Workfare legal ruling, step up the fight for real decently paid jobs!

With this weeks ruling that it was deemed illegal to force Kate riley and Jamie Wilson to work for their benefits the fight against workfare must be stepped up by the trade unions and young people angry with this rotten capitalist system. The victory in the Court of Appeal on 12 February for Cait Reilly and Jamie Wilson has dealt a massive blow to the government's work-for-your-benefit schemes. It turns out the government can't even follow its own rules! Cait Reilly, a university graduate, originally lost her High Court case against being forced to give up career-relevant volunteering to work at Poundland. But the three Appeal judges overturned this decision as the scheme was not compulsory. Jamie Wilson, an unemployed HGV driver, was told that he would stop getting Jobseeker's Allowance for six months after he refused to work unpaid - for 30 hours a week - in the Community Action Programme. The judges ruled in favour of Jamie as the maximum benefit sanction was two weeks. The ruling alone will not make the government scrap workfare. However, it does mean that all people who, like Cait and Jamie, have wrongly had their benefits stopped because of workfare may be able to claim money back. The government is appealing to the Supreme Court to get the decision reversed. Claire Laker-Mansfield, from Youth Fight for Jobs, a key campaign in the fight against workfare, said: "A day's pay for a day's work is a basic right in any supposedly democratic society. "The government must now respond to this ruling by immediately shutting down all unpaid workfare schemes. "These schemes have amounted to a massive bailout to big business. The likes of Poundland have been allowed thousands of hours of free labour courtesy of the taxpayer." The fight for decent jobs continues. 2.5 million People are unemployed, including one million young workers. There are less than 500,000 job vacancies - many are not even real jobs. Millions more are under-employed or in the growing 'precariat' - low-paid workers in insecure jobs with bosses that don't allow even basic rights such as guaranteed hours. But it doesn't have to be like this. Big businesses are sitting on £800 billion as they see no 'profitable outlet' for it. An immediate 50% levy on this, combined with full nationalisation of the banking industry under democratic control, would be a good start to freeing up resources. This money could then be invested in needed jobs, infrastructure, public services and green energy. Instead services are being destroyed in order to pay for the banksters' bailouts. More job cuts in the private sector get announced every week - like those at HMV, Barclays, and Rolls-Royce. Even in prime minister David Cameron's own back yard, 130 jobs are going as a Chipping Norton school for disabled children faces closure. As Claire said: "It's high time the government started investing in creating secure, socially useful jobs paid a living wage - not punitive, ineffective slave labour schemes. "But the Con-Dems' track record shows this is unlikely to happen without a struggle. That is what Youth Fight for Jobs is here for." For more info about Youth Fight for Jobs see www.youthfightforjobs.com, email youthfightforjobs@gmail.com or call 020 8558 7947 or 07757 207289 BBC video of announcement of victory This version of this article was f

For a national demonstration against workfare

Youth fight for jobs proposes a national demonstration including other groups fighting workfare to come together and demonstrate on a national level giving a wider broader platform to the message that we are not going away until workfare is scrapped. The right to work campaign and the Boycott workfare campaign have been contacted to ask their thoughts on the proposal and we await their response. Youth Fight for jobs suggests sometime in June would be a good time to hold this but clearly this is not set in stone.

We feel that bringing activists who oppose this rotten slave labour scheme together on a bigger scale can have a bigger impact in forcing the government back on the matter.

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What proof of how rotten capitalism is that in 2012 young people have to demand ‘a day’s pay for a day’s work’! It’s not like these companies can’t afford it. McDonald’s Corporation reported profits of $1.38 billion last year!
If people want work experience, it should be fully paid with a guaranteed job at the end and it should provide useful experience. The Work Programme is nothing more than providing free labour to increase the profits of big business.
The Con-Dems have been forced onto the back foot already. We demand decent jobs with decent pay. Protests, linked with the trade unions, need to be stepped up until the whole Work Programme is scrappe


Youth fight for jobs demands

for:
• Keep up the pressure to force all remaining companies out of the Work Programme
• All unemployed people currently on a placement to be employed in the position on a proper wage
• Scrap the Work Programme entirely
• A minimum wage of £8 an hour, regardless of age
• Mass investment into a programme of public works to create socially useful jobs and real apprenticeships with guaranteed jobs at the end



for more information please contact youth fight for jobs at www.youthfightforjobs.com
and on twitter @youthfight4jobs

Keep up the pressure against workfare, for real jobs with decent pay

With the pressure growing day by day on the governments flagship Workfare scheme by ordinary people pressuring these companies and shaming them to cave in to public pressure.

It is quite clear that these companies value their reputation over a government work scheme. We have seen Tesco partially pull out, Burger King, Maplin, Sainsbury, among others. It is clear this scheme is rocking and the government are facing an embarrassing climb down on this project.

The idea of making young people volunteer to do unpaid labour in return for their benefits and if they refuse or pull out their benefits are cut is a disgrace.



SO i’m glad groups like youth fight for jobs and others have been highlighting these companies who are exploiting people for cheap labour.
I’d say this scheme isn’t finished yet and we must remain defiant in the face of a media barrage of abuse and distortions. Rewatching Newsnight from Friday night where youth fight for jobs national organiser Paul Callanan received all sorts of smears and distortions and Paul battered off their attempts to line him up as some crazy militant he was open and honest about being a member of the socialist party and too right where is the shame in that.

It is also clear that the media are trying to lump the SWP and the socialist party as one big mess on the left and a fragmented left this is designed to give the impression the left is divided and meaningless. This evidence of companies pulling out due to pressure from such groups giving backbone to a campaign against workfare has had some significant affect not that these organisations are crucial to the downfall of them but certainly help.

I think we need to keep the pressure up on the remaining companies and organisations as some are local councils and charities which is even more shocking that they’d be drawn into such ideas. It is clear that during times when many big businesses are not investing as see no place to make profit that using cheap labour is a convenient ploy for them to what they hoped would get them positive headlines in giving young people a chance to gain experience and work.

As socialists we are not against this but if work is there to be done which it clearly is pay the workers properly with decent terms and conditions with trade union rights too. The disgraceful situation of retail sector union USDAW in agreeing to the workfare scheme over the top of its members is another reason to make unions accountable to their rank-and-file and that the bureaucracy is out of control and out of touch of its members.

It is no skin of the likes of Tesco’s nose to pay a decent wage to its workers when it is making billions of pounds of profit but the fact it does not want to highlights the huge failure of capitalism to service its workers leading to the fact that Tesco’s workers cannot even buy the products they sell in store. What a ridiculous situation that is when Tesco workers have to buy their shopping in ALDi and LIDDEl for example. Another contradiction of capitalism perhaps?

Am i a "job snob" now ? Say NO to workfare !

Today we have heard the patronising phrase from cabinet minister Chris Grailing. Who earns upwards of 65 k a year plus expenses as a minister for parliament. If that isnt eye watering enough he has now suggested that all those who would turn their nose up at working stacking shelves for their benifits, their doll in otherwords to be "job snobs".

Wel in my view if this scheme which was originally introduced by the labour party to get people back into work, workfare as i blogged about at the weekend continues it will be very damaging for these retailers. But i dont think that worries them in the least. They are rubbing their hands at the chance of free labour who they can squeeze surplus labour value out of increasing their profits as a result.

It is a absolute disgrace quite frankly for a tory minister who has probably never done a real days work in his life to attack the poor and the desperate like this.

It is also disgraceful that such unions as USDAW have sat on their hands over this and not threatened any mass action over this. Where are they over workfare ? very quiet indeed. Slight mummerings are not enough frankly we need action over workfare to say not to slave labour working for nothing is not on.

Britain is a very wealthy country no one should have to work for nothing i believe in a fair days work for a fair days pay as a demand for creation of millions of new jobs that are socially useful and pay decent pay too.

If this results in me being a snob about it and thinking people should not be exploited for their labour then so be it.