Workfare : Forced Labour Protest in Nottingham
Published:
March 04, 2012 21:27
by Tash [Alan Lodge] |
Neighbourhoods: nottingham
Saturday 3 March 2012
12.00 noon, meeting outside Wilkinsons, Parliament St, Nottingham
In solidarity with Liverpool Uncut’s action against workfare on Saturday 3rd March, Boycott Workfare has called a national day of action against workfare. This was Nottingham's contribution.
So many high street stores are involved in taking on forced unpaid labour that there is plenty of choice – Tescos, Asda, Holland & Barrett, Poundland, Primark, HMV, and Topshop to name but a few.
Workfare means that those who need welfare are forced into unpaid work for multi-million pound companies. Instead of a living wage, they receive only JSA – a tiny £53 a week for the under-25s – far below minimum wage.
Workfare means those in paid positions may see their jobs replaced by this unpaid labour. Why would a company pay for people to do these jobs when they can get free labour from the Job Centre?
Local activist say that we can put a stop to this forced unpaid labour – Waterstones, Sainsburys and TK Maxx have all recently announced that they would no longer take unpaid placements – the other companies just need a bit more encouragement to stop this exploitation.
Notts Trades Council, Notts UnCut and all right-thinking people demand an end to this exploitation and call for welfare rights and living wages for all!
Boycott Workfare http://www.boycottworkfare.org
Notts Uncut http://www.nottsuncut.co.uk
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ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@indymedia.org
Web: http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>
Contact email: tash@indymedia.org
Comments
Who's hysterical?
Published: March 05, 2012 15:49
by
Another job seeker
And after the first week? If you don't leave within the first week, you're no longer free to leave, and you will be sanctioned. Not to mention the fact that there's several different schemes, some more voluntary, some more compulsory, like Mandatory Work Activity. Nice try.
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Hysterical lies
It's not forced at all, you can leave the placement in the first week and will not be subject to any sanctions. I should know, I left my placement at poundland after 2 days and my Job Centre advisor told me they cannot sanction anyone who leaves before a week is up.
These protests are just hysterical nonsense really. Rather than embarrassing yourselves why don't you instead just inform people of the truth and tell them they are all within their rights to leave in the first week?