More pain for long-term unemployed

August 14, 2012 By sean89bowiecat Leave a Comment

The Coalition’s latest medicine for the unemployed is a new forced-labour scheme which will see one million people who have been on JSA for longer than three years forced to work unpaid for six months or have their benefits removed.

The scheme has been named ‘support for the very long-term unemployed.’ However stripping people’s benefits from them and forcing them to work for less than £2 an hour is clearly not supportive in any way.

The government’s insistence on rolling out more and more ‘work-for-your-dole’ schemes is hardly an incentive to companies to invest in well-trained, well-paid jobs. If bosses think there’s a steady stream of jobless candidates who are forced to work for them, paid for by the taxpayer then that starts a race to the bottom.

Some companies are already using prisoners as cheap labour to reduce costs and boost profits.

In a job market with millions of unemployed and less than half a million vacancies, stripping people of their entitlement to benefits is no solution.

None of the government’s policies are about really putting a dent in the jobless figures. After all, the millions of unemployed represent a reserve army of workers that can be used to drive down wages, scab on strikes and scare people into accepting worsening pay and conditions for fear of being made unemployed.

Filed Under: Cuts, News, Workers Tagged With: benefits, cuts, dole, jobcentre, jsa, unemployment, workfare

Cardiff boss profits from call-centre chain gangs

August 13, 2012 By sean89bowiecat Leave a Comment

US chain gang

A Cardiff solar panel company, Becoming Green, has sacked workers in favour of getting inmates from a nearby prison to work for just £3 a day – 6% of the minimum wage.

The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that dozens of workers from Prescoed prison inSouth Wales have done “work experience” for at least two months at the rate of 40p an hour in the company’s call centre.

Becoming Green has said they are proud to be supporting [- and profiting from] prisoner rehabilitation. The company also confirmed that since it started using prisoners, it had fired other workers.

Andy Richards, Unite Wales secretary, said: “This looks likes a disgraceful and worrying development which follows the UK government’s already discredited Workfare scheme.

While we support rehabilition of prisoners, including providing useful training and help finding jobs, it’s clear that the company motivation is profit not philanthropy. While some prisoners appear to be paid minimum wage, would the company be so keen to employ loads of prisoners if they couldn’t get them on the cheap?

It is crucial that prisoners are given the opportunity to learn new skills and the chance of rehabilitation, but this shouldn’t be at the expense of other workers jobs and shouldn’t involve them being taken granted and paid peanuts.

Instead the government should be investing in schemes to retrain and employ ex-prisoners, providing them with a secure economic and social basis to restart their life. The cost of this would be more than saved by the reduced rate of re-offending.

REVOLUTION fights for:

Jobs for all and paid at a living wage

Rehabilitation not exploitation – prison work to be paid at industry average

The abolishment of all workfare schemes

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, News, Workers Tagged With: exploitation, jail, Living wage, minimum wage, prinsons, prisoners, rehabilition, wales, workfare

Anti-workfare tour of shame in Leeds

July 18, 2012 By REVOLUTION LEEDS Leave a Comment

With the workfare scheme still forcing thousands into unpaid work placements, REVOLUTION joined up with others to organise two walks of shame to target business exploiting young unemployed.

With around 8 people on the first day, this number rose to 14 on the second. The atmosphere was lively, out of the people there; there were members from the SWP, Leeds Unemployment Action Group and members of trade union Unite. Around half of the people hadn’t been involved in action before and had got involved through receiving a leaflet the previous day.

The tour began at Asda where the staff seemed to be pro-workfare and quite happy to let their managers profit at the expense the unemployed. At the Hilton we handed workfare leaflets to the staff manager who denied the Hilton had any participation in Workfare. At the point someone got their phone out to show the manager the Hilton’s quote on the workfare website. He walked away threatening to call the police if we didn’t get off ‘his property’ – another boss who knows the police can always be called on to defend the privelege of the bosses’ private property.

Finally we went to Greggs where we handed out leaflets and collected signatures from customers.

Overall we got a good response from people and they were interested to hear about workfare and what it was doing.

