Tameside Council security tell Tameside Councillors to move on!

A SMALL group of protesters who meet each week to give out free food parcels and benefit advice to the unemployed and homeless, outside Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre, were told to move on yesterday by the local police and Tameside Council security personnel, after they arrived outside the new Tameside One building, in Market Place, Ashton.  The building now accommodates Ashton library, Tameside Council's Customer Services, Citizens Advice, Cash Box Credit Union and Jobcentre Plus.

Among those who were told to move on by burly Tameside security staff, were two Tameside Councillors and Cabinet members - Oliver Ryan, Executive Member (Children Services) and Leanne Feeley, Executive Member (Lifelong Learning).  A former Tameside Mayor, Michael Ballagher, was also among the group as was Nigel Morgan, Chief Executive Officer, Tameside Citizens Advice Bureau.

Charlotte Hughes, a single parent from Ashton-under-Lyne, who leads the group 'Tameside Against The Cuts', later wrote on her blog:

'We arrived as normal at 10am outside the new Jobcentre.  It was pouring down with rain which didn’t help things either.

'The minute that we arrived the police arrived, they must have been waiting for us. At first they were quite happy for us to stand outside the Jobcentre in the plaza area because it had been deemed a public place, however a member of the local authority decided differently.  We were told that we had to stand in the area near the steps downstairs...  Of course that the Jobcentre don’t want us there so they’ve probably had words with someone, you know how these things go.  Despite this’ll we will be back outside the Jobcentre next week.

'We help people, hand food parcels out and support people…  All things that the DWP should do.  Whilst we were there local councillors who were standing with us weren’t impressed with us being moved.  Believe me we will be back.'

Ms Hughes also believes that some disabled people may have difficulty accessing the Jobcentre because of the stairs both in and outside the building and the small lift that some people might be unable to use because of its restricted space.  She was also critical of the lack of signs in the building indicating where to locate services and the lack of privacy in the library.  Apparently, one member of the public complained to her that DWP staff were seen "milling round the library and looking at what people were doing."

Although Labour have been in power in Tameside for the last forty years, the borough has one of the worst records for food poverty in the North West.  It looks like Tameside Council might live to regret having invited Jobcentre Plus into their new administrative centre. 

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Rochdale Unite's Job Centre Protest!

Brian Bamford - NV Joint-Editor (far-right)

 

FROM 9am this morning until lunch-time, the Rochdale Unite Community Branch set up a stall across the road from Rochdale Jobcentre, and issued leaflets protesting against unfair benefit cuts. 
Besides members of the local branch the secretary of the Greater Manchester County Association and another colleague were in evidence, and a delegate from Tameside Trade Union Council came over to offer support.
While I was there several claimants endorsed the campaign and were advised by the activists on the stall.

This was a national day of action against unfair benefit cuts, and Unite the Union issued the statement below:

Stop benefit sanctions

Thursday 30 March 2017
National Day of Action Against Sanctions
JOIN US

 
More and more people are facing benefit sanctions. 300,000 people have had their benefits suddenly stopped by sanctions in the last 12 months.

Many of whom have been plunged into poverty, unable to heat their homes or even eat. How is this meant to help prepare people for work?

 
Benefit sanctions must be fought against

These sanctions are cruel and handed out for ridiculous reasons such as:

• Arriving minutes late to a meeting 
• Not applying for jobs when waiting to start a new job!
• Missing an appointment on the day of the funeral of a close family member.

- See more at: http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/communitymembership/day-of-action-against-sanctions/#sthash.jpQGFLNQ.dpuf

Tameside union official slams MP's over ignorance on Benefit Sanctions!

MANY of Charles Dickens' characters, have become archetypal English types. This is no less true, when we look at English politics. The Pecksniff's and Podsnap's, Gradgrind's and Bounderby's, seem to be prolific in the Tory party and in the House of Commons. Some of these MP's, seem to have fallen straight out of the pages of a Dicken's novel.  The character of John Podsnap, who appears in 'Our Mutual Friend', has become a model for English middle-class pomposity, complacency, and condescension, and represents a person who cannot face up to unpleasant facts.  

There was a great deal of humbug and 'Podsnappery' on show during the debate on the 'Benefit Claimants Sanctions Bill', which took place in the House of Commons on 2 December 2016.  The level of ignorance that was displayed by some MP's and their refusal to face up to unpleasant facts, was quite astonishing.  While it was apparent that some Tory MP's swallow the official drivel about sanctions, others had clearly put their consciences in cold storage.  Not only have people been driven to hunger and food-banks because of unfair sanctions, they have also been driven to suicide.

Despite repeated assurances by Tory stooges that benefit sanctions have had a benign effect on claimants and have not driven people to suicide, in 2014, it was reported that the DWP had carried out '60 peer reviews following the death of a customer' since 2012. A 'peer-review' is triggered when suicide or alleged suicide is 'associated with DWP activity'.

In a letter sent to four MPs, including Angela Rayner, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, Brian Bamford, Secretary of Tameside Trades Union Council, condemned the appalling level of ignorance and indifference that was displayed by some MP's during the debate on Benefit Sanctions.  He wrote:

'I don't suppose that any of us should be surprised to hear this sort of thing. Even in the mid-1860's, when according to reports, people were dying of starvation in the streets of London at a rate of about two a week, there were plenty in the House of Commons, who denied it, or dismissed it, as the work of providence - the poor will always be with us.'  Read More...

Members of Tameside TUC have been protesting every Thursday against benefit sanctions outside Ashton Jobcentre since August 2014. For further information call Steve on 0161 338 8465 or email starlord@starlord-enterprises.freeserve.co.uk

More dodgy goings on at Ashton Jobcentre!

LAST week, we heard a complaint from a 19-year-old girl (Stacy) from Ashton, who had gone to Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre to accompany her friend (Rebecca) to an interview. Although her friend suffers from epilepsy and severe depression, she was told she would not be allowed to attend  the interview to support her friend also aged 19. 

We understand that the Jobcentre told Stacy that it was impossible for her to attend the interview because it would breach 'confidentiality'.  Consequently, Stacy had to wait outside the building for just under an hour, while her friend was interviewed. 

We often hear complaints from people at Ashton Jobcentre that they have been refused permission by Jobcentre staff to accompany a friend to an interview.  This frequently occurs even when the DWP client is suffering, like Rebecca, from health/mental health issues.  Yet, guidance to staff working for the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP), make it clear that: 

'Claimants accessing DWP benefits and services can have someone to accompany them to act on their behalf.'  And, 'Claimants can have a variety of people accompany them such as Representatives, Appointees, Corporate acting bodies or Personal acting bodies.'

As this sort of thing is happening on a regular basis at Ashton Jobcentre, the issue needs to be raised with the DWP and the local MP, Angela Rayner.

Workfare taskmaster punched by angry Jobseeker in Ashton!

AS an old garrison town, Ashton-under-Lyne, has always had something of a reputation for being boisterous and rowdy. In Victorian times, the town had a reputation for being one of the most drunkenest towns in the North West. 

It therefore comes as no surprise to many of us, that we heard today during one of our regular weekly Ashton Jobcentre protest, that a downtrodden and miserable Jobseeker, had turned very nasty while on a placement with a so-called local training provider in Ashton-under-Lyne. We are reliably informed that this morning, a member of staff working for 'Avanta' in Ashton, was violently assaulted by a disgruntled inmate. 

We have been unable to establish why this incident occurred or whether the police were called. However, the CPS Jobcentre union, have reported that violent incidents directed against their own members have risen exponentially as benefit sanctions have increased and claimants have been put under greater pressure to meet targets.

One expects that violent incidents of this kind are likely to continue.

Leader of Greens at Ashton Jobcentre protest!

Natalie Bennett - Green Party Leader

GREEN Party leader, Natalie Bennett, came to Ashton-under-Lyne on Tuesday to support a protest that has been taking place outside Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre, since August 2014, against unfair benefit sanctions and benefit cuts.  However, it is unlikely that you will read about this in Tameside's only local newspaper, the Tameside Reporter, now exclusively owned by New Charter Housing Trust Limited.  Yet, we are reliably informed that the press were briefed about Ms. Bennett's visit to Ashton yesterday, but as usual, were conspicuous by their absence. 

Councillor John (Wag) Taylor, the Deputy Leader of Tameside Council, was spotted skulking about across the road from the Jobcentre, observing the events that were taking place.  When invited to join the protest, he declined, saying that he was busy doing his shopping and was off like a rat up a drainpipe.

Councillor Taylor, a.k.a. (el Cabron), has voiced criticism on social media about the Jobcentre campaign and Green Party member, Charlotte Hughes, a leading figure in the campaign, calling her 'The Bag Lady'.  Apparently, Taylor thinks that Ms. Hughes, a self-employed single-mother of five, should spend her free time looking for work rather than protesting outside the Jobcentre against benefit cuts. 

We might well ask, when Councillor Taylor, intends to come off the public purse and get himself a proper job?  For the last 30-years, he has been a full-time Labour councillor sponging off the taxpayer.  No doubt, this wouldn't look good on anybody's CV, but as they say, people who live in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones!

