Tag Archives: exploitation
How Much?
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RTÉ reports:
“The latest MRCI [Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland] research shows that au pairs are now being used by thousands of parents to replace costly full time childcare and housekeepers. Some are experiencing the same exploitation previously reported by other domestic workers.”
“It finds that there is now a growing informal workforce providing care in private homes nationwide where workers are unprotected and vulnerable. It cites a report by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency that says in Ireland, workers in private homes are most at risk of exploitation.”
“According to the research, some au pairs are working over 70 hours a week, for between €100 and €120 per week, with no overtime, extra pay for bank holidays, or proper breaks. “
Au pairs subjected to exploitation, abuse – MRCI report (RTÉ)
In Ireland, workers in private homes are most at risk of exploitation – new EU report (MRCI)
X-Factor
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Part one (and the recently released part two) of Anita Sarkeesian’s examination of the Women as Background Decoration video game trope – a thing she defines as:
…the subset of largely insignificant non-playable female characters whose sexuality or victimhood is exploited as a way to infuse edgy, gritty or racy flavoring into game worlds.
The 1970s. They never really went away.
Previously: Damsels In Distress
Where is Ireland’s welfare system headed?
A warning from the UK.
It’s clear where the Irish government want it to go. They have been explicit about what it is that they want: something that looks like the UK system. The reforms point to what now exists here: the same multinational companies (G4S, Serco, etc.) are bidding for contracts; similar unwaged work schemes, like the already existing internship programme JobBridge, are set to play a prominent role; and the use of benefit sanctions is set to increase.
The reforms are already underway. The winning contracts for Jobpath, the welfare-to-work scheme for those unemployed over a year, modelled on the UK’s disastrous Work Programme, will be announced shortly for four Contract Package Areas across Ireland. Private employment service providers such as Ingeus are set to create a welfare industry with themselves at the head of supply chains and the taxpayer footing the bill. Below them, they will aim for a host of subcontractors from the voluntary and charity sectors, as well as smaller private providers.
Ireland’s government has ignored the vast evidence of the welfare to work industry’s failure in the UK, and instead are on a path to repeat the same mistakes. We know, for example, that a harsher system of sanctions creates destitution and hunger. We know that forced, unpaid work placements lead not to more jobs but to more misery. We know that companies take advantage of free labour and that workfare fuels the precarious elements of the labour market. We know that big private employment and training companies are good at churning the unemployed through their programmes but not at securing them good, lasting jobs. We also know that workfare schemes mask the real level of unemployment.
More here: Stopping Workfare In Ireland (BoycottWorkFare.org)
Thanks Nick
