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Liverpool Combats Workfare

By Paul Robinson
Photo by Matt O’Toole

As part of a rolling series of actions for Combat Workfare in Liverpool, claimants/activists picketed slave labour stalwarts Holland & Barrett on Saturday 9th of June. Customers were successfully turned away from shopping in the Liverpool ‘health’ store after being informed of the company’s ‘Workfare’ policy.

Next up was Argos, the shop floor invaded with sirens & music. By this time, Merseyside Police - so outraged by the use of forced unpaid work - joined the flying picket in ‘solidarity’.

The final target was devious Workfare users Tesco, who’ve brazenly stuck to using free labour despite sounding-off about withdrawing their participation from the scheme. Customers were persuaded not to use Tesco, via leafleting and discussion, and the response was overwhelmingly positive.

The Work Programme claims to help people back into work by attaching the claimant to a private Work Provider for two years. The Work Provider is paid by results, so this encourages the Work Provider to force claimants into unsuitable or unpaid work, touted as ‘placements’ and/or ‘work experience’.

Forcing claimants to work up to 30hrs a week for a month at a time, for no pay, provides free labour to companies, such as Tesco, Asda, Topman, Primark, Holland & Barrett & Argos; it also blurs the idea of voluntary work when you are forced into placements at charities, such as The British Heart Foundation & Age Concern. Local councils, hospitals and many other public organisations are using claimants as free labour under what’s called the Community Action Programme, which means you could be picking rubbish up in parks or changing patients’ bedding for 30hrs a week on NO PAY.

Not only is this forced unpaid work, it undermines the security & conditions of those already in paid work by giving managers the option of a steady stream of free labour.

Work Providers are also ‘parking’ claimants, who they deem as unprofitable/unemployable, on the sidelines of the Work Programme with no support or contact; and Work Providers, such as A4e, are being investigated over allegations of systemic fraud, centred on claiming money for job outcomes that never existed.

Employment Support Allowance claimants, in some case terminally ill people, are also being made “fit-for-work” by careless assessments; kicked off incapacity benefit or ESA; and dumped onto the Work Programme.

See: antiworkfare.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/liverpool-combats-workfare.html

Holland & Barrett have since announced that they will not be using Workfare labour in their shops.

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Comment left by Tim Childs on 19th September, 2012 at 23:25
Not all workfare is bad, as I'm a volunteer myself but in essence I think it is easily abused and when we know that many of the businesses involved could easily pay better wages to those at the bottom, it can become a way for those businesses to bump up profits whilst claiming that they aren't doing anything wrong.

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