We must continue this fightback and force more companies to back out of the scheme as Hollandand Barrett and Pizza Hut have recently done.

This Sunday in Leeds we are having a demonstration outside Argos on the Headrow. Spread the word and see you there!

No wages – outrageous!

Filed Under: Action, News, Reports Tagged With: action, argos, boycott, boycott workfare, demo, greggs, hilton, Living wage, minimum wage, protest, unemployment, workfare, Youth

DWP in ‘workfare doesn’t work’ shocker!

June 15, 2012 By sean89bowiecat 3 Comments

It turns out that forcing people to work 40 hours a week for their dole doesn’t increase their chances of getting a job. This according to the government’s very own Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Their report shows that the result of the various schemes, known as “Mandatory Work Placements” is that people are forced to spend longer claiming benefits and increases the number of people claiming sickness benefits.

The assessment was filed on Tuesday evening, just three hours after (un)employment Minister Chris Grayling announced he’d found an extra £5million to pump into the scheme – meaning 70,000 people will be working, unpaid, profiting millionaire bosses, while the taxpayer gives them £53 a week to live off.

This £5 million translates into tens of millions of pounds worth of profit for companies like Tesco, which have made their biggest ever profits, by driving down wages.

Grayling claims the schemes are a deterrent to those who are avoiding work, which is around 1% of the total. The vast majority of those on benefits do want to work, however not in an unpaid ‘job’ with no chance of employment at the end.

The government recently announced it will become more difficult to refuse the schemes and those who do, will have their benefits cut. Being paid only £53 a week benefits for 30 hours a week work equals just £1.30 an hour, for parents this would mean increasing childcare, on no extra money.

Researchers found that, between May and November last year, more than 1,600 people had their benefits cut for up to six months for refusing to start a placement or leaving it before it finished.

The assessment revealed over a five month period, those who entered the scheme were actually less likely to go into paid employment than those who didn’t. This is probably due to the fact they have no time to job hunt and attend interviews while getting a job at the end of their scheme is also unlikely as the employers can just apply for the next shipment of free workers.

The money to run this scheme is coming from the cuts made to the NHS, schools and pensions.

It all amounts to a big fat subsidy for bosses. Because the minimum wage is below the government’s poverty threshold, it has to top up wages with Working Tax Credits, funded from general taxation. This system which makes ordinary people subsidise the bosses’ poverty wages is bad enough.

But normalising a system where the unemployed have to work for free is even worse. After all, it’s the bosses who throw people on the dole in order to keep their profits high – we think bosses who sack people should have their companies confiscated and managed by the government.

Unemployment is a construct of capitalism which increases competition, keeping wages low.

We want to abolish unemployment. By raising taxes on the rich we can employ people in socially-useful jobs like house-building.

Boycott workfare – fight for a job and living wage for all!

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, News, Workers Tagged With: cuts, DWP, jobs, unemployment, wages, workfare

Unemployment at its highest in decades

June 1, 2012 By Jack D Leave a Comment

Unemployment is currently rising to the historic mark of 3 million. Although recent statistic show that it has dipped slightly, the reality is the coalition have fiddled the figures by placing the unemployed onto workfare training courses such as A4E and Best. Recently A4E has been in the spotlight for allegations of fraud by making up jobs that they managed to find for them or another tactic being used is to sanction those that are unemployed for menial errors.

Leeds Unemployment Action group has recently been set up; we have regular meetings and leaflet local jobcentres talking to people signing on. Last week whilst down at park place job centre I was speaking to a young man who told me he’s lost his Job seeker’s allowance (JSA) due to the fact he misunderstood the time of his next appointment to sign on subsequently he lost his JSA for a month. I asked him “Did you apply for a crisis loan?” His reply “Yeah but they wouldn’t give me one as they didn’t in their opinion consider me in severe enough need!” The fact somebody else can decide whether or not you need money to live off just highlights the disgrace our government are.

The argument the coalition give for cutting public sector jobs is that it will be offset by the boost in private sector jobs. Latest evidence show the contrary happening as those in the public sector lose their jobs

The private sector is unable to make up for the demand as the economy is being hampered by the lack of consumer spending and the crisis in the Eurozone.

