Showing posts with label Glasgow picket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glasgow picket. Show all posts

Saturday 27 July 2013

Glasgow ATOS Picket And Photos.


      This month's picket outside the Glasgow offices of ATOS was held on Friday July 26th. The picket was a poignant affair as the assembled group held a minutes silence for one of ATOS's latest victims Elenore Tatton, a 39 year mum who died shortly after being assessed as fit for work.


       The number of ATOS victims who have died shortly after being assessed fit for work is well over a thousand and growing monthly. This is not a series of unfortunate accidents, this is the result of an ideological process being driven by those greedy parasites devoid of compassion, who sit in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, and who follow the dictate of their masters in the financial Mafia.


      The whole process of ATOS is an attack on the weakest and most vulnerable in our society, it is part and parcel of the plundering of the public purse, for no other reason than to satisfy the world's gang of corrupt banksters. It's called balancing the books, but the figures are written in the blood of the sick and vulnerable from our communities. Are we counting the dead in this war against our people?


     This video is the case of another killing at the hands of ATOS, its victims are easy to find.




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Monday 10 December 2012

CHOICES, WORKFARE OR WORKHOUSE.


      This from The Crutch Collective on Saturday's Glasgow day of action against the governments slave labour scheme which goes under the pseudonym of "workfare".


Anti-Workfare Pickets Glasgow Report

      On Saturday 8th December as part of the Boycott Workfare Week Of Action a couple of dozen people from Clydeside Industrial Workers Of The World, the Crutch Collective, Glasgow Anarchist Federation, Glasgow Solidarity Federation, the Right To Work Campaign and other individuals leafleted a branch of Superdrug in one of the city centre's busiest streets. The one thousand leaflets given out highlighted Superdrug taking on even more people on the Government's 'Work Experience' workfare scheme for the Christmas period. The extra people on workfare means less holiday pay for the regular staff. There was a lot of police about and Superdrug had hired extra security for the day. However the combination of the picket, the leaflet saying, 'Don't Shop At Superdrug' and the added security costs meant we succeeded in our objective of costing Superdrug money for using Workfare. Thanks to everyone who took part. Apparently someone also left placards saying 'Superdrug + Unpaid Work = Superdrudgery' outside their other city centre branch.
    The picket also attracted some media attention from local journalists. The Sunday Mail, with a reported readership of around one million, mentioned the Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow protests, and their article, 'Big Businesses Taking On Jobless Young People To Work Unpaid Over Christmas', helped get our general message across to a larger audience. It appears to contains some useful information on the extent of Workfare involvement of a number of companies, but it also includes some of the distortions of the reality of Workfare by these companies and the Department for Work and Pensions. We would have to question if the newspaper verified any of the information in the statements of the the Workfare companies and the D.W.P.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/revealed-big-businesses-taking-on-jobless-1480979

     The Superdrug distortions - 'Work Experience' is not voluntary in practice. Job Centre Plus and third party workfare profiteers like A4E bully benefit claimants on to the scheme. Benefit claimants can have their benefits cut if they do not not continue to 'volunteer' to stay on the scheme, after they have been on the scheme for a week. Only a tiny number of people on workfare get jobs afterwards. For example it is 3.5% for the 'Work Programme' and that includes participants getting jobs with other companies and very short-term jobs. Stacking shelves for Superdrug is not learning a skill. Argos state that 'Work Experience' people work alongside paid colleagues, but don't replace them, but the permanent staff lose out on holiday pay. Why aren't all of their temporary staff paid? Of the 25% Poundland say left their 'work experience' early, because they received a job offer elsewhere, how many were going to get offered a job anyhow? Poundland also put a positive spin on 10% going on to get jobs with them, but that means 90% do not, while Poundland continue to make profits from all the unpaid labour.

     We brought forward the time of the picket so that people could take part in he UK UnCut Starbucks demo in Glasgow. UK UnCut have been making the links between tax avoidance, cuts to public services and their impact on women. The Starbucks PR machine has gone into overdrive saying that they will pay a few more peanuts in tax in the next couple of years based on their own estimates while they don't mention all the unpaid tax from the past in their media releases. It has been revealed that the tax payments will be paid for by cuts to the terms and conditions of the Starbucks staff. The IWW Starbucks Workers Union is looking for volunteer organisers to help them organise Starbucks staff to fight these cuts c/o -

PO Box 7593, Glasgow G42 2EX
communications@iww.org.uk
www.iww.org.uk

     One person did manage to get inside the Sauchiehall Street coffee shop with leaflets, but there was too many police for a Refuge from the Cuts to be set up in this branch of Starbucks. The demo moved on to create a noisy presence with cake outside the Starbucks on Buchanan Street, another one of the main shopping streets in Glasgow.

       From there a few people went on to picket the city centre furniture store of the British Heart Foundation. The manager of the store aggressively told us we needed a permit to hand out leaflets. This is another fake claim from BHF. When we told him we didn't need one he told us he was then going to ring the police and he stropped off phone in hand. Of course the police never arrived. A customer said that the manager said we were talking 'shit', but at the same time the manager had confirmed that that they do use Workfare in that store. BHF have had 1500 placements on 'Mandatory Work Activity' and the 'Work Programme'. Despite BHF claims, the schemes are not voluntary. BHF must know the meaning of the word, 'mandatory'. All workfare companies have to sign a contract saying that they will report anyone who does not show up for the schemes, which automatically results in benefit claimants having their benefits cut. BHF have vaguely stated that are 'moving away' from workfare at some unspecified point in the future, but hopefully this picket and others will bring their use of workfare to a halt sooner rather than later. They have been pressurised in to making another public statement, which could be a sign that they are about to cave in.

     We are already making plans for a bigger Anti-Workfare campaign in the new year.

Claimants Resisting Unfair Treatment Cuts and Harassment
A group of benefit claimants and supporters in Glasgow
Hopefully we will have photos of the picket here soon:
www.thecrutchcollective.blogspot.co.uk
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Crutch-Collective/132893236781931?ref=hl
thecrutchcollective@gmail.com
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Thursday 16 February 2012

PICKET ATOS GLASGOW.


Picket Atos
Friday 17th February 2012
4pm-5pm
Atos Medical Assessment Centre,
Corunna House,
29 Cadogan Street,
Glasgow G2 7AB.

Against the latest Atos and DWP con:

Atos and the DWP are conning people into signing on for Job Seekers Allowance when they get turned down for sickness benefit. This means they are forced into applying for jobs that loads of other people are applying for and as most people win their appeal against getting turned down for sickness benefit with the help of an advice centre it also means a lot of sick and disabled people are being harassed into applying for jobs that they are too ill to carry out. If claimants just ask for a reappraisal their money is reduced until they win their appeal, but they are not forced to job search or restart their claim for sickness benefit from scratch and they will get their sickness benefit back-dated.

We also want to let claimants know that it is fairly easy to appeal against being placed in the Work Related Activity Group on Employment Support Allowance (the new name for sickness benefit). In this situation you get sickness benefit, but they try to harass sick and disabled claimants off ESA by forcing them to attend regular interviews over a number of months.

We will be giving advice leaflets to sick and disabled claimants outside Atos, but please share this information with anyone you know on sickness benefit:

Good morning, I'm your new assessor.


What to do if you 'fail' a Work Capability Assessment -
http://thecrutchcollective.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-to-do-if-you-fail-your-work.html

How to prepare for an ESA Tribunal Hearing -

We will also continue to inform the public of how Atos are helping the government make the sick and disabled pay for the public debt caused by the greed of bankers and the inevitable booms and busts of capitalist economics:



Facebook Event Page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/190066311101505/?context=create#!/events/190066311101505/

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Saturday 4 February 2012

PIZZA HUT PICKET GLASGOW.

        Along with other UK cities there was a Solidarity Picket with IWW Pizza Hut Workers Satuday 4th February, Time12:00 until 13:30 at Pizza Hut Argyle St, Glasgow, G2 8BU. with Solidarity Federation and Clydeside IWW members participating, with an appeal to Refuse to eat at Pizza Hut until management negotiate with the collective demands of organised workers in Sheffield. At the Glasgow picket over 500 flyers were given out with considerable interest being shown from people walking past, also several people were convinced by the information, not to eat there.
The Sheffield Pizza Hut Workers Union, part of the Industrial Workers Of The World demand for all Pizza Hut workers:

1. Bank Holiday Pay – Standard practice time and a half for unsociable shifts.

2. Delivery Drivers Commission – Delivery commissions have not risen despite a changing delivery radius and the rising price of petrol. The recommended rate from the AA is 45p per mile.
SOLIDARITY.

Pizza Hut Workers Union.
           Welcome to the home page of Sheffield Pizza Hut Workers Union - 460. Sheffield is the birth place of our union, which started up the hill in Crookes. Get Organised Get Involved - email us at pizzah..


Friday 3 February 2012

DON'T EAT AT PIZZA HUT.


Solidarity Picket With IWW Pizza Hut Workers
Pizza Hut Argyle St
Glasgow
G2 8BU

Saturday 4th February
12 noon-1.30pm


           Refuse to eat at Pizza Hut until management negotiate with the collective demands of organised workers in Sheffield. The Sheffield Pizza Hut Workers Union, part of the Industrial Workers Of The World demand for all Pizza Hut workers:

1. Bank Holiday Pay – Standard practice time and a half for unsociable shifts.

2. Delivery Drivers Commission – Delivery commissions have not risen despite a changing delivery radius and the rising price of petrol. The recommended rate from the AA is 45p per mile.


Facebook Event Page:


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Tuesday 17 January 2012

CORPORATE STRIKE BREAKERS.


PICKET ADECCO EMPLOYMENT AGENCY
STOP THEM SUPPLYING STRIKE BREAKERS
15A-17A BLYTHSWOOD SQUARE GLASGOW G2 4AD

FRIDAY 20TH JANUARY  4PM-5PM

Facebook event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/322789271099265/?context=create#!/events/322789271099265/

ADECCO: Casualised Strikebreaking at its Finest

       ADECCO: Stop Supplying Strikebreakers to Asea Brown Boveri factory in Cordoba, Spain. Employment agencies have long been criticised for profiting from  casualisation, precarious emploment and for creating an increasing insecure job market. However, ADECCO, the largest employment agency in the world, has now taken this to a whole new level. Not content to simply lower wages and job security through inferior short term contracts, ADECCO has now gotten into the business of strikebreaking. Workers at a Asea Boveri Brown (ABB) factory in Cordoba Spain have been on indefinite strike since 28th November, camped out all day and night in front of the factory. The strike was called in protest at ABB plans to make workers employed by subcontractors EULEN at the factory redundant and replace them with EUROCEN non-union labour with no experience or qualifications. EUROCEN is the logistics division of  the ADECCO Group of companies.
       Their union the National Conferation of Labour (CNT) points out that the problems related to the work in ABB are also related to outsourcing in general. The workers who were employed through EULEN in fact worked for ABB and took orders from them, but they have a much lower salary and worse working conditions than regular ABB workers and ABB took no responsibility for them as an employer. There were serious breaches of health and safety and inadequate equipment provided. There is also the fact that the relevant collective agreements for the work they actually perform were not applied. Management's refusal to address these issues also led to the strike. First management responded by hiring scab labour from ADECCO. Then they fired all the strikers. By continuing to provide strikebreakers, ADECCO is Complicit in ABB's continued union repression at the factory where there have been a number of union victories over the last 2 years. The workers of the Cordoba factory in Spain are demanding what all workers deserve: fair pay, respect on the job, and a safe working environment. Austerity is providing employers in the public and private sectors alike with the excuse to attack our pay and working conditions. We must stand together—across borders, industries and trade unions—and fight back. Employment agencies have exploited us long enough. A win for workers at ABB, a giant multinational that operates in over 100 countries, will not only improve working conditions for Spanish workers, it will let employment agencies like ADECCO know that workers are willing to fight back against their unscrupulous practices. We demand that sacked strikers are re-instated, management talks with the workforce, and that ADECCO stop providing scab labour .


 

Want to help?
Send a message to ADECCO demanding they cease this disgusting behaviour -
Demand for contracted workers at the ABB factory:

1. Equal Pay to other workers at the factory.
2. Respect on the job.
3. A safe working environment.
4. That management talk to the striking workers.
5. That Adecco stop providing scabs for strikebreaking.
6. That the sacked workers are re-instated.
7. Collective bargaining agreements.
8. Job Security.

A model message to send to ADECCO-EUROCEN in Spanish can be found here and below:
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=adecco-casualised-strikebreaking-at-its-finest
 

Model message to be sent to ADECCO-EUROCEN via their website contact page -

Cut and paste the following:

ADECCO: Para de traer esquiroles a la fabrica ABB de Cordoba. Eurocen-Adecco promueven el esquirolaje en la fabrica ABB.
Exijimos por los trabajadores contratados en la fabrica ABB:

1. Que se terminen con la arbritrariedad en el pago de los salarios.
2. Respeto en el trabajo.
3. Un entorno seguro en el trabajo.
4. Que la empresa abra negociaciones con los trabajadores en huelga.
5. Que Adecco deje de traer rompehuelgas.
6. Readmision de los trabajadores despedidos.
7. Convenios colectivos.
8.Estabilidad en el trabajo.

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Tuesday 31 May 2011

STOP ATOS CUTTING DISABILITY BENEFITS.


STOP ATOS CUTTING DISABILITY BENEFITS.

Picket Atos Recruitment Evening
Atos Medical Assessment Centre
Corunna House
29 Cadogan Street
Glasgow G2 7AB

Monday 6th June  5.30pm – 8.30pm



Who are Atos?

Atos Healthcare are a part of a private, profit making corporation. On behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), they carry out the medical assessments, now called 'Work Capability Assessments
(WCA), for Employment Support Allowance (formerly Incapacity Benefit).
Atos SICKNESS BENEFIT ASSESSOR!!

What do they do?

Atos are currently recruiting more medical professionals to carry out new assessments on all people on sickness benefits. They are actively carrying out the Government’s plan of cutting sickness benefits by £250 billion. The process is driven by cost cutting not objective medical opinion. In recent trials of their largely unreliable new computerised medical test 29% of claimants had their benefits cut, but most people win their case when they appeal with the help of an advice centre. Atos will be also recruiting more staff to carry out these distressing and degrading tests on all people on Disability Living Allowance for the first time, where the plan is to cut the budget by 20%. The Government are cutting these benefits to reduce the debt caused by bankers gambling on the financial markets. The most vulnerable in society are being made to pay for the greed of the rich and the inevitable booms and busts of capitalist economics.
More info: The Crutch Collective on Facebook

http://thecrutchcollective.blogspot.com/

thecrutchcollective@gmail.com

Facebook event page:   http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=188876404494450


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