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6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

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15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

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13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

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11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

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10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

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4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

 

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Workfare victim was given job

4 March 2006 – Last year, a participant in a workfare programme lost the top of his thumb in a saw accident. The programme was later shut down by the Building Inspection Department. At a turbulent meeting organised by the Bijstandsbond last night, it was announced that the victim has been given a job by the company that was responsible for the accident.

The director of Fourstar Reintegratieservices ventured in the lion’s den to discuss the approach of his company. He was repeatedly interrupted by angry members of the public. The unemployed are forced to do simple jobs, without receiving a salary. Many experience this as pointless and humiliating.

In October last year, a Fourstar workfare programme at the Isolatorweg in Amsterdam West was shut down by the Building Inspection Department, because of fire hazard and because a necessary permit was lacking. At the location, unemployed participants were deployed to furnish classrooms to be used in other work programmes of the company.

Earlier, a participant was injured in a saw accident. Fourstar at first said that it was only a ‘small cut’. The Bijstandsbond, an organisation of social assistance recipients, denied this. “The whole top of the thumb, that is, the whole part with the nail was cut off and could not be put on again in the hospital. Certainly not a small cut!”.

Fourstar employs 300 people. Among them are thirty percent former clients, apparently including the victim of the saw incident. Critics say that Fourstar employs the unemployed on short-term contracts that last exactly long enough to obtain a premium in the ‘no cure less pay’ arrangement it has with the government.

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