Those that claim disability living allowance (DSA) or Employment support allowance (ESA) are facing re-assessment. Already dozens of disabled people who can’t cope with facing re-assessment and consequently losing their benefit have committed suicide. The coalition government has contracted out the re-assessment to a private multinational corporation called Atos. The re-assessment criteria is deliberately geared towards throwing as many disabled people off the sick register, Atos is given a bonus incentive by the government for every sick person it manages to find somehow rather miraculously “fit and healthy.” With Remploy factories been closed down it will throw even more disabled people into unemployment because they simply can’t get a job anywhere else.

Being unemployed is a constant uphill struggle and incredibly demoralising. Unite have recently launched a community membership programme. For just 50p a week, people not in work and over the age of 16 can receive a range of advice, including access to Unite’s legal helpline, debt counselling, assistance on claiming benefits and the chance to talk to people in a similar position as them. There are already branches set up in Sheffield, Salford and Liverpool with plans to extend further afield. Having the unemployed in a union branch would be a step forward in giving them a bigger voice and fighting back against austerity.

Filed Under: Cuts, In the Media, News, Society, Workers Tagged With: anti-austerity, cuts, Leeds, unemployment, unite, workfare

Tories expand compulsory work schemes

May 28, 2012 By Sally Turner Leave a Comment

The work-for-welfare scheme has been scrapped right? Wrong. Tory minister Iain Duncan Smith is extending the workfare scheme, forcing thousands more youth into unpaid, dead-end jobs.

Currently, unemployed people can be made to work unpaid for large companies for up to a month. Under the new plans, the scheme will be extended to six months’ unpaid labour. Those who refuse will be stripped of their benefits and left to starve.

As we reported back in March, the negative publicity and protests did not result in the abolition of the scheme. Instead the government and big companies launched a major PR drive, while continuing to raise armies of unpaid workers to boost the profits of Britain’s richest companies.

Workfare means working up to 30 hours a week to continue receiving benefits at £53 a week. This works out at a measly £1.70 an hour – well below the official minimum wage. Working a 40 hour week on the minimum wage would still leave you below the government’s official poverty line.

The government insists this slave labour will give a work ethic to the unemployed – as though the 1 million unemployed youth are desperately trying to avoid working.

The hypocrisy of a government of millionaires talking about ‘work ethic’ at the same time that they are cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs is beyond belief. Prime Minister David Cameron only ever had one ‘proper’ job in his life – working at a friend’s PR firm practicing the lies and deceit necessary to a parliamentary career.

There are more than 1 million 16-24 year olds not in work, education or training, 20% of the total. Amongst Black youth the unemployment rate is 50%. There are 800,000 people who have been unemployed for more than a year.

There are 2.65 million people unemployed, but just 400,000 vacancies. This means 6 people chasing every job, but in areas of high unemployment like the north the average number of applicants per vacancy is much higher.

Even the welfare-to-work profiteers who run the scheme admit that less than a quarter of people on the scheme find work at the end. No matter, as long as the scheme continues to provide hundreds of millions of pounds’ profit for those involved.

Many people argue that rich companies making record profits can easily afford to employ people on proper wages. This is true. But in a capitalist market, ruled by the logic of profit, all wealth comes from the value created by workers. So inevitably, bosses must compete with each other to maximise profits by reducing the cost of their employees’ wages and conditions.

Neither the Tories, nor the Lib Dems have a real plan to eradicate unemployment – they think it’s a necessary part of society. High unemployment benefits the rich because they use the fear of sacking to keep their employees in line.

We demand an end to workfare. We won’t be made to pay the cost of a crisis we didn’t cause. We fight for an end to the minimum wage which discriminates against younger workers – we want a living wage which reflects the value we create. Instead of using us as unpaid labour to boost the bosses’ profits, the government should be taxing the billions of the super-rich and investing that in socially-useful jobs which will benefit our communities and society as a whole.

Ultimately, workfare is only the symptom of the wider disease – Capitalism and its crises, which is wrecking our lives and planet. Protests and campaigns can limit attacks and even win temporary victories like the NHS. But only socialism – the democratic economy managed by and for the working class – can start to bring about an end to the criminal waste of lives, talent and potential.

REVOLUTION says:

Abolish workfare – tax the rich to provide real jobs, training and education
For a living wage of £9 per hour
Share out the work – reduce hours with no loss of pay
Nationalise all companies closing down or sacking workers

Filed Under: Cuts, Liberation, News, Workers, Youth Oppression Tagged With: apprenticeships, benefits, education, jobs, minimum wage, unemployment, wages, welfare, workfare, Youth

Cuts to blame for teachers taking unpaid work

March 29, 2012 By sean89bowiecat Leave a Comment

Working for free is a increasingly becoming a ‘right of passage’ for young people. This practice, originally limited to industries like Art, Media and Law, is now making an appearance in the Further Education sector.

Unlike school teachers, who are all required to have a PGCE qualifiaction, FE has three different routes into teaching. Two of these routes can only be undertaken by those already in a teaching role.

Trainee lecturers must have 150 hours of teaching in order to receive their qualification; however there aren’t enough jobs to go around. To get around this, students do voluntary teaching, while paying for their course which can range from £500 – £3000.

It is easy to see why this might be attractive to the students, they can’t get paid work, but they are working towards a qualification. However as there is a shortage of jobs, it’s likely a lot of won’t be able to find employment once qualified.

During this time trainee teachers should be assisting with teaching, improving their skills and taking on bigger tasks as they become more qualified. They must also be allocated a mentor to help them through their training and be their point of contact within the college. However many are teaching students alone and colleges are using it as an excuse for a free teacher. They’re not getting the proper training they need to gain the skills necessary to qualify.

It could also have legal repercussions, it is likely they are not covered by employers’ insurance and some may not have been CRB checked and therefore shouldn’t be left alone in a classroom with students.

The UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, says the union will now be raising the issue with ministers and employers. “Trainee teachers must be properly supported and mentored at work for the sake of their development and students’ education,” she says. “They must not under any circumstances be used as free labour or to take paid work away from existing staff. There is a very strong case for a national code of practice for all colleges to ensure trainee teachers are not exploited.”

We say trainee teachers should be paid a living wage and must be provided with the support needed to enable them to achieve their qualification. We are opposed to colleges using them to save on employing qualified teachers – after all there are plenty out there looking for a job.

Equally, we recognise that many colleges are struggling under the impact of devastating cuts to education budgets. We demand the government provide a massive investment in all levels of education, to provide trained teachers and suitable equipment, buildings and resources. Most employers using unpaid workers are taking the piss, but colleges often have to choose between cutting courses for students or using trainees to fill in the gaps left by central government cuts.

The rise of ‘free work’ to get ‘experience’ is one of the most dishonest developments to hit young people during the economic crisis. With millions unemployed and the UK back in recession, bosses are reinforcing a vicious circle – luring young people into free work, but the future job usually turns out to be a mirage.

We demand that all workers are paid a living wage, or the trade union agreed rate for their workplace - no pay, no way!

Filed Under: Education, News Tagged With: education, Further Education, NUT, UCU, workfare

Jobless youth punished with compulsory slave labour

March 20, 2012 By KD Tait Leave a Comment

Unpaid, compulsory work continues to be forced on young jobseekers, despite government promises to end sanctions for those who insisted on real jobs, with real wages.

While Tescos was congratulating itself over its PR scam, its emerged that it’s business as usual for Jobcentres, who are continuing to funnel young people into ‘Mandatory Work Activity’ which lasts for up to eight weeks.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed, that far from reforming the systematic exploitation of the unemployed, the government is taking its revenge by imposing compulsory ‘work experience’ on those who refuse ‘voluntary work experience’.

The government thought it had seen off the issue by scrapping the penalty (2 weeks’ benefit docked) for those who didn’t complete the voluntary scheme. In reality, those job-seekers are then just shunted into compulsory schemes where the failure to complete the 8-week course means your benefits can be suspended for between 3 and 6 months.

The reality is that the government has no intention of scrapping Workfare, and private business have no intention of pulling out of such a profitable scheme.

There are now more people in Mandatory Work placements than voluntary ones.

Tory Chancellor George Osborne said “we let people rot on the dole for 9 months before we offer them a badly paid job or apprenticeship – and they should be grateful for everything they’ve got.”

The truth is that well over a million 16-24 year olds cannot find work, education or training. We make up more than a third of the official jobless rate. The rate for Black youth is pushing 50%.

Throwing us into compulsory work, with no pay, is simply an effort to massage the unemployment statistics in favour of a government which has overseen the biggest jobs massacre in a generation.

The struggle against workfare is far from over. The Tories and Lib-Dems are in league with Britain’s big companies to force through a fundamental change to the workforce.

Instead of long-term, secure, well-paid jobs, they want to boost the number of part-time, temporary and low paid jobs. The 2-year wage freeze for public sector workers is worsened by the freeze on the minimum wage for the youngest workers.

The 11p rise in the minimum wage from October is a slap in the face for millions of working families who are struggling to make ends meet, in the face of increasing inflation and deep cuts to vital services like Sure Start.

To cap it all, today will see the traitors in Parliament approve the privatisation of the NHS, and tomorrow Osborne will unveil his new budget – tax cuts for the rich, fuck all for the rest of us.

Enough is enough, it’s time to fight back!

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Minimum wage frozen for young workers

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Black youth unemployment nears 50%

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Anti-workfare protests target Tescos

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Filed Under: Liberation, News, Workers, Youth Oppression Tagged With: tescos, unemployment, workers, workfare, Youth

Will Tescos keep its promise to create 20,000 jobs?

March 7, 2012 By Sally Turner Leave a Comment

When Tescos announced they were caving in to protesters demands by withdrawing from workfare and creating 20,000 new jobs, it’s hard not to be cynical.

In 2010 Tescos promised to create 9,000 new jobs in the UK. However it doesn’t say if these are full-time, part-time or even permanent contracts. In fact Tescos has created just 3,592 hours’ worth of jobs – less than half promised.

The multi-billion pound company has made a meal out of its decision to increase the number of apprenticeships and make these available to current employees.

The legal minimum wage for apprentices is just £2.60 an hour and while they make learning trades like plumbing and building more accessible, working in a supermarket does not require such training.

This is simply Tescos way of airbrushing out the fact that they are reducing the number of full-time jobs, and seeking to transfer more and more staff onto low-cost temporary, part-time or apprentice contracts.

We need to be sceptical about Tesco’s promising all these jobs when without the real details it is impossible to see how many will emerge; their past record gives us no reason to be optimistic.

Nevertheless the vibrant campaign against workfare has forced dozens of companies to ditch the scheme, and is another slap in the face for Cameron.

Now we need to keep up the pressure on these companies to invest in real jobs paying people a living wage. This is particularly important for young people who face housing, jobs and training shortages which prevent us from living our own lives independently.

Tescos make £2.5billion profit a year because it is incredibly efficient at extracting the most value from its workers for the least cost (wages). It’s time to make Tescos put their money where their mouth is.

We need to build a movement fighting for real jobs, with real wages. The super-rich are making obscene profits in the middle of a massive economic crisis. We are fighting to end a system which rewards a tiny few at the expense of the jobs, security and happiness of ordinary people.

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Tesco workfare scandal finally blows up

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Brand Sabotage: can Twitter bring down Tesco?

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1 million youth unemployed – enough is enough!

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Filed Under: News, Workers Tagged With: tescos, workfare, Youth

Workfare the symptom, Socialism the cure

March 3, 2012 By Dan Edwards Leave a Comment

The recent protests against workfare were an impressive example of how much we can achieve when we fight back. It shows that we don’t have to sit back and take the millionaire’s medicine, just because they say so.

Many people are celebrating the ‘victory’ of anti-workfare protesters in their campaign against unpaid work. Richard Seymour on the Lenin’s Tomb blog said recently that the government withdrawing the compulsory aspect of the workfare scheme was basically “ killing the heart of the programme.“ True, they have changed to a smaller stick, but there are still no carrots for job-seekers.

