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| IS WORKFARE MORAL? Join the debate over whether workfare is modern slavery.... August 6, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:Would mandatory drug testing be more moral than workfare? What should religious organizations do to ease the plight of the poor? Is workfare new or simply WPA and CCC projects repackaged? Weren't slaves treated better than welfare recipients are today? How can the religious community help change the public discourse on what is moral in this unfair and unjust economy? Your additional questions and comments
NewsHour Backgrounders
July 1, 1997:
How states are complying with new federal guidelines.
June 11, 1997:
The transition made by of hundreds of people who've moved from welfare to work as part of corporate programs to hire people on assistance.
April 14, 1997:
New California laws link food stamps to work.
Browse the NewsHour's index of Welfare stories.
Outside Links
Labor unions critique the effects of workfare on employment opportunities.
The issue of slavery has been making headlines in recent weeks. Immigrants found in abysmal living conditions in New York and Florida shocked Americans and raised new questions about modern-day slavery within our borders. "Slavery" is also the word used by some opponents of workfare, state programs that link benefits to jobs in an attempt to move recipients from welfare to work. These critics say workfare is akin to slavery because it forces poor people to work without pay and drives down wages for other workers. They also say the program has forced hundreds of recipients to quit college.
In response to New York City's recent announcement that it would expand its "Work Experience Program" from 38,000 employees to 100,000, a coalition of 68 churches, synagogues and nonprofit groups in New York denounced workfare as morally unjust and said it would not accept workfare employees. Using the language of abolitionism, the group demanded that the city treat its workfare recipients with greater dignity and pay more than the current amount. "We Will Not Be Your Slave Drivers," said signs carried by protesters.
The city responded by saying that workfare is successful and actually moves recipients off the welfare rolls. Officials say it has cut its rolls by 285,000, in part due to workfare. Mayor Giuliani says workfare is "the most realistic program you can have for a city that has over a million people on welfare."
To address your questions and comments on this issue, we have two guests. Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor believes that workfare recipients are not treated in a humane way. "There's a section in Leviticus that says if somebody in your community comes under your authority and they need your help, you are not allowed to treat them as a slave…. (These people) are not given adequate changing facilities. There is no way to address their grievances. That to me is enslavement."
Rev. Sirico disagrees. He says that the slavery analogy is wrong. "Those who accept workfare assignments are receiving payment-in the form of welfare benefits. They are paid by public authorities rather than private employers, but they are paid," he wrote in a recent New York Times editorial.
Questions asked in this forum:
Would mandatory drug testing be more moral than workfare? What should religious organizations do to ease the plight of the poor? Is workfare new or simply WPA and CCC projects repackaged? Weren't slaves treated better than welfare recipients are today? How can the religious community help change the public discourse on what is moral in this unfair and unjust economy? Your additional questions and comments
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