'Slave labour', say youth

Issue 

'Slave labour', say youth

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE — The Howard government's move to extend the compulsory work for the dole scheme is akin to conscription and slave labour, according to a group of young people interviewed in the January 29 Brisbane Courier-Mail.

Kristy Taylor, 15, said it was her choice to leave school, her choice to look for work and it should be her choice whether to take a training course or do a work for the dole program.

"I have been unemployed for about six months. It is hard and you don't get much money to live on, but people should be able to choose what they do with their lives", she said.

Glynn Santaowski, aged 19, has been unemployed on and off for three years and said voluntary training programs had not brought him any closer to finding a job.

The government should stop trying to force itself on to young people, according to freelance multi-media producer Tim Plisted, aged 20.

Ruth Ratcliffe, an organiser of the socialist youth group Resistance, said, "The government does not want to provide genuine jobs for young people. The extension of the work for the dole scheme is intended as forced labour to discipline the young unemployed, and scapegoat them for the government's unwillingness to implement the policies that would eradicate unemployment."

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