Cllr. John ( 'el cabron') Taylor's Spanish Villa Casa Azul

We do wonder what is happening to the Labour Party today?  Although the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, has vowed to fight the Tory government's austerity policies, the Labour controlled Manchester city council, recently tried to imprison seven people who had been living in tents to highlight the plight of the homeless in Manchester.  Rough sleeping in the area has risen 150% in the last five-years.  This case was rightly thrown out of court by Judge Allan Gore, who said the council's case was fundamentally defective.  Dismissing the council's case, he said:

 'there is no dates, description of behaviour or identification of which allegations are made against which defendant.  That is a fundamentally misconceived and inappropriate way to advance criminal proceedings when the council ... seeks to commit people to prison.' Striking out the council's application, he said the council must foot the bill for the defendants legal costs, which could amount to many thousands. 

Although the Labour Party now says it is committed to fighting austerity, Labour council's across the country, have collaborated with Tory government cutbacks at every step.  With the election of Corbyn, the time is now ripe to throw out these Labour Party carpet-baggers who are in it for the money, and put in their place, people who believe in socialist values.  If Corbyn's Labour Party are fighting austerity, when are the local Labour council's going to join in?  Trying to imprison courageous people who fight the government's austerity policies, was an appalling act of incompetence.  We call on Sir Richard Leese to resign!

Are Ashton Jobcentre acting like NAZI's?

EVENTS at the Jobcentre in Ashton-under-Lyne, get murkier by the day. We understand that only last week a meeting took place in Ashton between P.C.S. union representatives and two invited activists who have been campaigning against the governments iniquitous sanctions regime outside Ashton Jobcentre, for the past 12 months. The meeting was initiated by Annette Wright, a union official of the P.C.S union and President of Manchester Trades Council, and Evan Pritchard, a lay branch official from the Greater Manchester Unite Community Union.

Although the P.C.S. union is officially committed to support initiatives that seek to undermine and expose the 'draconian sanctions regime that exists in Jobcentres', it seems that much of the time was taken up in admonishing Charlotte Hughes, a leading figure in the campaign.

Sources have told us that the P.C.S. area representative for Stockport and Tameside, who was present at the meeting, made it abundantly clear that he was vehemently against working with groups opposed to sanctions (contrary to P.C.S. union policy) and expressed the view that he had no sympathy with the plight of the unemployed or those who opposed sanctions.

Ms. Hughes, a 'hardworking' single-mother with four children, who runs a blog - 'The Poor Side of Life', a weekly diary of events outside Ashton Jobcentre - was asked to remove items from her blog concerning Ashton Jobcentre and the P.C.S. union. The irate Stockport P.C.S. official also demanded that she remove all references to Jobcentre Staff  "only doing their Job" as he insisted this had Nazi connotations!

Over the last 12 months, Ashton Jobcentre has repeatedly made petty complaints to the police in a vain attempt to get protesters arrested. The police indicated some time ago that they felt that this was a waste of police time as it was not unlawful to engage in peaceful protest. Despite this, the Jobcentre have persisted with their petty complaints and have even threatened protesters with an injunction.

TORIES ACCUSED OF FUDGING FIGURES ON BENEFIT DEATHS!

"The Tories are trying to 'fudge' figures on welfare cuts deaths in a shock dossier which claims they're too 'emotive', Mirror Online can reveal.

The news has prompted fury from campaigners, 220,000 of whom have signed a petition to find how many people died after being found fit for work.

Iain Duncan Smith's department is waging a legal fight against a request for the figures, claiming it'll reveal them in its own time."

For more on this story click on Mirror Online:

Protesters call on Jobcentre' workers to join campaigns against benefit sanctions!

Protesters who are campaigning against the Government's unfair sanctioning regime outside a Jobcentre in Ashton-under-Lyne, are calling on Jobcentre workers to join their protest and to support their own union's opposition to the 'draconian' sanctioning regime within Jobcentre's.

Last week,  a former Public and Commercial Services Union (P.C.S) representative, John Pearson, was confronted by an angry Jobcentre worker outside Ashton Jobcentre, who rebuked him for displaying a P.C.S placard while protesting against benefit sanctions. Although the P.C.S union have called on their members to support groups campaigning against the Tory Government's sanctioning regime, the member of staff, (who we understand to be the P.C.S union rep at Ashton Jobcentre), denied any knowledge of this.

At their last conference, P.C.S delegates voted for a motion that called on P.C.S members to:

a) Support initiatives that seek to undermine and expose the draconian sanction regime that exists in Jobcentres.

b) Encourage campaign activity with local groups around the issue of sanctions.

c) Actively support staff who are targeted with disciplinary action for using their discretion when considering sanction referrals.

d) Raise the profile of the issues around the government's war on the poor.

As we recently reported, the scale and persistence of poverty in Britain, has led to many people in work, becoming increasingly reliant on in-work state benefits as welfare is being used to top-up poverty pay. Some 40% of staff who work in Jobcentres, qualify for the state benefit 'Universal Credit'.

One of the reasons for low pay, is the inability of many British workers to demand a bigger share of national wealth because their trade unions are shackled by some of the most stringent anti-union laws in the western world. These laws, or legal hurdles, are intended to make it difficult for unions to take official industrial action to obtain better terms and conditions of employment. One consequence of this, is the 'flexible labour market' - zero hours contracts, low pay, temporary jobs and more agency work.

Apart from low-pay, Britain is also plagued by low productivity and a skills shortage. UK productivity is 14-15 percentage points lower than France and 17 percentage points below the average for the rest of the G7,  in 2013. The British economy under the Tories is being built on low wages and low productivity and is heavily reliant on its financial sector.

As we head towards another referendum as to whether the UK will continue to be a member of the EEC, we should perhaps recall a speech that was made at Upminster by the Tory grandee, Sir Keith Joseph, in June 1974. In that speech, given seventeen months after the UK joined the EU in January 1973, he said:

"Compare our position today with that of our neighbours in Germany, Sweden, Holland, France. They are no more talented than we are. Yet, compared with them, we have the longest working hours, the lowest pay, and the lowest production per head. We have the highest taxes and the lowest investment. We have the least prosperity, the most poor and the lowest pensions."

It seems, that even after forty years, some things in Britain never change. We still have low pay, low productivity, long working hours compared to many other EU countries, less holidays and poorer state pensions. The only thing that as changed, is the excuses that are given by politicians for Britain's economic decline. Back in June 1974, Sir Keith, didn't blame Britain's membership of the EU or immigration for Britain's economic failure. He told his audience, that it was all the fault of the Labour Party and socialism.

"Okey cokey pig in a pokey" - Ashton Jobcentre gets uppity over protesters placard!

The weekly protests outside Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre, have attracted the attention of various media organisations, but not the local press in Tameside. The only local newspaper now in business in Tameside, the Reporter and Chronicle, is owned by the housing company, New Charter Housing Trust Ltd under the guise of 'Piccolo Communications'. The housing company, which has close links to Tameside Council, also owns Tameside Radio and are involved in delivering the 'Troubled Families' agenda with the council. Under this initiative, the Conservative Government have identified 120,000 'persistently anti-social families'. However, it later emerged that this figure was actually a measure of social deprivation and not behaviour. Unemployed single-parents, have been designated 'troubled families' by Ashton Jobcentre and referred to the scheme because they were not considered to be doing enough to look for work.

On Thursday, researchers from NINELIVES.media.co.uk, called at Ashton Jobcentre and spoke to protesters. They are making a television documentary for Channel 4's 'Dispatches', about welfare and benefit reforms and want to speak to people in receipt of in-work state benefits about how reforms are affecting them. Anyone who is receiving JSA, Universal Credit or Working Tax Credits, and wishes to speak to 'Dispatches' on a 'confidential basis', should contact - Jessica Bell or Jane Drinkwater directly on 0161 832 2007 or jessica.bell@ninelivesmedia.co.uk and jane.drinkwater@ninelivesmedia.co.uk

Many people are often unaware of the extent to which state welfare is being used to subsidise poverty pay in Britain. Today, only one-in-eight people who are receiving housing benefit, are not in work. In other words, people who are in work, are often unable to pay their rent because they are not paid enough. State benefits have become the prop for the failure of capitalism to deliver decent jobs and wages. Since 1980, unemployment has averaged more than three-times the post-war rate, while the proportion of those in low-paid jobs, has doubled to over 20%. Britain is the only country in the G7 group of leading economies where inequality has increased this century. (Credit Suisse - annual global wealth report - October 2014, P.33). Yet, while many of us have got poorer, this has coincided with a boom in the number of rich and super-rich in Britain. Those people who can least afford it, have paid the price for the man-made financial crisis caused by the bankers and politicians.

Even people who work in the Jobcentre are not immune from poverty pay. According to Mark Serwotka, the General Secretary of the PCS trade union, some 40% of his members who work in the Jobcentre, do qualify for the state handout Universal Credit, because they are "fantastically low-paid." Yet these very same people who are in receipt of state benefits, are often the ones, who vilify claimants and stop their benefits in order to meet government sanction targets.

With the introduction of the Tories 'Universal Credit' (UC), things are likely to get a lot worse in terms of personal scrutiny, regulation, and control.  One aspect of Universal Credit, is what is termed 'conditionality', and this will have implications for anyone who is in work and is claiming Universal Credit, JSA, or Working Tax Credits. As with the unemployed, people in receipt of in-work benefits, will be required to attend regular Jobcentre interviews and could face sanctions (loss of benefits), if they fail to carry out directions given to them by the Jobcentre, such as being required to look for better paid work or to increase the hours that they already work.

