'tis The Season Of------

      As 2014 draws to a close, we should do well to remember that, "'tis the season of-----" sleeping rough and homelessness. Figures for those sleeping rough in England, state that there were 2,414 rough sleepers at any time during 2013, an increase of 5% on the previous year. Government figures, (England) for homeless applications for 2014 were 27,970. Families in temporary accommodation for 2014 was 60,940, up 6.1% on 2013. It is also accepted that 62% of single people homeless is hidden, sofa surfing etc.

         "'tis also the season of-----" workfare, working for no salary. An employer's dream. Government figures state that the so called "work experience Scheme", which is an 8 week placement, usually in the private sector, is expected to put more than a quarter of a million people in work without pay. However the government refuses to state how many of the 850,000 people already on their "work program" have been forced to work for no pay. 

           "'tis also the season of-----" sanctions. Government figures show that sanctions, (stopping of benefit) on Employment and Support Allowance claimants were approximately 4.5 times higher this year than the same period last year. The first three months of 2014 saw 15,955 individuals on ESA sanctioned, up from 3,574 for the same period in 2013.

             This is just some of the "good cheer" that is being visited on vast sections of our community, by the privileged, pampered parasites, that manage the system on behalf of the financial Mafia. At this time of year, those who legislate to bring this penury to our communities, will be sitting and wallowing in unearned wealth, no worries about heating, which one of their homes they happen to be in. No worries about putting ample food on the table, and no worries about the bills after the event. Why do we put up with it?

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workfare Can Be Beaten.

       The millionaire cabal that inhabits The Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption, want to see workfare firmly embedded in our culture, they are hoping kids leaving school will see this as normal procedure, work for the corporate sleaze machine for no salary, in the hope of getting a crap job with lousy wages at some point in the future. It's the Cameron-Osborne duo's gift to their millionaire corporate buddies. No doubt they all meet in splendour and discuss these matters over a glass or two of champagne, after all, they are all in this together. However, thanks to the efforts of ordinary people this attempt is being met with strong resistance and is forcing some organisations to think again about participating in this slave labour scheme. They need more support and solidarity if this vicious attack on our living standards is to be killed off.

This from Boycott Workfare:

      On October 9, members of Haringey Solidarity Group and Boycott Workfare paid workfare provider Urban Futures in Wood Green a visit. Fifteen people occupied the office with banners and a soundsystem – challenging Urban Futures on their treatment of claimants and speaking to people on enforced jobsearch about their experiences and sharing info on their rights.
A number of claimants have complained about bullying and misreatment from Urban Futures management.If you want to speak to someone about how you've been treated, or join the campaign in Haringey, email info@haringey.org.uk or ring 07804 599 327.

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A Class War Welcome For Iain Duncan Smith.

A call from The void:   

       

      Iain Duncan Smith is hosting a Jobs Fair at Chingford Assembly Hall, Station Road, Chingford, E4 this Friday November 14th.  Class War will be welcoming him from 10am and are planing to make a day of it.  Speakers including the future Chingford MP Marina Pepper, – the local Class War candidate – along with John McArdle from the Black Triangle campaign are expected to speak at noon.  Expect vengeance.  Please spread the word and help make this big.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Workfare, A Capitalist Epidemic.

       Here in the UK we protest against the government about workfare, a scheme whereby the unemployed work for businesses, but get no salary. We behave as if this was just our problem, the result of us having a nasty government. However, like I keep saying, these greed driven capitalist ideas are not a UK phenomenon, the capitalist disease is world wide. Take Greece for example:

 GreekReporter notes the solution to Greece's problems...

     Centre of planning and Economic Research in Greece has proposed a controversial measure in order to deal with the problem of increasing unemployment in the country.  The measure includes unpaid work for the young and unemployed up to 24 years old, so that companies would have a strong motive to hire young employees. Practically, what is proposed is the abolition of the basic salary for a year. At the same time the “export” of young unemployed persons was also proposed to other countries abroad, as Greek businesses do not appear able to hire new personnel.

     Then of course there is that country at the other end of the world in what lots of people see as a benign but pleasant land, Canada, where the Bank of Canada Governor stated:

   ------that the employment situation is so bad that young people should consider working for free. As The Globe & Mail reports, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said 'Adult children stuck in their parents’ basements because they can’t find adequate employment should take unpaid work to bolster résumés as they wait for the recovery to take hold'.

 

      Similar schemes are in place or are being considered in other countries, including France, and of course Bill Clinton set the ball rolling in that direction in America as far back as the 90's. Our problem is not British workfare schemes, it is the capitalist system. I have no doubt that if we were successful in getting rid of the various workfare schemes, the system, no matter the colour of the government, would come up with other similar means of cutting labour costs and increasing company profits. Until we finally demolish the system of capitalism, we will be plagued by exploitation by various variations of workfare schemes, and poverty will be our domain.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Kill Workfare Before It Kills You.

      Continuing with the theme of  a week of action against Workfare, today's call for action is in the sector of hospices charity shops. Thousands of actions across the country on a daily basis against this aberration in decent human society, will have an impact, if we show determination and solidarity. The poisonous tentacles  of workfare has slithered its way through the fabric of this corrupt exploitative system, and the powers would be delighted if we would let it become the norm. This mustn't ever happen.

Today's Call For Action:

Take Action:

Stop workfare in hospice charity shops

Posted: October 8th, 2014 | Author: boycottworkfare | Filed under: Action report, Charities | No Comments » This week is #HospiceCareWeek.  Today, as part of our week of action, we want to contact hospices and ask them to commit to not taking part in any of the government’s workfare schemes.

Hospices offer palliative care, social support, and practical advice – and help families through mourning and bereavement. They help people with illnesses which would otherwise massively curtail their freedom of movement be as independent as possible. This is vital and valuable work, transforming the quality of people’s lives.
Help the Hospices, the charity for hospice care in the UK, says that

 ‘A hospice is not just a building, it is a way of caring for people. Hospice care aims to improve the lives of people who have a life-limiting or terminal illness, helping them to live well before they die.’

But why are so many hospices willing to stop other people living well,  by forcing them to work for no pay under threat of sanctions?
Many hospices have local charity shops which take people through workfare schemes – especially Mandatory Work Activity.  If you’re unwilling to take part in MWA, which involves 30 hours unpaid work per week, for four weeks at a time, you’ll be hit with a minimum sanction of 13 weeks for a ‘first failure’. The maximum sanction is 3 years: 3 years of hunger, hardship and destitution.  We’ve also heard from people at hospice charity shops on mandatory work placements from the Work Programme and six-month Community Work Placements.
We know hospice shops and care centres need volunteers to run them.  And we know that hospice care across the UK relies on the work of tens of thousands of volunteers to carry on their valuable activities.  But that is no justification for forcing unemployed people to work in charity shops for weeks at a time for no wages.  Charities that take part in workfare not only undermine genuine volunteering, but are also instrumental in claimants being sanctioned and left with no income.

More Details HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Protest Against Massive Slave Labour In The UK.

      Workfare is nothing less than slave labour, no matter how they dress it up and phrase the various forms, it is still working for no wage, and being sanctioned if you refuse. This is not just an attack on the unemployed, it affects all our jobs, it helps to depress wages. We might expect big business to grab this money making gift from their friends, the government, but charities and voluntary organisations are supposed to work on a different level, lots of them don't.

      This week in October, across the country, is a week of protest against workfare, to highlight its injustice and help bring it to an end.

       Action for today:

Take action: No grounds for greenwashing workfare

Posted: October 7th, 2014 | Author: boycottworkfare | Filed under: Call to action, Charities | No Comments »

Groundwork boasts of its involvement in workfare. Join in with an online blockade of their social media and let them know what you think of their prolific and unashamed use of forced unpaid labour.  

