New Labour rejects work-for-dole

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 2

New Labour rejects work-for-dole

PA Whangarei The New Labour Party will not force the unemployed to work for the dole, according to a discussion paper prepared for the party’s inaugural conference in Whangarei this week-end.

The paper says full employment will be a central feature of the party’s policy, but because of the high numbers of unemployed a number of aid strategies for the jobless would be implemented. The party also plans to remodel Access training schemes and open them to people other than those on the dole.

The paper declares unemployment benefit is a basic right of social ity-“No-one receiving this will be forced into any work or training programme,” the paper says.

The party also proposes a youth guarantee that will provide a basic income for all young people, and job-creation

programmes to encourage greater industrial productivity. State counselling and welfare services, to be provided through existing agencies, will be backed by voluntary support groups providing services to the unemployed. The paper says Access training programmes will be modified to provide training related to specific job skills and guarantee a period of subsequent employment at award rates in the same field. That job will be funded at least partly by the employer. The party plans preference will be given to training schemes that lead to permanent jobs and increased industrial productivity. And the paper says the Access schemes would be “opened up” rather than confined to the registered unemployed, with regional Access councils coming under the control of the Ministry of Education.