely robust legal provisions, including those enshrined in the Constitution which deal with both freedom of association and its corollary of freedom not to associate. Article 28 of the Charter gives flexibility to member states to act within national laws and practices. Ireland has well developed mechanisms which fully comply with the provisions of Article 28 and exert considerable control over how collective bargaining and strike action are regulated.
“Nothing in Article 28 (or elsewhere in the Lisbon Treaty) can be read as requiring Ireland to make any provision for mandatory trade union recognition or as undermining the fundamental constitutional right of an employer not to recognise a trade union,” concluded Mr Deegan.
My concern with these intern schemes is that they will make it MORE difficult for people to get work in the future, because employers will exploit the schemes to get free labour. So the short term gain of a few months work for dole+€50 is more than negated by the long term loss of a decent job. When you see large retailers etc using these schemes, they don't look to me to be genuine internships.
Nice to see hard-pressed hedge funds availing of this scheme to get some free slave labour;
[broken link removed]
Because they are not paying the employee? Are you seriously suggesting that these fund companies genuinly shouldn't pay an entry level or trainee wage for the initial period? Why should the State be subsidising their industry? Isn't it funny how when it comes to public servants, people are very quick with the 'we just can't afford it' response, but those responses can't be heard when it comes to corporate welfare like this?It's a fund administration company, not a hedge fund. Secondly, the funds industry is one part of the economy where there are job opportunities for people with experience. There are actually staff shortages in the area. So if a funds company is willing to give someone a 6 months introduction to the industry and allow them to gain some experience, why are you knocking them?
Because they are not paying the employee? Are you seriously suggesting that these fund companies genuinly shouldn't pay an entry level or trainee wage for the initial period? Why should the State be subsidising their industry? Isn't it funny how when it comes to public servants, people are very quick with the 'we just can't afford it' response, but those responses can't be heard when it comes to corporate welfare like this?
I look forward to using the 'we didn't ask for it' defence the next time public sector salaries/pensions/spending is attacked here on AAM. I'm sure it will go down a bomb with the usual suspects.I agree with you but the government introduced the scheme. It's not the companies driving it so still not sure why you accused this particular company of slave labour. Business did not go looking for this scheme and they certainly didn't ask for private pensions to be raided to pay for it.
By what measure of success? If you look at is as 'the intern got a job', that is not a real measure of success. If the underlying economics were there to support a job, then the 9 months intern salary didn't have a major impact on this. It was just a handy subsidy for the employer. Does the State pay the intern's salary in Germany & France? How many of these jobs would have been created anyway, without the internship programme?Having said all that, schemes like this are very successful for young people in countries like Germany and France. They just have to be
managed properly.
I presume that in your 'small sample', the interns were paid something by the employer? If I was in there shoes, I might feel the same way, but that ignores the big picture. The real question is whether these jobs/posts would exist anyway, without the State subsidy.Again though, another poster also indicated this, has anyone spoken to those on the scheme? do they feel like "slaves"? I've seen a small sample of this scheme work and work very very well.
I look forward to using the 'we didn't ask for it' defence the next time public sector salaries/pensions/spending is attacked here on AAM. I'm sure it will go down a bomb with the usual suspects.
By what measure of success? If you look at is as 'the intern got a job', that is not a real measure of success. If the underlying economics were there to support a job, then the 9 months intern salary didn't have a major impact on this. It was just a handy subsidy for the employer. Does the State pay the intern's salary in Germany & France? How many of these jobs would have been created anyway, without the internship programme?
I presume that in your 'small sample', the interns were paid something by the employer? If I was in there shoes, I might feel the same way, but that ignores the big picture. The real question is whether these jobs/posts would exist anyway, without the State subsidy.
I presume that in your 'small sample', the interns were paid something by the employer? If I was in there shoes, I might feel the same way, but that ignores the big picture. The real question is whether these jobs/posts would exist anyway, without the State subsidy.