      Take online action today against Groundwork, the green charity using unpaid labour. Branches of Groundwork up and down the country openly advertise their involvement in all kinds of workfare, including the latest and most exploitative programmes.
     Charities and voluntary organisations should know the value of volunteering. Instead Groundwork is taking thousands of unemployed people on workfare placements with no pay and putting people at risk of sanctions. According to their own statistics they forced 4,500 people through workfare last year alone. They trade on the goodwill of their ‘volunteering’ projects to secure government money for unpaid labour schemes.

More details HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Only Answer, Kill Capitalism.

       The fight against "workfare" and it various permutations, is as admirable as it is necessary. However, if it is successfully destroyed, rest assured, our lords and masters will devise an equally noxious mutant to continue with our exploitation. Capitalism is a system of exploitation, that's how it works. We produce all the wealth of the world, and we get a pittance, the bulk is syphoned up to those who produce nothing, the wanker bankers, corporate CEO, financial Mafia and greedy shareholders. No matter how you look at it, that is total exploitation.

        Trainee schemes, apprenticeships, work placements, low wages, zero hours contracts, workfare, wage freezes/cuts, a minimum wage that nobody can live on, all tools in the exploiters bag of tricks. The political classes work hand in glove with the corporate world, to ensure that the exploitation is total. The slashing of benefits forces desperate people into deprivation, or into lousy, demeaning and/or dangerous, low paid jobs, in an attempt to survive.

      The struggle to improve our conditions has been going on as long as capitalism, and here we are in the 21st century, still struggling, while poverty spreads and wealth accumulates. Have we learnt nothing in 3 or 4 hundred years? It isn't that there isn't enough to go round, we are awash with wealth, it's the system of capitalist exploitation that keeps it in the hands of the few. We are the punters in the gambling casino, the odds are stacked against us, deliberately. Until the majority grasp this fact and decide to do something about it, nothing will change. Capitalism is destroying the planet and its entire population, for what?

        Though the powers that be tell us that it is the only game in town, capitalism is not a system set in tablets of stone, from some mighty god on high, it is simply a man made economic system, that works against the majority. It can be replaced by another man made economic system, that works in favour of the majority, and sees to the needs of all our people. It is up to to us, which one do we want?

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

It's The System That Stinks.

        Workfare schemes are an attack on all the ordinary people of this country. It is a process by which wages are squeezed and corporate profits are increased, they are a further step in creating a sweatshop economy, the corporate dream. Free labour paid a starvation allowance by the state, useing tax payers money, all to help their millionaire buddies. During this period of "austerity", the corporate world has seen their profits go through the roof, while we have seen our wages and benefits go through the floor, not an accident. The world is awash with wealth, the number of billionaires increase almost on a daily basis, yet, across the planet, among the ordinary people, poverty increases on a daily basis. Wealth is being sucked up to the greedy few at an ever increasing rate, workfare is just one of the many methods. Smashing workfare is a necessary step, but only one step, it is the system that is flawed and must be dismantled and a system of fairness, justice and co-operation, that sees to the needs of all our people, built in its place. However, don't expect the political parties or the large organisations like the TUC to help you along that road, it is up to us at grass-roots level to bring this stinking system down.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

UK Slavery Is Alive And Well.

      The various workfare schemes slither their way through our society, and the government is hoping that this type of  unpaid labour will become the accepted pattern. You will leave school, try to get a job, find it almost impossible, sign on, and then be sent to some corporate greed monster, and work for six months for no wages, then back to signing on. The circle will be repeated ad infinitum. That way the corporate bosses have a large pool of unpaid labour, and that helps to keep wages down.

