the article, I noticed now, dates back 6 years ago - I m not sure what the update is.<div><br></div><div>I did notice more recently in the UK and in France that controversies about "being forced to work ( for free ) or loose ones unemployment benefits" also arise.</div>
<div><br></div><div>for the UK</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/young-jobseekers-work-pay-unemployment">http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/young-jobseekers-work-pay-unemployment</a></div>
<div><br><br><h1 style="padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:2px;margin-left:0px;border-collapse:collapse;border-top-color:initial;border-right-color:rgb(214,29,0);border-bottom-color:rgb(214,29,0);border-left-color:rgb(214,29,0);font-family:georgia,serif;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.154;width:460px;border-top-width:0px;border-top-style:initial;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat">
<font class="Apple-style-span"><i>"Young jobseekers told to work without pay or lose unemployment benefits</i></font></h1><p id="stand-first" class="stand-first-alone" style="padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:34px;padding-left:0px;margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;border-collapse:collapse;font-family:arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(102,102,102);line-height:1.25;width:460px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat">
<i>People taking up work experience places � providing up to 30 hours a week of unpaid labour � face losing benefits if they quit"</i></p><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 26, 2011 at 3:15 AM, Michel Bauwens <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:michel@p2pfoundation.net">michel@p2pfoundation.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Dante-Gabryell Monson</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dante.monson@gmail.com" target="_blank">dante.monson@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 7:24 PM<br>Subject: Article - Germany : 'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'<br>To: <a href="mailto:econowmix@googlegroups.com" target="_blank">econowmix@googlegroups.com</a><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1482371/If-you-dont-take-a-job-as-a-prostitute-we-can-stop-your-benefits.html" target="_blank">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/1482371/If-you-dont-take-a-job-as-a-prostitute-we-can-stop-your-benefits.html</a><div>
<br></div><div><div style="margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<h1 style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 8px;color:rgb(30,30,30);font-size:2.4em;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.16em">
'If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits'</h1></div><div style="margin:0px 20px 0px 0px;float:left;width:460px;color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<div style="border-bottom-width:0px;margin-bottom:5px;padding-bottom:5px;border-top:2px solid rgb(102,102,102);padding-top:3px">
<div style="clear:both;display:table"></div><div style="border-bottom:1px dotted rgb(204,204,204);margin-bottom:5px"><div><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 5px 0px 0px;font-size:1.25em;line-height:1.48em;color:rgb(63,63,63);font-weight:bold;float:left">
By Clare Chapman</p></div><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 4px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:1.2em;line-height:1.48em;color:rgb(63,63,63);float:left;width:390px">
12:01AM GMT 30 Jan 2005</p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 4px;font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:1.2em;line-height:1.48em;color:rgb(63,63,63);float:left;width:390px">
<br></p></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><div style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
<br></p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
<br></p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services'' at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners � who must pay tax and employee health insurance � were granted access to official databases of jobseekers.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
The waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had said that she was willing to work in a bar at night and had worked in a cafe.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
She received a letter from the job centre telling her that an employer was interested in her "profile'' and that she should ring them. Only on doing so did the woman, who has not been identified for legal reasons, realise that she was calling a brothel.</p>
</div><div style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job � including in the sex industry � or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.</p>
</div><div style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:georgia,'times new roman',times,serif;font-size:10px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.</p>
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
When the waitress looked into suing the job centre, she found out that it had not broken the law. Job centres that refuse to penalise people who turn down a job by cutting their benefits face legal action from the potential employer.</p>
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
"There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. "The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits."</p>
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
Miss Garweg said that women who had worked in call centres had been offered jobs on telephone sex lines. At one job centre in the city of Gotha, a 23-year-old woman was told that she had to attend an interview as a "nude model", and should report back on the meeting. Employers in the sex industry can also advertise in job centres, a move that came into force this month. A job centre that refuses to accept the advertisement can be sued.</p>
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
Tatiana Ulyanova, who owns a brothel in central Berlin, has been searching the online database of her local job centre for recruits.</p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
"Why shouldn't I look for employees through the job centre when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?" said Miss Ulyanova.</p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
Ulrich Kueperkoch wanted to open a brothel in Goerlitz, in former East Germany, but his local job centre withdrew his advertisement for 12 prostitutes, saying it would be impossible to find them.</p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
Mr Kueperkoch said that he was confident of demand for a brothel in the area and planned to take a claim for compensation to the highest court. Prostitution was legalised in Germany in 2002 because the government believed that this would help to combat trafficking in women and cut links to organised crime.</p>
<p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
Miss Garweg believes that pressure on job centres to meet employment targets will soon result in them using their powers to cut the benefits of women who refuse jobs providing sexual services.</p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
"They are already prepared to push women into jobs related to sexual services, but which don't count as prostitution,'' she said.</p><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px 0px 0.7em;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:1.4em;line-height:1.48em">
"Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centres to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do."</p></div>
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