For several years, the Hartz IV program (welfare for Germans) was hinged to a rule that said that you occasionally needed to show up at the unemployment office (the Job-Center), and if they handed you a listing or job opportunity....you had to apply, and if offered a job (with the pay scale of Hartz IV or more)....you had to accept that and go to work. If you failed....they'd slice off portions of your monthly payment, going up substantially.
Well....folks weren't happy with that rule. So they got around to challenging it.
Today, via the German court system....the court said it's unfair that you force the guy to accept a job, and if he declines.....your cutting his Hartz IV payment by as much as 60-percent....was not ethically legal or right (by the Constitution). They did agree....something has to occur, but the quick nature and the significant amount allowed...bothered them.
However, they didn't really throw the rule out.....they simply handed it back to the Bundestag (the Parliament) and said within a certain amount of time, you have to correct this regulation or rule.
Fixing this? Well, there's problems.
The general public in Germany is fairly negative about the folks on Hartz IV, and their attitude of not accepting work or 'lazy-intent'. If you walk into a pub and bring this up with working-class Germans.....it's likely to generate a lot of negative talk. So the politicians are in a difficult position.
Resolving this? Well, I have this idea.
On the day you get put on Hartz IV.....you get an appointment at a warehouse in the region that you live. The manager will lay out the mandatory nature of the visit. From that day on....every Monday through Friday, from 8 AM to 5 PM....you will walk through the door and register in the warehouse. There will be chairs, benches and tables. Computers will be available that connect to the job database.
You stay in the warehouse for the entire day, and as long as you are on welfare. With the deal, you get a bus-ticket from your house to the warehouse each day. Got a doctor's appointment? Show the receipt. Fail to show? The cops will get called and bring you there. Do it more than two or three times, charges get fixed up.....so you move from the warehouse to some local jail.
In simple terms, you get used to showing up and just sitting there, instead of sitting at home, or drinking beer on some park-bench. If you get bored enough....you start looking for work.
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