    The figure for unpaid slave labour in this country is approaching the 200,000. that's 200,000 people working all day and walking home without a wage. Who do you think gains? Failing to comply with this dictatorial slave labour plan results in your meagre unemployment benefit being stopped. This of course pushes you deeper into the cesspool of deprivation. Punishment for refusing to be a slave to some rich corporate greed machine.

From Boycott Workfare:    

⇓ There is a growing number of workfare schemes
⇓ Workfare is not voluntary
⇓ People on workfare placements are counted as "employed" in government statistics
⇓ Sanctions have dramatically increased
⇓ Workfare replaces jobs and undermines wages
⇓ The government is rolling out workfare on a massive scale
⇓ Workfare does not work
⇓ Workfare affects everyone

         There is a mass protest, 4th. - 12th. October, being organised against this humiliation of those people who can't find work, in a system that doesn't offer them any. It is time that we took this slave labour scheme by the throat and strangled it, before it strangles us.

 Again from Boycott Workfare:

     Forcing people to work for free through the threat of removing people’s benefits (sanctions) is unfair, unjust and wrong. In the week of action, tell the companies and charities who are profiting from this exploitative regime what you think of their involvement! Email, Tweet, use Facebook, phone them, protest, organise a flashmob: for a week of piling the pressure on workfare exploiters.

      We know these tactics work! Just look at how quickly Byteback IT had to pull out when you told them what you thought after George Osborne made the mistake of visiting them. This is just one of the latest in a whole list of businesses and charities that have also pulled out of workfare following our pressure.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Society Of Lies, More Lies, And Damned Lies.

      Most informed people in this society know it is a society of lies, more lies, and damned lies. That's how the system works, sleight of hand, fiddled figures, smoke and mirrors and wild propaganda. If the truth were told, the whole pack of cards would come crumbling down, people just would not accept the fact that  all the wealth we produce is shovelled into the coffers of the corporations and their merry band of pampered parasitic managers. 

       There are those who say the system is broken, far from it, it is doing what it is meant to do, syphon wealth upwards. One reason this robbing, plundering system survives, is the fact that the majority seem to accept the illusion that it can do the opposite.

Our Lords And Masters. (apologies to the hogs)

This from The Void:

      The body established to lie on behalf of the fraud ridden welfare-to-work industry have launched a new campaign on the back of a report so breath-takingly dishonest it would make Iain Duncan Smith blush.
     According to the Employment Related Services Association (ERSA), the floundering Work Programme has been a huge success and is set to add £18 billion to the economy.  This is based on a report which ERSA commisioned from a consultancy company called Europe Economics who have mangled the figures in an attempt to hoodwink the DWP into giving Work Programme providers like A4e and G4S even more tax payer’s cash.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Financial Mafia's World Wide Slavery.

      

      We all know that policies such as Workfare, and Work Related Activity Group, create slave labour, misery and stress, and this is aggravated by sanctions. People point the finger at the Cameron Cabal, as if this was their creation and if we could just get rid of that bunch of Oxbridge parasites, it would all be better. What we should realise is that these policies are not indigenous to the UK, the Cameron Cabal don't have the brains to think up such devious ways of getting the corporate wage bills down, they merely follow the instructions of the financial Mafia. These policies are taking place in other countries.

Some Pas Forgione quotes from Australia:

     The federal government has plans to expand Work for the Dole. From July next year it will be compulsory for job-seekers aged 18-30 to do 25 hours of work a week.

        In the same week that employment minister Eric Abetz announced the government would expand Work for the Dole to all job seekers under 50 and that job seekers would have to apply for double the number of jobs than previously, billionaire miner Andrew Forrest released his own recommendations for welfare reform — some of the most punitive ever proposed.

       The federal government is considering a proposal to force young unemployed people into strict military-style boot camps. The plan is an inadequate, simplistic response to the complex problem of youth unemployment. The fact that Labor is seriously exploring the scheme is another indication of how increasingly right-wing the party has become on welfare policy.
    The proposal, promoted as a “possible vote winner” to be announced before the upcoming election, would force early school leavers aged 15 to 21 into tough, hard-line boot camps, though precise details remain sketchy.

