HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

SouthCoast Indymedia

SchNEWS 818 - Serf's Up

09.06.2012 11:11 | Workfare | Workers' Movements | London | South Coast | World



Eighty unemployed folk from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth were forced into the unpaid work by agency Tomorrow's People – yet another private company gorging itself on the welfare budget by claiming to provide a route into paid work. They were bussed into London by Close Protection UK Ltd in the early hours of Sunday morning and told the only accommodation available was to doss down under London Bridge. Fifty of them were paid an apprentice wage of £2.80 /hr for the fourteen hour shift that followed, the others were told the whole thing was 'work experience' for potential roles during the Olympics. An 'apprenticeship' in directing people to the toilets – only in Cameron's Britain.

Now, this bunch of chancers have unwittingly shone a light into the murky world of Workfare, where big business gets a labour force without the hassle of having to pay them. Workfare isn't a single program, according to the Solidarity Federation in their excellent pamphlet on the subject. “Workfare is a term used to describe a range of schemes in which people are forced to work without wages in order to receive their benefits. After recent controversies the government has sought to obscure the nature of its workfare golicies”

Close Protection UK are of course now being singled out as bad apples, with questions about their contract to supply fire marshals for the Olympics. A government spokeswoman said: "This is a one-off … This is an isolated incident. The company has apologised." – well they would wouldn't they?

However SchNEWS is positive that the whole barrel is positively stinking. We spoke to others pushed into crowd control for the Jubilee by the dole office. One told us “I was told to apply for this job under the usual sanction of potentially losing my benefits even though at that time I'd only been signing on for a week” This was a paid position but the job,with Vespasian security, was advertised at £6/hr, (below the minimum wage). The accommodation was a campsite in Essex and stewards were expected to supply their own tents and sleeping gear. Our interviewee worked three days, the first shift was 4am until 7pm, a ball-busting 15 hours, followed swiftly by 11am to 12pm then for a finale 6am to 6pm. “The worst thing was the fact that when travel time to the camp site was factored in we only got two hours sleep on the second night”.

Of course the Jubilee was a one off occasion (although all the same stuff is going to happen on a grander scale at the Olympics) but Workfare is simply the new way to do business. It's got bugger all to do with creating jobs - every time a company gets someone to work for free or below minimum wage they're not likely employ someone with a regular contract and all the tedious employees rights that go with it. Free staff also mean cutbacks on overtime, especially hard for those relying on extra hours to make ends meet.

The workfare agenda is all about breaking the lowest sectors of society to the will of the highest – forcing us in a time of austerity into competition for the scraps thrown from the table. In effect it as a massive public subsidy to big business and a weapon against those who want better pay and conditions. It's also set to be rolled out across the unemployed population to an unprecedented extent.

The fightback is gathering pace though and the jubilee shenanigans have underlined the point. While the campaign against workfare continues to go from strength to strength, the government’s workfare policy continues to flounder. A recent conference – 'How do we break workfare?' was organised by Brighton Benefits Campaign. Ideas and information were shared and ways forward planned, including a week of action from 7-14 July, counter conference during the Welfare to Work convention (10-11 July), and a national boycott of Holland & Barrett – enthusiastic participants in the workfare schemes.

According to them “The message is clear. Those of us who oppose workfare in all its forms are winning. There has never been a better time for you, your workplace and your union branch to get involved and say no to workfare. After all, we know where we are going. Come with us. We are going to win. Boycott Exploitation. Boycott Workfare.”

National campaign http://www.boycottworkfare.org/

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

South Coast [navigation.actions2016]

South Coast [navigation.actions2015]

South Coast [navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

South Coast Actions 2013

G8 2013

South Coast Actions 2012

Workfare

South Coast Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

South Coast Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

South Coast Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

South Coast Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

South Coast Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

South Coast Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

South Coast Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

South Coast Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

South Coast Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech