JobBridge to nowhere September 20, 2014
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.trackback
…some fairly disgusting stuff revealed hear about how some in education are using the JobBridge scheme. Cleaners, SNAs, the non-existent posts of ‘Classroom Assistants’ and ‘Cúntoir Ranga’ as well as ‘School Assistants’. There’s no other word but exploitation to describe this. One might also wonder if this is what is taking place in what presumably are state funded institutions what then of private and commercial entities where the degree of oversight may be lesser.
But whatever the general criticism of JobBridge, what of the following.
On Thursday RTÉ highlighted the case of a Dublin school advertising for a cleaner on JobBridge.
The ad said the applicant would gain experience in “cleaning a school” and must be “hardworking”.
‘Hardworking’? Patronising and offensive, isn’t it?
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
[…] “… some fairly disgusting stuff revealed hear about how some in education are using the JobBridge scheme. Cleaners, SNA’s, the non-existent posts of ‘Classroom Assistants’ and ‘Cúntoir Ranga’ as well as ‘School Assistants’. There’s no other word but exploitation to describe this …” (more) […]
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some guy on RTE radio this morning saying all the problems with jobbridge were in the public sector not the private sector because they belatedly act to remove some of the queried positions, (he was also saying ‘businessses needed to speak up for themselves’
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Of course, the problem with the private sector is that in many parts of it, JobsBridge exploitation is indistinguishable from ‘par for the course’.
If only we had a trade union apparatus to resist such serfdom.
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The likes of “classroom assistant” I wouldn’t have that much of a problem with, where it’s a genuine public good and not replacing an actual job. Of course, that’s presuming that it’s not used as an excuse to further increase class sizes.
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I’d not be averse to same if there was an actual structure for people then to link into after JobBridge, but with SNA’s slashed away massively that’s not looking good. As it happens I’m not against any efforts as long as they don’t undercut actual jobs or simply become a byword for exploitation.
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Not sure about that (i.e. “The likes of “classroom assistant” I wouldn’t have that much of a problem with“). It’s not replacing an actual previously existing job. But if there is a demand for people to do that job, then it is replacing a job that ought to be created and funded by the State.
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Apparently they’re even advertising for SNAs: http://voiceforteachersblog.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/jobbridge-whats-in-a-title/
It’s a tricky question about “previously existing job”, or existing work – if there’s no work there, there’s nothing for the intern to do, but if there is, there can’t be replacement. I did my 9 months before, and was lucky to get a research position this year that wasn’t Jobbridge – it was decent experience which helped, but the system overall is rotten. At least in the public or voluntary sector the labour doesn’t contribute to private profits, but it does erode expectations. Shouldn’t they be talking about winding the scheme down now that employment is picking up again, anyway?
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Worked with a special needs school a few years ago. It was run by a HSE agency so there was crossover between Education and Health funding. Long story short, the HSE cut funding to dozens of positions at the level of SNA/classroom assistant because they decided education should fund it. The NCSE refused to even entertain applications at that time of year and months later, when they did accept the applications, only a fraction of the vacant positions were filled.
Young people with severe self injurous behaviour were being left without the support required to even have a chance of keeping them safe. The organisation used jobbridge positions to fill the void.
The funding was taken out of health, given to bondholders banks, consultants and their ilk and people lost their jobs as a result. The organsiation couldn’t cope with the job losses so Scambridge was used to protect the vulnerable young people who use the service. In protecting those children, the organisation was helping to exploit dozens of young people. The somewhat terrifying thing is that as far as Kenny, Hogan, Gilmore and Burton are conerned, that situation was a win.
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Shouldn’t they be talking about winding the scheme down now that employment is picking up again, anyway?
I asked an IMPACT apparatchik the same question recently, and he was surprised at the notion. And obviously, told me that IMPACT have zero plans to do anything about it.
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But if there is a demand for people to do that job, then it is replacing a job that ought to be created and funded by the State.
The problem is, that we already know that the Austeritarians are going to keep ramping class sizes up, because what do they care for public schools and the children who go there?
The ‘classroom assistants’ stroke seems like it was a good solution for their profession using JobsBridge without it replacing actual teachers. Now we’re getting a much worse outcome.
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A simple story, well told, that represents in microcosm everything that has happened over the last few years.
If similar chaos had hit the passport office, of course, there would have been a national outcry.
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About time ‘the lamestream media’ came to expose what some have being saying for ages http://gfmurphy101.wordpress.com/category/jobbridge/page/2/
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