On a grim, rainy afternoon at midday on Thursday (22/01/2010), a new activist group picketed their first target.
The group was UWU (Unemployed Workers Union) and the target was A4E.
The group was UWU (Unemployed Workers Union) and the target was A4E.
A4E (Action For Employment) are an international private company that specialise in "Help with finding a job", and if someone has been signing on for 12 months, they can expect to be paying them a visit, whether they like it or not, on threat of losing their benefits.
That's democracy in action for you right there.
They are subcontractors to various governments, including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Australia, South Africa and India - in effect, they are a multinational whom derive their income from government funding, their 'clients' being coerced into attending workshops.
This "Help with finding a job" seems in part to entail doing cheap labour for local employers, therefore completely anulling the idea of being a Jobseeker in the first place, because of course while you are labouring for your benefits, you have no time to look for other better paid work.
This also has the knock-on effect of depressing average wages for those who are lucky enough to have employment without this company's assistance.
It is a classic example of post Thatcherism in action - get a private company to run what should be dealt with the public sector.
However, it transpires that this company has previously been investigated (to quote from Wikipedia), "after the Department for Work and Pensions uncovered discrepancies in its "confirmation of employment" forms - discrepancies which centred upon the falsification of employer's signatures by a number of recruiters", so clearly they do not always have their clients' best interests at heart.
During the UWU picket a couple of A4e employers came out of the office block to investigate what was going on, including the mangeress of the Cambridge branch, who was not amused by their presence.
We were treated to the spectacle of not one, but four Community Support Officers loitering around the picket, and at one pointone of them rather kindly made it clear where the boundary was between the office's own private land and the pavement, so the stall had to be moved forward by a foot. It should be pointed out that no one was harassed or alarmed by the presence of the UWU, although some A4e employees did seem to be slightly distressed that their company's location had been outed!
The UWU is a newly formed group whose mission is to represent and defend the rights of those who are currently out of work, as well as fighting the Welfare Reform Act.
More details about the UWU can be found here:
cambs_unemployed@worker.com
That's democracy in action for you right there.
They are subcontractors to various governments, including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Australia, South Africa and India - in effect, they are a multinational whom derive their income from government funding, their 'clients' being coerced into attending workshops.
This "Help with finding a job" seems in part to entail doing cheap labour for local employers, therefore completely anulling the idea of being a Jobseeker in the first place, because of course while you are labouring for your benefits, you have no time to look for other better paid work.
This also has the knock-on effect of depressing average wages for those who are lucky enough to have employment without this company's assistance.
It is a classic example of post Thatcherism in action - get a private company to run what should be dealt with the public sector.
However, it transpires that this company has previously been investigated (to quote from Wikipedia), "after the Department for Work and Pensions uncovered discrepancies in its "confirmation of employment" forms - discrepancies which centred upon the falsification of employer's signatures by a number of recruiters", so clearly they do not always have their clients' best interests at heart.
During the UWU picket a couple of A4e employers came out of the office block to investigate what was going on, including the mangeress of the Cambridge branch, who was not amused by their presence.
We were treated to the spectacle of not one, but four Community Support Officers loitering around the picket, and at one pointone of them rather kindly made it clear where the boundary was between the office's own private land and the pavement, so the stall had to be moved forward by a foot. It should be pointed out that no one was harassed or alarmed by the presence of the UWU, although some A4e employees did seem to be slightly distressed that their company's location had been outed!
The UWU is a newly formed group whose mission is to represent and defend the rights of those who are currently out of work, as well as fighting the Welfare Reform Act.
More details about the UWU can be found here:
cambs_unemployed@worker.com