Actually for the $520 monthly "workfare" in Ontario a person is expected to work
17 hours per week--supposedly using the rest of the time to apply for more
permanent work. But even before it was implemented the recipient had to provide
a list of places, with names of personel directors, that (s)he applied to. I
think 10 were required per week.
Which one would think is a fulltime "job"
Today the CBC interviewed a grandmother who has legal custody of her five
grandchildren. She was forced to obtain workfare. She leaves home early and does
not get back until after they have left school, and two of the children have
serious problems with school and the law but she is now not able to attend to
their problems.
I have one "workfare", person renting a room in my house. He is in
training courses.
But since I charge him $300 a month for rent, transit fare is $88 per month, and
he has a phone for $29 per month--his $520 does not stretch for food, clothes,
personal care,
let alone books, newspapers, postage stamps, vitamins, entertainment or
socializing
(he washes his clothes with bars of soap in my bathtub and hangs them in his
window
and I won't tell you what he uses for toilet paper) and his religion requires
him to give 10 percent of income to the mosque.
There was a program on the radio this morning about the increase in evictions
since the province enacted the "Tenants Protection Act" allowing landhoards to
evict tenants and convert to condominiums and charge more. With the increase
in evictions are increasing numbers of single mothers in homeless shelters and
living on the streets. They represent the group with the largest increase in
numbers of homeless. And to top it off, the newly appointed federal Minister of
Homelessness has announced that she has finished her "research" and will shortly
present to cabinet her information. She is quoted in the newspapers to the
effect that she doesn't know if they will do anything about it, but she will
give them the information that she gathered!
john courtneidge wrote:
> Dear Friends
>
> I snip and then comment.
> ----------
> >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christoph Reuss)
> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >Subject: Re: workfare
> >Date: Mon, Sep 27, 1999, 3:00 pm
> >
>
> >
> >Victor Milne calculated:
> >> If a workfare participant works 8
> >> hours each working day (22 workdays in the average month) for his welfare
> >> benefit of $520 a month, then he is being paid $2.95 an hour.
> >
> >Over here, the 'wage' is about 2-3 times higher. Considering that the
> >workfare work is very easy work that can't be compared with the stressing
> >work in private companies, and that it basically helps the candidates to
> >maintain a regular activity (and possibly to find a 'real' job), I think
> >this wage isn't too bad...
> >
> >Chris
>
> ------------
> One intriguing aspect of wages under capitalism is that the people who do
> the crap jobs get the crap money.
>
> Given that, as income (and wealth) inequality grows, ill-health also grows
> (Richard Wilkinson's book) then we *have* to work out how to close the
> present, obscene factors of income inequality.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> j
>
> ************
