JKDGabe Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Posted: January 30, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com A provision in the German welfare system is forcing out-of-work women to chose between taking jobs in the sex industry or losing their unemployment benefits. Once one of the most generous systems in Europe, Germany's unemployment program has been reformed to require those out of work to take jobs for which they are qualified, or lose benefits. In the case of women, females below the age of 55 who have been out of work for a year or more must take any available job offered. The full legalization of prostitution two years ago – with brothel owners now paying taxes and employee health insurance – has created an awkward situation at German job centers where employers can access the official government database of those seeking work, reports the London Telegraph. One 25-year-old waitress, an unemployed information technology professional, had indicated a willingness to work in a bar at night and had past experience working in a cafe. A potential employer, finding her profile promising, contacted the job center about hiring her. Only after the young woman called to inquire about the job did she learn the employer was a brothel. When she refused the position, she was threatened with cuts to her unemployment benefits. Centers that do not penalize job seekers who refuse offered positions are subject to lawsuits by the employers. "There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry," says Merchthild Garweg, a Hamburg lawyer. "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." Garweg notes that women who have past experience as telemarketers or call service workers have been offered positions with telephone-sex services. New laws permit sex-oriented employers to advertise in the job centers and provide for the suing of job centers that refuse to accept their ads. When the German government crafted the recent welfare reforms, brothels were initially considered for exclusion, but they were believed too difficult to distinguish from bars. Their inquiries for potential workers are treated no differently than those from grocery stores or schools. "Why shouldn't I look for employees through the job center when I pay my taxes just like anybody else?" asked one central Berlin brothel owner who has been using the local database to find prospective workers. The German experience closely follows that of the Netherlands, according to the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. Following the 2000 legalization of prostitution by the Dutch and the registration of prostitutes, brothels began using official job centers to find new employees. Garwig believes pressure on job centers to meet employment targets is only going to make the current situation worse. "They are already prepared to push women into jobs related to sexual services, but which don't count as prostitution," she says. "Now that prostitution is no longer considered by the law to be immoral, there is really nothing but the goodwill of the job centers to stop them from pushing women into jobs they don't want to do." Last year, the German federal government announced that it would be fining employers that failed to hire trainees – a measure to be applied to brothels as well as other employers. Brothels failing to hire one apprentice for every 15 employees will be fined for failing to promote the sex industry. Germany legalized prostitution in 2002 in the belief it would slow down the trafficking in women and reduce the role of organized crime in the profession. Instead, government is expanding the sex industry by guaranteeing a steady stream of new recruits, some willing and some not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zcarnut Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Before everyone gets excited about this, Snopes is looking into it: http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/brothel.asp And their comments: “...We remain skeptical about the literal truth of the version reported in the English press, however, because the issue seems to have received scant attention in the German press (at least that we can find).... ...We suspect this is another case where, like a game of "telephone," a story has been garbled as it has passed from one news source to the next, and somewhere in the rewriting and translating process what was originally discussed as a mere hypothetical possibility has now been reported as a factual occurrence....” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsunlover Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 I'm sure there has been some mis-interpretation, purple monkey dishwasher.. (anyone a Simpsons fan?) but still, it sounds like something govenrment would do.. I'm in a training/aprenticship program and should be recieving benifits (which are pathetic; 55% of my gross earnings from the last 8 weeks of work before the course start, AND it's taxed) but I'm 4 weeks into the course, and have yet to see any money. I am lumped in with the rest of the people in the system (IE; People that are not working due to lay off, seasonal, or just plain lost their job..) so therefore I may have to wait 6 or more weeks.. The course is only 8 weeks long!!!! I was told it would be 'accelerated, because it is trade training.. 2-3 weeks..' but it would apear not.. Maybe I'm just bitter, but government systems have a way of FU$&(NG people under the pretense of 'helping them' and there is never anything you can do about it.. I just heard about a new by-law here, that anyone who has a sexual assult, or assult charge on their record (even if it is 40 years old!) will have their drivers licence revoked. (Hmm. maybe just the taxi licence? But even that is still retarded...) There was a thing on the news last night about a local cab company; The owner has lost his licence to operate a taxi co., and over HALF of his drivers no longer have a licence because of this. Most of them are 40-50 years old, and their charges are from when they were 16-18.. one was an assult on an officer, and he served 6 months in prison for it.. 40 years later, it's biting him in the arse. I find it totaly absurd, but to government, things like this make sence.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKDGabe Posted February 1, 2005 Author Share Posted February 1, 2005 http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42615 Here's the url... I've never know WND to be unreliable in the past but there's a first time for everything I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWOT Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Kind of all irrelevant isn't it? If you have moral or religous objections or psychological fear, doesn't that make you unqualified? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaparral2f Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 The full legalization of prostitution two years ago – with brothel owners now paying taxes and employee health insurance So basically its better to be a german whore than to work for many small businesses here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tony78_280z Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 Kind of all irrelevant isn't it? If you have moral or religous objections or psychological fear, doesn't that make you unqualified?I don't think you could pull that one off. I have a psychological fear or paying taxes. So am I unqualified? Government don't give a $hit about your situation. So basically its better to be a german whore than to work for many small businesses here? That is pretty funny. No, not realy. I have never worked at a place that didn't offer a joke coverage plan. When you do the math I would end up paying more per year than their maximum pay out per year. But, yes, they offer insurance benifets! Not to offend any insurance salespeople here but.. Insurance is a scam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilRufusKay Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 "...penalize job seekers ..." [/b'] This should be the title of the article... I love taking things out of context!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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