 
      So it is not our little bunch of Oxbridge millionaire parasites that are responsible for the misery and exploitation heaped on us, it is the world wide system of the festering marriage of capitalism and state. The shape of our society and the quality of our lives are decided in the grand marble halls of the faceless financial Mafia. Until we, across the globe, sort out that mob, our lives will continue down the spiral of exploitation and poverty.   

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Seasons Such As These.

 

           Most people would agree that Willie Shakespeare had a way with words, and some of those words are just as relevant today as they were on the day that he wrote them. How about a few lines from "Seasons Such As These".

Poor naked wretches, wherese're you are
that hide the pelting of this pityless storm,
how shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
from seasons such as these.

           As the Cameron cabal carry out the merciless plan of the financial mafia, under the guise of "austerity", we  see poverty sink its pityless teeth ever deeper into the fabric of our way of life. Day and daily fears of poverty become reality, the spectre of homelessness a way of life. Benefit cuts, sanctions on the unemployed, workfare for no wages, zero hour contracts, dragging more and more families into he dark pit of deprivation. Food banks a necessity, loan sharks arrive in the guise of a saviour. We are in the midst of a man made season of wretchedness. Only the ordinary people can move us to that season of a bountiful spring.
              A  quote from "Freedom" November 1903, by someone who signs him/herself, "anarchist".

He who would be free
Himself must strike the blow

Here we are,111 years on, and we have still to strike that blow. 

We Don't Want Their Charity, We Can Look After Ourselves.

       Is that sleeping beast, the great British public stirring? I hope so, for it has been on the receiving end of a savage attack in this long running class war. July 10th. in the UK we expect to see 2 million take strike action. Several unions will be involved including the GMB and NUT, on strike will be Transport of London staff, teachers, driving examiners, council and school staff and others. Each may have its specific issue as to why they are striking, but this should not be about a series of single issue. Joining those ranks of strikers should be all those unemployed existing on deprivation level allowances or had their benefits sanctioned, those thousands workfare victims, forced to work for no salary, all those disabled affected by the draconian work assessment, and the attempt to get rid of the Independent Living Fund, all those on zero hours contracts, all those suffering benefit cuts. In fact is there any ordinary person who should not be out on the streets on Thursday July 10th? Over the last four years we have seen our living standards ravaged, the social structure of our society trashed, our NHS being sold off, along with any other public asset that can turn a profit for the financial Mafia friends of the Cameron Oxbridge millionaire cabal.

      We should not be organising to attempt to make our corporate master a little more compassionate, begging them to make our lives a wee bit more tolerable. No, we should be organising to dismantle this whole corporate dominated greed driven ponzi scheme. There is no such thing as compassionate capitalism, it's a greed driven, winner take all, and to hell with the rest of you con-scheme. We don't want their charity, we can look after ourselves.

 This from The people's Assembly:

      This Thursday, on 10 July, up to 2 million people will be out on strike in a co-ordinated strike action across the trade unions. There will be huge demonstrations and protests up and down the country. These actions will be the next step in the summer of resistance, working towards a monster TUC demonstration on 18 October in London.

      Lets do all we can to make sure the strikers are supported in our communities, and help to make the demonstrations huge - join the rallies and demonstrations, join your local picket lines and bring along tea and biscuits - anything you can do to support those on strike will make a huge difference.

     Here are a few videos in support of the strikes. Please share these far and wide! Why not make your own video of why you are supporting the strikes? Tweet using hashtag #J10

Click here to see Owen Jones' video
Click here to see the NUT's video
Click here to see Caroline Lucas MP's video
Click here to see Francesca Martinez's video
Click here to see Kate Smurthwaite's video
In solidarity, 
Sam Fairbairn and Jacqui Howard
The People's Assembly Against Austerity
http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk