We are publishing below a recent briefing from Boycott Workfare:
"SOLIDARITY
WITH UNEMPLOYED ACTIVIST ARRESTED FOR REPRESENTING A JOBSEEKER
TAKE PART IN A
DAY OF ACTION AT JOBCENTRES BRITAIN-WIDE 25 FEBRUARY 2015
Scottish
Unemployed Workers Network activist Tony Cox was arrested on 29th January after
Arbroath Jobcentre management called police to stop him representing a
vulnerable jobseeker. We urge you to join a Day of Action on 25th February at
Jobcentres round Britain to show your solidarity.
We
must fight back against this clear attempt to intimidate claimants and deny us
the right to be accompanied and represented. Tony will be in court in Forfar on
25th February facing charges of “threatening behaviour, refusing to give his
name and address and resisting arrest”. That same day we call on people to
descend on jobcentres round Britain to show their solidarity with Tony and
distribute information to claimants urging them to exercise their right to be
accompanied and represented at all benefits interviews.
As
we face unprecedented sanctions and benefits cuts, it’s more important than ever
that we support each other and stand up to the DWP bullies. The Scottish
Unemployed Workers Network, Dundee Against Welfare Sanctions and other groups
have established a strong presence at the Jobcentres in Dundee and in nearby
towns and cities like Arbroath, Perth and Blairgowrie, supporting claimants in
opposing sanctions and harassment.
On 29 January Tony was accompanying a vulnerable woman claimant, who suffers from severe dyslexia and literacy problems. The claimant, D, had been signed up to the Universal Job Match (UJM), the computerised job search system, and was being forced to complete five job searches per day, the pressure of which had led to her having several panic attacks. Tony proposed that D’s UJM account be closed, and that her number of job searches be significantly reduced. The adviser refused to consider this, and so Tony and D met with the Jobcentre manager.
On 29 January Tony was accompanying a vulnerable woman claimant, who suffers from severe dyslexia and literacy problems. The claimant, D, had been signed up to the Universal Job Match (UJM), the computerised job search system, and was being forced to complete five job searches per day, the pressure of which had led to her having several panic attacks. Tony proposed that D’s UJM account be closed, and that her number of job searches be significantly reduced. The adviser refused to consider this, and so Tony and D met with the Jobcentre manager.
The
manager likewise refused to even look at the issue, falsely claiming that all
jobseekers had to be registered with UJM. She even suggested to D that she
should arrange another meeting without Tony or any other witness or rep present.
Despite the pressure D was being put under by the manager, she replied that she
would not attend another meeting without Tony. At this point the manager
demanded that Tony leave the building or the police would be called. Tony
refused to leave, but the meeting ended when it was agreed that a further
meeting be arranged to discuss the issue further. Tony was arrested after he
left the Jobcentre.
The
right of claimants to be accompanied to interviews, and for the accompanier to
have the right to speak, has been established by groups like Edinburgh Coalition
Against Poverty, who have forced the DWP locally and Britain-wide to apologise
for calling the police on ECAP reps, and to affirm claimants’ right to representation. The DWP clearly state “Claimants accessing Department for Work and
Pensions (DWP) benefits and services can have someone to accompany them to act
on their behalf…”
The
attack on benefits and claimants is part of the austerity assault on the entire
working class. We call on all unemployed and claimants groups, anti cuts and
anti austerity groups, human rights groups, workplace activists, and all working
class people, waged and unwaged, to show solidarity with Tony and the right of
the unemployed and all claimants to organise collectively to fight back.
Visit
your local Jobcentre on 25th February with banners and placards and distribute
leaflets to claimants on Tony’s case and the right to be accompanied to all
benefits interviews."
- Send a message of support to admin@scottishunemployedworkers.net
- Complain to Noel Shanahan, Director General Operations DWP, Caxton House, Tothill Street London SW1H 9NA
- Sign the petition
- There will be a picket of the Forfar court before the hearing on 25 February, by activists from Dundee, Tayside and area – for details contact admin@scottishunemployedworkers.net
- There will be a solidarity action in Central London at 3pm – for details contactinfo@boycottworkfare.org
Call
out by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty - ecap@lists.riseup.net
Please
add the support of your group/organisation: email admin@scottishunemployedworkers.net& ecap@lists.riseup.net
And
don’t forget Disabled People Against Cut’s Day of Action the following week
on 2 March!
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