Recent pro-government news reports and commentary pieces in both the television and printed press, have focussed on people ‘getting the most’ out of workfare. The other day on the BBC, a cheery young person was telling the camera about a placement in Greggs head office which got them the job.

Jobseekers, especially young ones, are told that ‘volunteering’ your time for free is the only way to get the necessary ‘experience’. The government isn’t fooling anyone – especially not the 1 million+ unemployed graduates, college students and school-leavers who know that ‘stacking shelves in Tescos’ is not the kind of experience which bosses are looking for.

Though the government has toned down the arm-twisting on the Workfare scheme, the pressure and expectation that people should work for free is growing. Increasingly traditional white-collar jobs require applicants to have a number of internships behind them, and now so-called ‘entry level’ jobs like cleaning and shopwork are going the same way.

The huge number of companies of all sizes taking part in the scheme showed that employers were desperate to get their hands on some free workers – giving them ‘valuable experience’ and saving serious amounts of money in the process. What’s their real motive? Across all sections of the private sector- from multinationals and banks to charities and social enterprises, companies are using free labour as a way of reducing the amount of people they have to hire.

Around the recent Tesco’s campaign, lots of people said that ‘Tescos is so rich they can afford to pay people’. True, but a clearer way of putting it would be ‘Tescos is so rich because of the money they save paying out poverty wages to some, and nothing for the rest’. Companies don’t get rich by sharing the profits with their employees. The owners and managers of Tescos are raking in millions because thousands of employees only get a fraction of the value of their work back as wages.

So even though the government has ended compulsion in 3 of the 5 different workfare programs, that doesn’t impact on the fact that this state-backed ‘work experience’ is undermining wages, reducing job security and reinforcing a vicious race to the bottom among young unemployed because the companies know young people have no alternative to whatever shit terms and conditions they are prepared to offer.

On one hand, the workfare scheme is little more than a scheme for redistributing wealth from rich to poor during an economic crisis – young people work for free, add value to company, added value is pocketed by overpaid millionaire owner, young jobseeker is sent back to Jobcentre and replaced with the next ‘applicant’.

But on the other hand the wage system is automatically exploitative – the workfare scheme just ditches the bullshit about ‘a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay’. More importantly to their Tories, and their backers, the British bosses, the workfare scheme is about introducing a permanent shift in working patterns. The owners of companies want more freedom to hire and fire, more temporary contracts, and the right to pay lower wages.

Neither the Tories, nor the Lib Dems have a plan to eradicate unemployment – they think it’s a necessary part of society. High unemployment benefits the rich because they use the fear of sacking to keep their employees in line.

We are 100% against schemes which profit the rich at the expense of working class people. Not because we are ‘trying to ruin young people’s dreams’ or ‘job-snobs’ but because we are fighting for young people to get what we’re owed. We don’t want to be bullshitted that volunteering in Tescos is the first step to a millionaire lifestyle. The bosses are banking obscene profits while 1 million of us have no work or qualifications. Workfare is only the symptom of the wider disease – Capitalism and its crises, which is wrecking our lives and planet. Protests and campaigns can limit attacks and even win temporary victories like the NHS. But only socialism – the democratic economy managed by and for the working class – is the permanent cure.

The strikes and occupations by young shop-workers in Ireland at Primark and La Senza show that resistance is possible. We need to build a movement which can unite struggles to save a local youth centre or swimming pool with the electricians who faced down the big 7 construction companies. Only a united campaign, rooted in our communities, schools and workplaces can bring down Cameron and Clegg and stop the cuts.

REVOLUTION is fighting for

An end to workfare and unpaid ‘volunteer’ schemes

Back-payment for all those involved in the scheme at the same rate as equivalent employees

Real jobs and apprenticeships paid at a living wage, or the trade union rate.

Free education and training, with living grants for all students

A reverse to the 75% slashing of the budget for youth services

Have you been on a workfare scheme, or been pressured to take part? We want to hear your stories. e-mail [email protected]

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More pain for long-term unemployed