At a presser this morning in Buswell’s Hotel, Paul Murphy MEP has named and shamed the Munster Express as an employer ‘banned’ by Joan Bruton’s JobBridge.
At this morning’s press conference organised by ScamBridge.ie, Martin Malone, a former intern who complained about the Munster Express, spoke out about his experiences:
“In my opinion the Munster Express used the JobBridge scheme as a source of free labour which they were always going to be the only winner. While at the Munster Express I received no training whatsoever, not even a basic Health and Safety induction course. I very rarely had any contact with the assigned mentor apart for the odd nod in the offices. The Munster Express clearly used JobBridge to provide them with services that they would otherwise have to pay for. They were aware that it was displacing work. They had no intention of providing any training or development of the intern they took on.
“When I complained to the Department of Social Protection they started an investigation. On concluding the investigation they found that the Munster Express was in breach of the NIS rules. But the sanction they applied, does not, in my opinion, really penalise the company. They have been barred from hiring a Photographer/Videographer under the scheme but are still free to hire interns in other areas. I feel that this has largely let them off the hook and is no real punishment. They were blatantly in breach of the scheme and should be banned from any sort of participation in the scheme.”
Murphy explained the reasons behind exposing the Munster Express:
“There are apparently 35 companies which have been banned so far from JobBridge. Munster Express is the first to be named as Minister Joan Burton has allowed the rest of them to hide. This must be ended. The Minister must name all of the companies now that have been banned.
“We are appealing to people who have been the victim of JobBridge exploitation to contact us and we will publicly out other exploiting companies – whether they have been banned or not. We are sending a warning to companies like Munster Express and Advance Pitstop – ScamBridge.ie will be highlighting and exposing all those exploiting people through of the JobBridge scheme. This is part of our campaign to have the JobBridge scheme phased out and replaced by a RealJobs scheme – which means investment in real training, education and jobs.”
Further from their Facebook page:
“we may have a potential bombshell for burton on advance pitstop, just waiting for confirmation”
For more follow Scambridge.ie here.