Some Jobcentre staff in other areas of the country, have been disciplined for not sanctioning enough people on benefits and opposition to the Government's harsh sanctioning regime is growing. At the last PCS conference, it was agreed that PCS members would be encouraged to support local groups campaigning against sanctions and would support initiatives that sought to undermine and expose, the draconian sanction regime that exists in Jobcentres. However, this is unlikely to make much of an impression on staff working at Ashton Jobcentre, who have been heard boasting in the local Caledonian pub in Ashton, about the number of 'dole-ites', they have sanctioned that week.  On Thursday, one diminutive and stroppy female member of staff, came out of Ashton Jobcentre accompanied by a G4S security guard and admonished a demonstrator, for carrying a PCS placard, which she objected to. "I know who your are" she told the burly protester. With hardening attitudes like this, it seems likely that these protesters are in it for the long haul. 

Ashton Jobcentre, New Charter Housing and Tameside Council, join forces to bully single mothers on benefits!

You really couldn't make this up. But in the delusional world of Tory welfare reform, anything is possible. It seems from a recent report that Ashton-under-Lyne, Jobcentre, are now targeting single mothers and re-branding them as 'troubled families', in order to get  people people off benefits or into work.

Under this bizarre scheme, which came to light when a single-parent jobseeker told protesters outside Ashton Jobcentre that she'd been assigned a social worker, because it was claimed she'd not done enough to find work, she was referred to a scheme called 'Troubled Families Wave 2 Joint Investment Agreement' being run by Tameside Labour Council in Greater Manchester. The scheme which is a joint effort between Tameside Council, Ashton Jobcentre, and New Charter Housing, assigns to single mothers, a social worker and key worker, who watch and monitor them until they find work.

Seemingly, Tameside Council have agreed to work with a minimum of 1,750 'troubled families'. In return the government provides a £1,000 fee per family. In addition, a further £800 result fee is provided to an agency which is to be 'New Charter Housing Ltd'. It is understood that tenders were not invited as no other outside agency was allowed to apply.

Nowadays, there is no shortage of tricks being used by Jobcentre staff as they are forced to hit 'targets' set by the government. In jobcentre parlance it is known as 'spinning plates'. However, using social workers to monitor and watch single-mothers now designated 'troubled families', seems to have worrying connotations. As social workers have 'statutory powers', we could see single-parents having their kids took off them if they don't do enough to find work.

For more about this story see above link.

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"Pregnant, sanctioned and hungry": Ashton Jobcentre slated for abominable behaviour!

The weekly protests outside  Ashton Jobcentre have now been taking place for over seven months.
They began last August, when  19-year-old Eleanor Coulthard, from Ashton-under-Lyne, was sanctioned for a third time, after telling an employer that she was 23-weeks pregnant. Previously, she had been sanctioned when the jobcentre said that she was not doing enought to find work. Although Eleanor had only been claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for 3 months, she was sanctioned for a third time after the Jobcentre told her that she shouldn't have mentioned her pregnancy during an interview for an unpaid work placement, with  B&Q at the Snipe Retail Park in Ashton-under-Lyne.

The government deny that they have national targets for sanctions. Government employment minister, zero-hours champion, Esther McVey, recently told a parliamentary select committee: "there are no sanction targets, there is no harassment." Yet the PCS union says that  Jobcentre workers, based on staff surveys, are put under pressure to make sanction referrals and are rewarded for sanctioning claimants. Mark Serwotka, General Secretary, of the PCS union told the Work and Pensions Select Committee that:

"Assaults on staff have increased dramatically since the regime was tightened up and what we now see is civil servants, many of whom are fantastically low paid - 40% would be entitled to universal credit, becoming a target because people think they are to blame."

In the recent Channel 4 'Dispatches' programme - 'Britain's Benefit Crackdown' broadcast last Monday, two former Jobcentre workers from Leicester told how they had been disciplined for not meeting sanction targets. Alan Davis, a DWP personal adviser told the programme - "The pressure was enormous, I just felt what they were asking me to do, was totally wrong - they were asking me to 'hammer people' who in their own way were doing their best to get a job..."

Among those who appeared on the programme was plucky Eleanor Coulthard, now the proud mother of baby Malachi, who attended his first Jobcentre protest two weeks ago. She told 'Dispatches' that because of the stress that she was put under by Ashton Jobcentre she developed Bell's Palsy, a facial paralysis associated with stress and gave birth five weeks prematurely. Eleanor added:

"I don't think pregnant women should be sanctioned because its not just you it's affecting. There's an unborn child that's growing inside you, that needs food, and nourishment from you. And if you're not getting it, the baby is not getting it."

One of those who was 'hammered' by the Jobcentre and was referred to in the 'Dispatches' programme, was ex-solider, David Clapson, from Stevenage, Herts. A type one diabetic, David died skint and starving, five days after Jobcentre officials axed his benefits: he had £3.44 in his bank account. An autopsy found that he had no food in his stomach and had died of ketoacidosis, caused by a lack of insulin. Having no food or electricity, David had been unable to store insulin in his fridge safely. His sister, Gill Thompson, told the programme that leaving a type one diabetic with no money was tantamount to passing a death sentence on them.

Last Thursday, a jobseeker at Ashton Jobcentre, told us that he had been sanctioned for 3 months, because he arrived 2 minutes late for an interview. When he later complained about his benefit advisor being 15 minutes late for an appointment, he was told shut up or he would be sanctioned again.

Although the weekly Ashton Jobcentre protests have attracted support from a number of groups, including the Green Party,  Labour party  members in Tameside have been conspicuously absent. Indeed, one Tameside Labour councillor, and gravy train rider, who is known to own at least two Spanish villas, has referred to Eleanor's mother, Charlotte Hughes, the Green Party parliamentary candidate for the Ashton constituency, as the 'bag lady'. He recently tweeted that she should get a job instead of protesting outside Ashton Jobcentre.

Support day of action for unemployed workers activist Tony Cox!

We are publishing below a recent briefing from Boycott Workfare:

"Take part in a day of action at job centres 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.

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 affirmclaimants’ 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. Download a leaflet you can use here.

• 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 at 10am on 25 February, by activists from Dundee, Tayside and area – for details contact admin@scottishunemployedworkers.net
• There will be two solidarity actions in London:
  * 09.45-10.45am, outside Kilburn Jobcentre with Kilburn Unemployed Workers
  * 3pm, DWP, Caxton House, Tothill Street London SW1H 9NA (Nearest tube St James’ Park or Westminster) with Boycott Workfare
• See a full list of actions in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Dundee and more here."

Call out by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty - ecap@lists.riseup.net

Supported by Scottish Unemployed Workers Network
Dundee Against Welfare Sanctions
Boycott Workfare
Disabled People Against Cuts

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!

Man arrested at Jobcentre for representing vulnerable jobseeker!

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.

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

Supported by Scottish Unemployed Workers Network
Dundee Against Welfare Sanctions
Boycott Workfare

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!

Bedroom tax campaigner lambasts Tameside local press for bias!

 

The above photo shows an action in the campaign against the Jobseeker's Allowance outside Burnley Jobcentre in the 1990s:  in the foreground on the left is Steve (Starlord) Fisher. 

 

WE are publishing below a letter that was sent last week to both the Tameside Advertiser and the Tameside Reporter and Chronicle newspapers, from local environmental activist, Steve (Starlord) Fisher (pictured above).  The issue of a free press in Tameside is something that we have previously reported on in Northern Voices. In September 2012, in an exclusive, we revealed that the Tameside Reporter had been bought by New Charter Housing Ltd, a housing company that also owns Tameside Radio and has close links to the Labour council in Tameside. In 2008, we also reported in Northern Voices magazine, claims made by  Private Eye magazine (1220) that  Tameside Council was meeting with local newspaper editors to 'suppress sensationalist reporting'.  We have no misgivings about publishing Mr Fisher's epistle in full because we share many of his concerns about press censorship.  This concern was also noted by one of our readers who predicted at the time of the takeover that we would see, the 'banning of dissenting voices' and lashings of corporate agenda.  Should anyone therefore be surprised that local newspaper sales are plummeting. 

'Many readers of your "redoubtable" newspaper are no doubt reading under the illusion that it reports fairly and faithfully on current affairs in Tameside.  Well I can assure you that's not the case at all.  They can't honestly say they didn't know, that they can't report on everything, that it's neutral in its reportage.  Far from it, and any suggestion to the contrary is simply untrue.  How do I know this you might ask?  Well I'll tell you.

 

'I and many of my friends in 'Tameside Against the Cuts' have been protesting unstintingly every Thursday afternoon for the last 6 months outside Ashton Jobcentre against 'work-for-dole' and illegal & unlawful Benefit Sanctions and many other social injustices.

 

'The local press have been told many times by phone and email.  We've invited them but they're just not interested & to date no article has been published about our important voluntary "Community Contribution".  That is the level of biased reportage in Tameside.

 

'Our "Community Contribution" counts for nothing, jarring no doubt with New Charter's social engineering agenda. They do not approve of our activities.  We do not even meet with their new conditionality criteria for getting a New Charter tenancy.  They simply don't recognise our way of "giving something back", failing to recognise the positive work that we do in the community.  But who put them in charge? No one! They just own and control the bulk of Tameside Social Housing, the Tameside Reporter, and Tameside Radio in their empire building 'Quest' for power and influence.

 

'Astonishingly, I recently read 3 articles about a new related campaign launched outside Hyde Town Hall by Emma Mohareb-Leyla in January:  I've been told she was also published in the Manchester Evening News.  It's great that she's been able to highlight some of the issues we've been campaigning about for the last 2 years!  So why have we been ignored?  We are treated like lepers!  Why has it taken somebody else to get this published? How does one get an audience with the press-barons of Tameside?

 

'On the 25th September 2013 one of my 3 letters about the Bedroom Tax was published in the Reporter. Every reference to New Charter was excised! New Charter then had the gall to publish their riposte the following week! Where's the editorial independence when a social landlord like New Charter have a vested interest in the Bedroom Tax?

 

'My last published letter was about KFC in Hyde, but that too was severely edited culling most of the really interesting stuff. My next 4 letters in a row went unpublished. It's really hard to get a letter published in the local press let alone articles reporting what's actually happening in Tameside.

 

'For the last 2 years Tameside Against the Cuts have protested all over Ashton: on Ashton Town Hall steps and Market ground & outside Ashton Magistrates court against TMBC's unfair Council Tax and their use of Marstons bailiffs; outside New Charter Housing & Ashton Pioneer Homes against the Bedroom Tax (tenants have been evicted); & outside parasitic Work Programme Provider organisations paid thousands of pounds by the Government to force the unemployed to work for their dole and undermine wages!  They are treated worse than many convicted criminals.  To date we've targeted only StandGuide, but i2i, Work Solutions, and Avanta, are also in our sights lest they think they've been forgotten!  We are well aware of a number of slave-labour stores in Tameside and would like to target them too!

 

'We've very effectively concentrated our efforts on Ashton Jobcentre where many of the poor and the vulnerable can be found.  These innocents have been unfairly targeted by the Tories ideological agenda and made to pay for the gambling excesses & extravagances of the greedy and materialistic rich and powerful.

 

'Ashton Jobcentre was chosen by this poxy proxy Government to pilot their draconian Universal Credit which gambles with the lives of the poor, making them destitute & homeless, driven to foodbanks and even to suicide.  Worse still this avowedly Tameside Labour Council are collaborators. These turncoats capitulated and rolled-over to have their belly's tickled. They feebly argue that they had to be in it in order to 'shape it'! Yet after 2 years they refuse to say how they've 'shaped-it' with apparently nothing to show for their treacherous behaviour.

 

'The name Universal Credit tells you all you need to know. For one it ain't universal! Secondly 'credit' is a proxy for debt.  We live in a consumer 'credit' society, for which read "debt" society, in which we subsist, bound in servitude to the rich. The vast majority are indebted to and enslaved by the rich.

 

'What is needed is far more revolutionary, the introduction of a Universal Unconditional Guaranteed Basic Income Scheme for ALL to ensure a basic or minimum level of existence for all as a right whether in work or not which is in harmony with the principle of Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs'. That would indeed be truly universal unlike Universal Credit which is not!  This Government have the vision of a bat out of hell knowing only the price of everything but the value of nothing.

 

'A Basic Income would really empower the poor who could then truly choose when and where to work, and to do 'Good Work'. Those who want to have more than the bare necessities of life can work for them to satisfy their desires, but no longer can they force people to labour for them.

 

'This is the politics of fairness, not the politics of envy. I have no desire to be rich, nor do I desire to be poor.  I desire the freedom to serve as I see fit to fulfill my soul purpose on earth.  Those infected with the disease of greed can still work and be rich if they so wish. They could also seek psychotherapeutic help.  They could perhaps even take-up Buddhism.' 

Jobcentre staff complain of being intimidated by religious cleric!

 Although most English folk regard Christmas as the season of goodwill, there wasn't much goodwill on display at Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre, when a wreath was laid outside the Jobcentre the week before Christmas.

The wreath was laid in memory of those people whose deaths have been linked to the government's austerity policies and benefit sanctions. To mark the event, the Rev. David Grey (pictured with police officer), a former friar from Gorton monastery spoke and called on Jobcentre staff to show humanity and compassion towards the unemployed.

After speaking, Rev Grey, entered the Jobcentre to offer staff  free counselling. We understand that this was abruptly refused. Shortly after, the police arrived and Rev. Grey was told that a complaint had been made by the Jobcentre staff who had claimed that they had felt intimidated and harassed by the Rev Grey, who was dressed in a monks' habit.

The protests outside the Jobcentre having been taking place since last August after a 19-year-old girl had her benefit stopped after telling an employer she was 23-weeks pregnant. Last month, the Morning Star newspaper, reported that G4S staff working at the Jobcentre had threatened protestors with violence. According to the report, a G4S guard was heard to say: "I'm going out there to punch them."

G4S guard told Jobcentre activist - 'I'm going to go out there and punch them' !

Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre is rapidly acquiring a reputation for thuggery. In recent weeks, NV has reported on how one 19-year-old Jobseeker had her benefit stopped because she told an employer she was 23-weeks pregnant. Another Jobseeker, was told by Ashton Jobcentre, that he would have his benefit stopped if he continued to support a protest outside the Jobcentre against unfair and illegal sanctions and the abuse of power. This week an article appeared in the Morning Star, alleging that a G4S security guard working at Ashton Jobcentre, had threatened to use violence towards protesters. We are publishing the article in full.

"PROTESTERS threatened with violence by G4S security staff at a local jobcentre have vowed to continue their fight against benefit cuts and sanctions today.

Tameside Anti-Cuts will return to their weekly peaceful demonstration at Ashton-Under-Lyne Jobcentre Plus, claiming they are "not afraid."

Last week's action ended on a sour note, when a member of the public exited the centre reporting a G4S security guard had just shouted: "I'm going to go out there and punch them."

Charlotte Hughes, who helps organise the unemployed in the town, said the behaviour of the jobcentre's outsourced security "beggars belief." "I've saved three people from committing suicide this month," she told the Star, adding that jobseekers feel increasingly intimidated and alone. Ms Hughes argued that the demonstrations are peaceful and that Tameside Anti-Cuts provides help, support and advice to the unemployed.

Demonstrations started in August after her 23-week pregnant daughter was sanctioned. "She attended a workfare interview and was told by the jobcentre staff that she shouldn't have told B&Q that she was pregnant," explained Ms Hughes.

Ashton-Under-Lyne was chosen by the government as the launch centre of its universal credit flagship scheme in April 2013. Ms Hughes said that is why the jobcentre's staff are particularly strict applying what she called an "inhuman sanctioning system." Today's protest is nonetheless expected to carry on as normal.
"We are going to make the jobcentre aware that they can't threaten us," insisted Ms Hughes.

When approached by the Star, staff at the Ashton-Under-Lyne jobcentre refused to comment.

G4S also remained silent on the incident."

Protesting jobseeker threatened with benefit sanction in Ashton-under-Lyne!

A 32-year-old jobseeker from Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, has been told by staff at Ashton Jobcentre, that his benefit will be stopped if he continues to support a regular Thursday protest taking place outside the Jobcentre against unfair and illegal sanctions and the abuse of power by staff. He was also told by his advisor that she objected to him wearing a badge against sanctions and asked him, if he understood what he was getting himself involved with.

The English like to brag a lot about Freedom, but it seems that if your unemployed in Tory Britain today, your freedom to protest, certainly outside your own Jobcentre, is seriously being curtailed and makes you a prime target for unfair and illegal benefit sanctions. But this kind of draconian action and control, is not just confined to jobseekers.

In Britain today, students who have protested against such things as the high cost of tuition fees, have been threatened with expulsion from educational institutions. Bolshie workers who insist on safe working practices or.who take employers to an employment tribunal, are labelled 'troublemakers' and sacked and put on employers' blacklists. In the NHS, health workers who have identified deficiences in the standards of patient care, have been sacked and blacklisted from getting further work within the NHS. Most of this would have been unthinkable forty years ago before the advent of Thatcherism and political regimes that objectively favour private capital.

However, the lump-heads who work for the DWP at Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre, may very well have handed the protestors on a plate, the ammunition they need by their bullying of a young jobseeker. Initially, the protest was sparked in August this year, when the Jobcentre was found to have sanctioned a 19-year-old jobseeker for having the temerity to tell a local retailer, B&Q, during an interview for unpaid work, that she was 23-weeks pregnant. Now protesters outside Ashton Jobcentre, are telling the public that jobseeker's are being threatened with sanctions for exercising their legimate right to peacefully protest. There is also talk of a complaint being made to the police about the actions of Jobcentre staff who are causing  jobseeker's, harassment, distress and alarm, on a daily basis, which is a statutory offence in England and Wales.

The ancient Greeks recognised only too well that eternal vigilance was the price of freedom. The nineteenth-century historian, Lord Acton, was well aware that "power corrupts and and absolute power corrupts absolutely." But for me, it is the romantic poet Shelley, who puts it most succinctly in his poem Queen Mab, where he wrote: 

Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience,
Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,
Makes slaves of men, and of the human frame
A mechanized automaton.