work placement or work slavement ?

cindy101

Spendless wrote: »

Hi cindy - I admire you so much cos I;m pretty sure I'd have walked by now.:cool:

The manager that says there's work available for 'special' people. Does he know that you are not on JSA and are doing this off your own bat so to speak?

BTW-how many hours would you need (I know you said 4 nights)?

thanks for that spendless i have told them yes,
and dont admire me to much mate lool, iv now decided to quit,,
im about to take my son to asda to buy a dvd for us for tonight and will drive up to tesco and let them know im done, (while holding my asda bag full of my nibbles im gonna also get get us :rotfl:)
all this energy i been using on this store i could have sorted my attic and cleared out alot of unwanted stuff and done a boot sale earning real money,,,
so thats the plan for tomorrow, get ready boot sale world here i come!, and no worrys about how much tax credit i'll lose either,,

oh yes edit to say that this morning wen i had chat with manager i did say id gone job center for a job in asda as a new one was opening in my area,, and the 2 of them stood their saying "NOOOO Yoou dont want to work for Asda",,,,
well i have friends who work in my local one and they say it is good, cant be any worse than the slave driving tescos,

ecgirl07

cindy101 wrote: »

ecgirl 15 hours is no good to me i would lose money, over 500 a month,
as for the experience i already have 23 years worth in retail, i have been working since iu was 15 years old all but the last 2 years, i have done various jobs over the years to fit in with my circumstances and can and will put my hand to anything .
im only doing this to get a full time job,
any less is no good to me,
i also cant afford to be strung along, and am sick of being taken for a Mug!!!

fair enough you gave a fair crack of the whip (no pun) and proved yourself - their loss imho.

Good luck with your future job searches, you certainly deserve a job that fulfils you both financially and spiritually, enjoy your night :beer:

cmw1212

Well I don't think anybody can say you didn't give it your best shot. By the way as you are in London have you thought of looking/asking at hotels if there are any night reception jobs - ok the big chains ask for experience but a lot of smaller places don't. Just an idea as there may be full time work there.

dark_lady

Im sorry that things didnt work out Cindy. The gall of those managers though telling you ooh no you dont want to work for asda after having you work in their branch of tesco for no wage. If i were you i wouldnt be doing a work trial again after that experience. This is concrete proof of an employer (and a well known very provitable employer at that) completely abusing the situation and abusing the person doing the work trial. I totally understand and know exactly where you are coming from with regards to the 15 hours thing. I really hope you find something suitable soon. Also be very wary of doing other work trials especially at this time of year. i wish you lots of luck. You are a truly dedicated person and an extremely hard worker.

Lakeuk

I'm totally shocked at this, saw an ad on the reed website where it seems unpaid work is a regular thing within the retail sector

We currently have a number of high street retailers that are looking to provide work placement opportunities within the North London area, ASDA, Sports Direct, Toys R US, Matalan, and Tesco. Applicants will undertake two weeks unpaid work at a retailer, with the idea of the job becoming paid work at the end of the placement. Applicants need to have a willingness to work and learn. For applicants that perform well there will be a very genuine opportunity to be offered paid work.

I could understand unpaid work for hour where you're getting training but I do feel these type of workers should be paid for any work done. Many many years ago I worked in a supermarket I did a couple of nights shelf stacking, all that was needed for training was half hour on how to efficiently/safely strip packaging, present the stock on shelf and safely use the mechanical machinery.

I think this and the intern industry are crying out to be investigated by a newspaper, I would probable write to the MP regarding this but I assume they'll have their own free labour (intern)

cindy101

Thanks to all of you, and ohhhh believe me Dark Lady im Never doing another work trial again,
i to recon its all a for free labour for these company's pure exploitation,
and think these managers will say anything to keep you hanging on the end of that string in hope of getting a job,
who know if i'd have really gotten a job out of this or not, but either way after my experience with them im not sure i really want to work for an employee like tesco,
I know one thing for sure and its that all this has made me more determined than ever to find myself a job off my own back with No involvement from government agency like job center plus or southwark works, as all these places seem to offer is trials and no real jobs at all,

cindy101

Lakeuk wrote: »

I'm totally shocked at this, saw an ad on the reed website where it seems unpaid work is a regular thing within the retail sector



I could understand unpaid work for hour where you're getting training but I do feel these type of workers should be paid for any work done. Many many years ago I worked in a supermarket I did a couple of nights shelf stacking, all that was needed for training was half hour on how to efficiently/safely strip packaging, present the stock on shelf and safely use the mechanical machinery.

I think this and the intern industry are crying out to be investigated by a newspaper, I would probable write to the MP regarding this but I assume they'll have their own free labour (intern)

Yeap,, marks and spencers also do this worktrial,
what they dont tell you is that you as the unpaid slave will be the only one who is running round sweating buckets and like a headless chicken working your guts out while all the other paid staff will be casually doing their bit all calm and taking their time about it,
its simply not fair, that as an unpaid worker you are expected to work 3 times as hard as others being paid,

Loanranger

You said the manager said you were in line for a job, sent you home early to rest and come back tonight, is that correct?

cindy101

Yes loanranger , sounds like i realy could av been in line for the job dont it,,,
its just ashame that you cant trust or believe anything they say,
and im not prepared to do another 5 days of free work , i feel i proved my self enough already,
after all we all are in line for the job at the start its why we are their,
and to be honest i really dont want to work for an employer that uses people so badly, and frankly they dont deserve me,
their is also to much uncertainty regarding hours and so on,
i honestly feel i can do better than than Tesco , my mum has been talking about us starting up something of our own down her holiday home which is a busy seaside resort, and she has some savings to help start us up,, so am looking at possibly opening a seafood stall at her camp site we have spoke about this for few years and maybe its time to start doing, i already have a food hygiene certificate which would be needed so time to start looking for a mobile food unit i think,

ceridwen

Lakeuk wrote: »

I'm totally shocked at this, saw an ad on the reed website where it seems unpaid work is a regular thing within the retail sector



I could understand unpaid work for hour where you're getting training but I do feel these type of workers should be paid for any work done. Many many years ago I worked in a supermarket I did a couple of nights shelf stacking, all that was needed for training was half hour on how to efficiently/safely strip packaging, present the stock on shelf and safely use the mechanical machinery.

I think this and the intern industry are crying out to be investigated by a newspaper, I would probable write to the MP regarding this but I assume they'll have their own free labour (intern)

It IS a con - and a big one - being perpetuated by these shops.

The thing is that they are relying on the fact that (as far as I recall) these people who go there on so-called "work trials" are getting paid their JSA still (ie the store carefully overlooks any expenses involved in having a job - like travel expenses for instance) and tells themselves that the would-be employee isnt losing any money by doing that "work trial".

In actual fact - that would-be employee might well be losing money - eg because of fares to get to work and they certainly wouldnt have the time to "use time to save money" (eg by doing things like shopping around - that one doesnt have the time for when doing a full-time job).

All well and good anyway for the store to tell themselves that - BUT suppose for one little minute that the would-be employee is married/living together and has been on the dole for over 6 months. If that is the case - then that person ISNT getting any income anyway either way (whether by sitting on the dole or by doing the so-called "work trial") and the store has just robbed them of 2 weeks of their spare time for absolutely zilch...:eek:. That person could have been holding down a "proper" job that they got paid for somewhere else during that 2 weeks - but Tesco et al couldnt resist the chance to "try it on" for a bit of free labour for that 2 weeks.

I think its disgusting for them to act that way - there is simply no excuse - as firms like Tesco are making hefty profits anyway. So - some poor sod on JSA (or not - if they are married) has slogged their guts out for 2 weeks on a false promise - just in order that shareholders can get that bit better a dividend than they otherwise would....:eek::mad:

I have read articles recently re people in "professional" level jobs often being expected to work for free as "interns" for "work experience" whilst the apparent would-be employer is laughing all the way to the bank at getting free labour. This is a trend that seems to be getting widespread throughout society at every level of job/career at the moment. I think it needs dealing with - and maybe a useful step towards this is to go to the Press and see if a newspaper will print an expose article about these "job trials" in jobs like this.

Good luck.