Without analysis, workfare sounds like an ideal solution to unemployment. Welfare recipients would work in exchange for their benefits, gain valuable experience and help their community by performing jobs that need to be done. However a closer look shows us that workfare is not new job creation or training for real jobs. Provincial workfare programs make work a mandatory requirement for welfare recipients to receive benefits. In some cases there is no financial compensation for transportation or childcare. Refusal to participate in the program results in some sort of penalty. For example, it could mean people get a government cheque only if they work at certain jobs; or it could mean a smaller cheque if they refuse to accept work through a government program to get "extra" money.
Although proponents of workfare say participants can receive training and opportunities for future employment, the jobs people must perform are often low wage and not necessarily in a field that is suited to the participant. Or sometimes workfare participants are replacing paid workers who suddenly find themselves out of a job. In fact, in many cases workfare is more about giving free workers to employers. Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec and New Brunswick have or have had workfare programs and Ontario is in the process of developing one. The Manitoba government is considering implementing a workfare program as well.
Workfare is a violation of the basic human right to freely choose work. But it is worse than that. With workfare, people on welfare are forced, by law or necessity, to compete for and even take, other people's jobs - in most cases for much less pay and no benefits. People on workfare programs may not be covered by employment standards legislation either. Employers can therefore put them in unsafe working conditions without fear of being penalized by authorities.
Workfare is based on two poor - bashing myths: that people on welfare are so lazy that they have to be forced to work; and that plenty of jobs are out there waiting to be taken. Neither is true. Many people on welfare perform valuable work at home nurturing children and other family members, or they volunteer in the community. Much of this work is undervalued and unrecognized. Most people on welfare are also seeking paid work but having an extremely hard time finding it because our economy is not generating enough jobs for all who want and need to work. Social service statistics, province after province show that when jobs are available people on welfare apply for and get them. People do not have jobs because they do not want them but because there are no jobs to be had.
Having a real, paid job is very important to the vast majority of Canadians. It means being seen as a valuable member of the community. It means, if you are on social assistance, leaving a very intrusive system which gives little breathing space. It can mean having enough income to live on. The right to a real job at decent pay is one of the most powerful tools Canada has to ensure a fair redistribution of wealth.
At the very least the right to work means that people should not be forced to provide free labour to employers in return for income assistance benefits (workfare). People in workfare programs are providing free labour to employers and receiving a low level of income from government. People who participate in workfare programs are treated differently than other workers and don`t have benefits or adequate wages.
Finally, workfare programs remove the right to freely choose one`s work, opening the door to many abuses. Aiming for full employment at decent wages, not workfare, should be the federal government`s number one priority.
Workfare is about eroding labour standards and union rights. It jeopardizes workers' gains over the past century. Workfare recipients may be payed less than minimum wage with little or no benefits thereby making them a source of cheap labour to employers. If it costs the employer less money to hire a workfare recipient, regular employees may see their jobs at risk. And because workfare recipients have no collective bargaining power, there is no pressure to maintain adequate health and safety standards on the worksite.
Because workfare puts paid workers out of jobs, it forces more and more public and private sector workers on unemployment and eventually welfare and a large pool of unemployed workers drives everyone's wages down.
In 1991-92 the Quebec government paid $52 million to businesses that used people on welfare as workers. The businesses, which included McDonald`s, Harvey`s, Zeller`s, Canadian Tire and Dunkin Donuts, agreed to hire welfare recipients for six months. They didn't have to keep the people after the six months were over. The workers were paid at minimum wage, but employers paid only half of this; the provincial government paid the rest. More than half of these employers admitted that they would have had to pay somebody the full wage to do the work if it were not`t for these programs. Tax payers were essentially subsidizing the labour costs of big and profitable businesses. Is this really what tax payers want?
As it stands, workfare is not a replacement for academic upgrading programs or skill training. Workfare forces people to take jobs that are often low skilled, low waged and without adequate benefits. Participants do not receive training for careers or access to better employment opportunities. Proponents of workfare would have us believe that participants are at a much better advantage to eventually gaining full time employment as their placements may lead to a job or at least give them experience that would help in their job search. This is usually not the case. In fact workfare employees are not given the opportunity to gain skills that will help them move into better jobs. Furthermore at the end of a contract an employer is more likely to take on another workfare placement at a subsidized wage rather than hire the original participant at a fair wage.
Link to the story of Anne and David, two people affected by workfare.
Copyright © 1997 The National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO)