October 2008-10-21
Fuel Poverty - Nationalise UK Gas & Electricity Companies - Governments must change course
Post your comments about how you’re coping with the higher fuel bills / energy bills but importantly write letters to your MP’s calling on the idea of Nationalising the Gas & Electricity Companies within the UK in the best interest of all the people. To do this we must totally pull out of Europe because EU Rules prevent Nationalisation within Member States, because of the Banking crisis the rules have been suspended to allow the Nationalisation of our Banks, if they can do this then they must Nationalise UK Gas & Electricity on a permanent basis.
It seems criminal to me that people are being forced to go without heating & lighting as this UK Government cares more about helping bankers than ordinary folk. How come this government can find the money to help capitalist criminals but can’t find the money to Nationalise Gas & Electricity Companies who force ordinary people to live in fuel poverty – while paying massive bonuses/dividends to shareholders. “Tell Sid we must nationalise”
Peter Mandelson of New Labour along with the Tories talk only about helping businesses as the economy continues the downward spiral, but what about we’ the people & how we have to live in 2008 !!
As you’re reading this – think about the pensioner who becomes so weak & so cold they dare not move out of their chair! The year, 2008 marked 100th birthday of the state pension but after 100 years, 1 in 4 pensioners still live below the poverty line. Its worth pointing out that millions of workers will rely on the state pension when they retire. The state pension must be raised above the poverty line for all & the restoration of the link with earnings – the British Labour Government announced its intention to restore the link, eleven years on, it has still not done so.
Think of the mum who pulls her hair out in despair, had their benefits slashed (euphemistically called sanctioned) she tries to juggle feeding her kids or keeping them warm! Claimants are going to be suffering in poverty & prevented from claiming benefits that are rightfully theirs. 1 in 3 children live in families below the poverty line. As a result millions of children go without basic necessities such as adequate clothing, a healthy diet or a warm home. This winter looks dire, as folks find it near impossible to make ends meet.
Think of the single guy who falls into serious depression, walks the streets in hope of a finding a job trying to keep busy but governments & the wider media blames him for his unemployment – can’t afford to buy food only reduced items or going without, then finding he can’t cook it because he’s on a Token Meter for his gas & electricity. Thinks’ he be better of dead, tries everything & anything to escape the harsh world of living in a tenement flat.
This is Britain in 2008 & it’s going to get much worse but we are the forgotten victims. The price of bread, milk and eggs has shot up by nearly 25 per cent, while gas and electricity bills are now higher than ever before.
Looking at Scotland its clear to me that issues dominating Scotland's politics today is the Scottish Parliament's lack of powers: its inability to deal with crises of housing, unemployment, energy, transport & manufacturing, its continuing subordination to external neo-liberal policies, its lack of finance & constant pressure on public sector services, jobs & wages.
It’s an outrage that this Labour Government can manage to find – more than a total of Seven Hundred Billion Pounds to bail out City Spivs in the London Stock Markets. The Scottish capitalist within our banking sector have been bailed out by nationalising some of Scotland’s Banks. The money is there to Nationalise the Gas & Electricity Companies in the UK its immoral for these companies to be making billions of pounds in profits at the same time as our pensioners, single mums & the unemployed among others who are vulnerable in our society, suffer in the cold. At the same time folks have to juggle with higher bills some can’t afford to eat or use heating.
To tackle fuel poverty within Scotland alone, powers need to be transferred from Whitehall (UK Parliament) to the Scottish Parliament - those extra powers must be seized.” I urged you to write to both MP’s in London & MSP in Scotland’s Parliament calling for powers to act on issues like fuel poverty. Scotland’s Parliament needs the powers to act in the best interest of its people
Most people in Britain care little about personalities but care more about the vision of that government – this government has used deception to hold us down for to long. “Tell Sid we must nationalise”
On a separate Note the UK’s “Government Welfare Green Paper” means unprecedented attacks on welfare delivery & the welfare state as we know it – demand to know from your Member of Parliament / Member Scottish Parliament / Welsh & North Ireland - Assembly Member, where they stand on the subject.
“Lets us at last realise our true power & win the battle of ideas”.
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Open Letter to TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber
In 1995 the Tories was preparing to bring us the Job Seekers Allowance, I was marching with the TUC March for Jobs in the Midlands which was part three of a three nations march for jobs converging onto Sheffield. We where calling for the right to work, & calling for the scrapping of the “Job Seekers Allowance Act”.
I met Brendan Barber on that March in Sheffield before he became General Secretary of the TUC, I welcome his recent comments on the front page of the (“Morning Star” October 15th) regarding the unemployment situation in Britain & how we are treated & blamed for unemployment. To the eternal shame of our TUC & our General Secretary – you have been far too silent on the issue in recent years. Just for the record – with regard to the government blaming the unemployed – it’s never been acceptable to harass or blame us – you should have been coming out with this strong condemnation years ago Mr Barber. The unemployed had the same treatment back in the 1930’s with less than supportive response of the Labour Party and the trade unions to the plight of the unemployed during the depression years. Now is the time for our TUC & you Brendan to become the Champion of the unemployed.
Prior to Job Seekers Allowance Act JSA the Employment Service / Job Centre described the unemployed as clients or claimants; the Act imposes the expression jobseeker. Part of the underlying purpose of both the Act and the change of nomenclature is to suggest that the State has no role in job creation and that it is the individual who is responsible for his or her unemployment. Governments see no role in job creation responsibility.
Governments must change course in job creation responsibility. Governments both Labour & Conservative to their eternal shame took the opinion – let’s leave it to the markets to create jobs. We saw the failed polices of “lets leave it to market forces” in the destruction of our Mining Industry. The economic chaos unfolding around the world proves if any is needed that governments are needed to govern. Shrugging your shoulders & having ultra light touch regulation on how business operate within the markets is a failed policy. Capitalist business operations have been about greed not need – this has got to stop, but it’s the unemployed who are the forgotten victims & who seem to be demonised, patronised & blamed for unemployment within the wider media.
The Government sees the individual responsible for his or her unemployment, but what choice do we have when the economic crisis dictates how long you keep your job for? Unemployment increased to 1.67 million between last April and June. This was the highest level in over 15 years. Unemployment increased to 1.79 million between June & August which is the biggest rise for 17 years. Within the next year the unemployment count will soar well over the two million mark towards three million as Britain enters recession / depression.
Living in Scotland its clear to me that issues dominating Scotland's politics today is the Scottish Parliament's lack of powers: its inability to deal with crises of housing, unemployment, energy, transport & manufacturing, its continuing subordination to external neo-liberal policies, its lack of finance & constant pressure on public sector services, jobs & wages.
It’s an outrage that this Labour Government can manage to find – Hundreds of Billions Pounds to bail out the Stock Markets. The Scottish capitalist within our banking sector have been bailed out by nationalising some of Scotland’s Banks.
It seems criminal to me that people are force to go without heating & electric as this Government cares more about helping bankers than ordinary folk. How come this government can find the money to help capitalist criminals but can’t find the money to Nationalise Gas & Electricity Companies who force ordinary people to live in fuel poverty. Scotland’s Parliament needs the powers to act in the best interest of its people
To tackle unemployment within Scotland alone, powers need to be transferred from Whitehall to the Scottish Parliament - those extra powers must be seized.”
Most people in Britain care little about personalities but care more about the vision of that government – this government has used deception to hold us down for to long, the “Government Welfare Green Paper” means unprecedented attacks on welfare delivery & the welfare state as we know it – demand to know from your Member of Parliament / Member Scottish Parliament / Welsh & North Ireland - Assembly Member, where they stand on the subject.
“Lets us at last realise our true power & win the battle of ideas”.
Unions call for end to war on unemployed
Tuesday 14 October 2008
I met Brendan Barber on that March in Sheffield before he became General Secretary of the TUC, I welcome his recent comments on the front page of the (“Morning Star” October 15th) regarding the unemployment situation in Britain & how we are treated & blamed for unemployment. To the eternal shame of our TUC & our General Secretary – you have been far too silent on the issue in recent years. Just for the record – with regard to the government blaming the unemployed – it’s never been acceptable to harass or blame us – you should have been coming out with this strong condemnation years ago Mr Barber. The unemployed had the same treatment back in the 1930’s with less than supportive response of the Labour Party and the trade unions to the plight of the unemployed during the depression years. Now is the time for our TUC & you Brendan to become the Champion of the unemployed.
Prior to Job Seekers Allowance Act JSA the Employment Service / Job Centre described the unemployed as clients or claimants; the Act imposes the expression jobseeker. Part of the underlying purpose of both the Act and the change of nomenclature is to suggest that the State has no role in job creation and that it is the individual who is responsible for his or her unemployment. Governments see no role in job creation responsibility.
Governments must change course in job creation responsibility. Governments both Labour & Conservative to their eternal shame took the opinion – let’s leave it to the markets to create jobs. We saw the failed polices of “lets leave it to market forces” in the destruction of our Mining Industry. The economic chaos unfolding around the world proves if any is needed that governments are needed to govern. Shrugging your shoulders & having ultra light touch regulation on how business operate within the markets is a failed policy. Capitalist business operations have been about greed not need – this has got to stop, but it’s the unemployed who are the forgotten victims & who seem to be demonised, patronised & blamed for unemployment within the wider media.
The Government sees the individual responsible for his or her unemployment, but what choice do we have when the economic crisis dictates how long you keep your job for? Unemployment increased to 1.67 million between last April and June. This was the highest level in over 15 years. Unemployment increased to 1.79 million between June & August which is the biggest rise for 17 years. Within the next year the unemployment count will soar well over the two million mark towards three million as Britain enters recession / depression.
Living in Scotland its clear to me that issues dominating Scotland's politics today is the Scottish Parliament's lack of powers: its inability to deal with crises of housing, unemployment, energy, transport & manufacturing, its continuing subordination to external neo-liberal policies, its lack of finance & constant pressure on public sector services, jobs & wages.
It’s an outrage that this Labour Government can manage to find – Hundreds of Billions Pounds to bail out the Stock Markets. The Scottish capitalist within our banking sector have been bailed out by nationalising some of Scotland’s Banks.
It seems criminal to me that people are force to go without heating & electric as this Government cares more about helping bankers than ordinary folk. How come this government can find the money to help capitalist criminals but can’t find the money to Nationalise Gas & Electricity Companies who force ordinary people to live in fuel poverty. Scotland’s Parliament needs the powers to act in the best interest of its people
To tackle unemployment within Scotland alone, powers need to be transferred from Whitehall to the Scottish Parliament - those extra powers must be seized.”
Most people in Britain care little about personalities but care more about the vision of that government – this government has used deception to hold us down for to long, the “Government Welfare Green Paper” means unprecedented attacks on welfare delivery & the welfare state as we know it – demand to know from your Member of Parliament / Member Scottish Parliament / Welsh & North Ireland - Assembly Member, where they stand on the subject.
“Lets us at last realise our true power & win the battle of ideas”.
Unions call for end to war on unemployed
Tuesday 14 October 2008
UNIONS warned new Labour on Tuesday that ministers must stop blaming the jobless for unemployment as jobs continue to be slashed across Britain.
In recent months, the Brown administration has unveiled plans to attack some of the most vulnerable people in Britain, with Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell boasting that privateers will be handed multimillion-pound contracts to harass people back to work.
However, the TUC insisted that, as unemployment soars due to the economic crisis, government policy towards the jobless must now change.
As new unemployment figures are predicted to show at least a 30,000 increase in the dole queue, the TUC said that three immediate policy changes are now needed - increasing statutory minimum redundancy pay, greater tax relief on redundancy payments and a reverse in cuts to front-line staff at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) who deal with the unemployed.
In the medium term, the TUC also believes that there needs to be a full review of government policies aimed at getting people back to work, scrapping current policies based on the assumption that unemployment is the fault of the jobless, such as "work-for-dole" plans.
In the medium term, the TUC also believes that there needs to be a full review of government policies aimed at getting people back to work, scrapping current policies based on the assumption that unemployment is the fault of the jobless, such as "work-for-dole" plans.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that this is a policy based on "blaming the victim," which will also threaten the jobs of people doing paid work which could be done by the unemployed in a "workfare" scheme. Mr Barber noted that Britain had got used to record levels of employment but that the world has changed and new policies for jobless times were now needed. "There can be no assumption that the people who are losing their jobs will find it easy to get new ones and they will need all the help they can get with redundancy pay, retraining and personal advice," he said. "Ministers must reverse DWP job cuts, increase minimum redundancy pay and let people take up to £50,000 redundancy pay tax free. The government must also drop work-for-dole plans that pander to the prejudice that unemployment is the fault of the unemployed, but do nothing to help people get jobs.
"As unemployment increases, more and more people will either lose their jobs or know someone who has," added the TUC leader.
"These 'blame-the-victim' attitudes will quickly change and so must government policy."
GMB general secretary Paul Kenny added that his union has been warning the government for years that the problem in the labour market is a lack of jobs.
"The facts speak for themselves and the government must listen," he said.
A CWU spokeswoman added: "Nobody wants to be unemployed. There can be a terrible stigma attached to being on the dole. "Employment remains a central concern in today's uncertain economic climate and we welcome the TUC positive suggestions on improving provisions for the unemployed."
Left MP Jeremy Corbyn welcomed the TUC report and insisted that the green paper should be withdrawn because it was "morally wrong." He insisted that "it is wrong to make people work for their benefits and it also undermines people already in work," he said. "It is also an attack on the living conditions of some of the most vulnerable people."
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
UK Labour Government Deception !
In 1995 I wrote an article within the pages of the “Morning Star” later to be published in a book “What Strategy for the Left” entitled “The Benefits of Labour” outlining why Britain would be better of with a Labour Government in the forthcoming General Election of 1997. My first article back in 1995 expressed our hopes – this article exposes the Governments deception. In 1995 the Tories was preparing to bring us the Job Seekers Allowance, I was marching with the TUC March for Jobs in the Midlands which was part three of a three nations march for jobs converging onto Sheffield. Marchers came from the Scotland/North England & London/South & Wales area calling for the right to work, & calling for the scrapping of the “Job Seekers Allowance Act”.
Living in Scotland its clear to me that issues dominating Scotland's politics today is the Scottish Parliament's lack of powers: its inability to deal with crises of housing, unemployment, energy, transport & manufacturing, its continuing subordination to external neo-liberal policies, its lack of finance & constant pressure on public sector services, jobs & wages. To tackle unemployment within Scotland alone, powers need to be transferred from Whitehall (UK Parliament) to the Scottish Parliament - those extra powers must be seized.
Ahead of the General Election of 1997 Labour shadow ministers did give clear indications that, if elected, they would tackle some of the worse parts of JSA. They gave assurances that, while it would be difficult to find parliamentary time to significantly change the Jobseekers Act it was most certainly their intention to make “speedy and far reaching reforms to eliminate the worse excesses” arising from it.
Even after the Labour victory of 1997 strong indications were given that a report tackling these issues was to be ready for July 98. This was then deferred until the “major review of the benefits system.” Unemployed people continued to suffer the indignities as have prevailed, and massively increased, since October 1996 when the JSA Act became Law.
Not scrapping the "Job Seekers Allowance" is Labours’ Betrayal!
Exposure must be given to the way the unemployed are now forced onto a "Lie Detector" just to make claims for benefits even "Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit". Edinburgh was the first Council in Scotland to use the technology in December 2007. All first-time claimants will be subjected to controversial "voice stress analysis" technology in telephone claims to see if they were lying at the outset. The way the unemployed are being treated is contemptuous; potentially Trade Union Members will be facing the dole queue as the economy fails. Make no mistake; the Unemployed will be made to suffer as the economy / capitalist system fails!
Confronted by growing unemployment, France, Germany and Italy amongst others have experienced periods of massive social unrest over the last decade and as a result some gains have been made. Lessons that cannot be ignored as the innocent find themselves blamed.
Unemployment increased to 1.67 million between last April and June. This was the highest level in over 15 years. Unemployment increased to 1.79 million between June & August the unemployment rate shot up to 5.7%, which is the biggest rise for 17 years.
Within the next year the unemployment count will soar well over the two million mark towards three million as Britain enters recession / depression. The wider Labour & Trade Union Movement as a whole must wake up to this reality & act.
A total of 147,000 people were made redundant between June & August – an increase of 28,000 on the previous quarter. Just 29.4 Million had jobs out of a UK population of nearly 70 million – down by 122,000 in the last quarter. That is the biggest three-monthly fall since 1993. More people in London are out of a job than anywhere else according to the latest government figures. The capital recorded 304,000 jobless residents, while the North West region saw a 6.6% rise to 221,000 in the number of those unemployed. Manufacturing jobs have been hard hit with 46,000 losing their jobs so that just 2.87 million labourers were counted. Workers aged 18-24 were also badly affected, with 559,000 recorded as jobless in the three months to May. The number of unemployed men rose by 111,000 to just over a million between June & August. For women, the figures increased by 52,000 to 732,000 in the same time period. The figures also revealed 440,000 people had been out of work for more than a year – an increase of 35,000. In the past year, 104,900 people began claiming JSA the figures have reached 939,900 – the highest in two years.
In 2009 the Labour Government plans to drive thousands of people off benefits into ultra low paid work & "work for dole" schemes in a desperate effort to keep unemployment levels low. Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell unveiled his widely trailed package in 2008 to "make sure a life on benefits is not an option." The Labour Government wants to make life on the dole hell - well I've got news for New Labour life on the dole is already hell. Mr. Purnell said that one of the goals was to end the idea that there is a choice between claiming benefit and work. Unemployed Workers' have very little choice in becoming unemployed in the first place after being thrown onto the dole scrapheap. The Unemployed are not to blame.
This winter looks dire, as folks find it near impossible to make ends meet. The price of bread, milk and eggs has shot up by nearly 25 per cent, while gas and electricity bills are now higher than ever before. House repossessions have reached record levels. It’s an outrage that this Labour Government can manage to find – more than a total of Eight Hundred Billion Pounds to bail out City Spivs in the London Stock Markets. The Scottish capitalist within our banking sector have been bailed out by nationalising some part of Scotland’s Banks.
It’s criminal that people in my area are force to go without heating & electric as this Government cares more about helping bankers than ordinary folk. How come this government can find the money to help capitalist criminals but can’t find the money to Nationalise Gas & Electricity Companies who force ordinary people to live in fuel poverty. Scotland’s Parliament needs the powers to act in the best interest of its people.
Prior to JSA the Employment Service described the unemployed as clients; the Act imposes the expression jobseeker. Part of the underlying purpose of both the Act and the change of nomenclature is to suggest that the State has no role in job creation and that it is the individual who is responsible for his or her unemployment. Governments see no role in job creation responsibility. It cannot be denied that whatever method of counting is used there are more people seeking work than there are job opportunities.
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10th December 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the Declaration.
In many respects the Jobseekers Act, the consequent Regulations of 1996 and their application by Jobcentre Plus is contrary to both the spirit and the words of the declaration so solemnly signed by the British Government in 1948 and never rescinded.
As proclaimed by the United Nations, I draw your attention to section 21 which states: • Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment • Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.• Everyone who works has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary by other means of social protection.
To stop benefit under the Act if a claimant does not accept a job offer, no matter how ludicrous, is a clear denial of free choice of employment and does not address the issue of any unfavourable conditions of work. Equality of pay for equal work is an alien concept to many of the employers to which unemployed workers are directed under the Job Seeker Regulations.
To describe JSA as a punitive system is well founded by trade unionists, claimants & welfare rights teams up and down Britain who, every day, see trade unionists & claimants who have had their benefits slashed (euphemistically called sanctioned), feel pressured into jobs for which they are totally unsuited, told they cannot have a holiday, sent for futile job interviews, thrust into jobs at rates of pay significantly less than the minimum wage. Thatcherite rhetoric continues to be used to attack the unemployed / jobseekers as Labour courts the right-wing press with pledges to crack down on so-called scroungers. Labour already uses a range of 21st-century technologies, including lie detectors, to identify people who are allegedly claiming money fraudulently. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) also use Data-matching with private credit reference agencies to provide comparisons between financial information which people give to the DWP and their dealings with companies and banks.
People's lifestyles are being matched with their stated financial circumstances by finding out if they have applied for large loans or enjoy luxuries such as satellite television & ordering from home catalogues. Checks will be made with DVLA to identify what kind of car you drive. Checks will also be made with passport agencies to identify how often your passport is used – this made all the more easier as new passports carry a micro chip of data. The DWP estimates that total benefit fraud currently stands at £700 million per year - equivalent to less than 1 per cent of total benefit expenditure. This pales into insignificance compared to corporate tax avoidance, which, according to figures from the Tax Justice Network, deprives the Exchequer of between £25 billion and £85 billion a year.
In 1999 the Labour Government made a political promise – to end child poverty. Progress had been made; the previous escalation of child poverty had been halted. The Government is way of target to meet the 2010 target of halving child poverty. At the same time it’s not hard to understand why targets have stalled because harassing parents on JSA contributes to increases in child poverty. 1 in 3 children live in families below the poverty line. As a result millions of children go without basic necessities such as adequate clothing, a healthy diet or a warm home. Hundreds of claimants in my area are having their claims for benefits deterred or delayed; this is of particularly concerned if, the use of voice stress technology “Lie Detectors” have caused this. Claimants are going to be suffering in poverty & prevented from claiming benefits that are rightfully theirs.
Stopping JSA payment under harsh rules creates poverty for all within the family. Unemployed Workers can now be sanctioned for failing to satisfy the punitive conditions attached to the receipt of JSA and of course they now have no right to Hardship Payments. In effect unemployed workers can be left with no income whatsoever. We need a major shift in ideas within the Labour Party in favour of ordinary people, many debates have taken place within the pages of the Morning Star & Communist Review but it’s the unemployed who are the forgotten victims & who seem to be demonised, patronised & blamed for unemployment within the wider media.
As unemployment levels grew throughout the 1920s and 1930s many turned to the National Unemployed Workers Movement (NUWM) the organisation came under the influence and control of the British Communist Party (CPGB). The less than supportive response of the Labour Party and the trade unions to the plight of the unemployed during the depression years has been cited to explain the attraction of the Communist Party for many who found themselves out of work. The Communist Party of Britain must give leadership & the forthcoming Unemployed Advisory Committee will be that start – up & Down Britain Branches, Districts/ Nations must identify Party Members who will be prepared to attend the Advisory & contribute to the debate & coordinate a plan of action to be forwarded to the EC for the Party to act upon.
The last TUC Congress in the UK & those delegates attending gave the unemployed a “minimum voice” in debates. Massive work needs to be done in re-building the TUC Network of Unemployed Centres of which many have fallen into the trap of just becoming Welfare Rights Advice Centres. The Centres were born out of a TUC Special Conference in 1980 & the Peoples March for Jobs. At a time when the voice of the unemployed is needed to be heard those doors are being slammed shut in their face.
In 1996 the International Labour Organisation approved Convention 177 on Homework. This Convention sets out international standards for the just treatment of Homeworkers, & outlines practical steps governments should take to ensure Homeworkers are protected. In 1997 the British Labour Government announced its intention to ratify the Convention. Eleven years on, it has still not done so. The year, 2008 marked 100th birthday of the state pension but after 100 years, 1 in 4 pensioners still live below the poverty line. Its worth pointing out that millions of workers will rely on the state pension when they retire. The state pension must be raised above the poverty line for all & the restoration of the link with earnings – the British Labour Government announced its intention to restore the link, eleven years on, it has still not done so.
Most people in Britain care little about personalities but care more about the vision of that government – this government has used deception to hold us down for to long, the UK’s “Government Welfare Green Paper” means unprecedented attacks on welfare delivery & the welfare state as we know it – demand to know from your Member of Parliament / Member Scottish Parliament / Welsh & North Ireland - Assembly Member, where they stand on the subject.
“Lets us at last realise our true power & win the battle of ideas”.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Economic Chaos & UK Unemployed
Economic Chaos & UK Unemployed
With the economic chaos unfolding around the world & the impact on Scotland I want to highlight more of the injustices facing ordinary people living in our area & how all this affects us.
Living in Scotland in the UK its clear to me that issues dominating Scotland's politics today is the Scottish Parliament's lack of powers: its inability to deal with crises of housing, unemployment, energy, transport & manufacturing, its continuing subordination to external neo-liberal policies, its lack of finance & constant pressure on public sector services, jobs & wages.
The "outrageous" Orwellian powers to crack down on benefit claimants by the UK Labour Government continues at pace. UK Government Ministers & Jobcentre Plus / DWP are snooping on the lifestyles of Britain's poorest people. The plans show contempt for some of the most vulnerable people in society. "Ministers are treating all benefits claimants as if they are criminal suspects". Today, they are going for the poor. Tomorrow, they will want access to all credit-card bills. It is disproportionate to invade the privacy of millions to catch a few. The UK Government should be ashamed. To tackle unemployment within Scotland alone, powers need to be transferred from Whitehall (UK Parliament) to the Scottish Parliament - those extra powers must be seized.” Readers are urged to write to both MP’s in London & MSP in our Parliament calling for powers to act on issues like unemployment. The “Governments Welfare Green Paper” means unprecedented attacks on welfare delivery & the welfare state as we know it – demand to know from your MP / MSP where they stand on the subject.
Thatcherite rhetoric is being used to attack the unemployed / jobseekers as Labour continues to court the right-wing press with pledges to crack down on so-called scroungers. Labour already uses a range of 21st-century technologies, including lie detectors, to identify people who are allegedly claiming money fraudulently. All first-time claimants will be subjected to controversial "voice stress analysis" technology in telephone claims to see if they were lying at the outset. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) also use Data-matching with private credit reference agencies to provide comparisons between financial information which people give to the DWP and their dealings with companies and banks. People's lifestyles will also be matched with their stated financial circumstances by finding out if they have applied for large loans or enjoy luxuries such as satellite television & ordering from home catalogues. Checks will be made with DVLA to identify what kind of car you drive. Checks will also be made with passport agencies to identify how often your passport is used – this made all the more easier as new passports carry a micro chip of data. The DWP estimates that total benefit fraud currently stands at £800 million per year - equivalent to less than 1 per cent of total benefit expenditure. This pales into insignificance compared to corporate tax avoidance, which, according to figures from the Tax Justice Network, deprives the Exchequer of between £25 billion and £85 billion a year.
It’s an outrage that this Labour Government can manage to find – more than a total of Eight Hundred Billion Pounds to bail out City Spivs in the London Stock Markets. The Scottish capitalist within our banking sector have been bailed out by nationalising some part of Scotland’s Banks.
It seems criminal to me that people in my area are force to go without heating & electric as this Government cares more about helping bankers than ordinary folk. How come this government can find the money to help capitalist criminals but can’t find the money to Nationalise Gas & Electricity Companies who force ordinary people to live in fuel poverty. Scotland’s Parliament needs the powers to act in the best interest of its people
This winter looks dire, as folks find it near impossible to make ends meet. The price of bread, milk and eggs has shot up by nearly 25 per cent, while gas and electricity bills are now higher than ever before. House repossessions have reached record levels. Hundreds of claimants in our area are having their claims for benefits deterred or delayed; this is of particularly concerned if, the use of voice stress technology “Lie Detectors” have caused this. Claimants are going to be suffering in poverty & prevented from claiming benefits that are rightfully theirs.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Unemployment within the UK
In 1995 I wrote an article within the pages of the “Morning Star” later to be published in a book “What Strategy for the Left” entitled “The Benefits of Labour” outlining why Britain would be better of with a Labour Government in the forthcoming General Election. My first article back in 1995 expressed our hopes – this article in 2008 exposes the Governments deception. In 1995 the Tories was preparing to bring us the Job Seekers Allowance, I was marching with the TUC March for Jobs in the Midlands which was part three of a three nations march for jobs converging onto Sheffield. Marchers came from the Scotland/North East England & London/ South area calling for the right to work.
Living in Scotland its clear to me that issues dominating Scotland's politics today is the Scottish Parliament's lack of powers: its inability to deal with crises of housing, unemployment, energy, transport & manufacturing, its continuing subordination to external neo-liberal plolicies, its lack of finance & constant presure on public sector services, jobs & wages.
"To tackle unemployment within Scotland alone, powers need to be transfered from Whitehall (UK Parliament) to the Scottish Parliament. "
This New Labour Government with both the Prime Minister - Gordon Brown and the Chancellor have totally accepted that governments have no job creation responsibility.
Living in Scotland its clear to me that issues dominating Scotland's politics today is the Scottish Parliament's lack of powers: its inability to deal with crises of housing, unemployment, energy, transport & manufacturing, its continuing subordination to external neo-liberal plolicies, its lack of finance & constant presure on public sector services, jobs & wages.
"To tackle unemployment within Scotland alone, powers need to be transfered from Whitehall (UK Parliament) to the Scottish Parliament. "
The response from Trade Unions & Trades Union Congress (TUC) Regarding Unemployment within the UK.
The Governments Position : Ahead of the General Election of 1997 Labour shadow ministers did give clear indications that, if elected, they would tackle some of the worse parts of JSA. They gave assurances that, while it would be difficult to find parliamentary time to significantly change the Jobseekers Act it was most certainly their intention to make “speedy and far reaching reforms to eliminate the worse excesses” arising from it.
Even after the Labour victory of 1997 strong indications were given that a report tackling these issues was to be ready for July 98. This was then deferred until the “major review of the benefits system.” Unemployed people continued to suffer the indignities as have prevailed, and massively increased, since October 1996.
Failing to Scrap the "Job Seekers Allowance" Labours’ Betrayal !
To describe JSA as a punitive system is well founded by welfare rights teams up and down Britain who, every day, see claimants who have had their benefits slashed (euphemistically called sanctioned), feel pressured into jobs for which they are totally unsuited, told they cannot have a holiday, sent for futile job interviews, thrust into jobs at rates of pay significantly less than the minimum wage.
The number of people out of work in the UK rose by another 81,000 between May and July, to 1.72 million, according to government figures. That took the official unemployment rate up from 5.3% to 5.5%. The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance also rose, by 32,500 to 904,900 in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. In a further sign of the economic slowdown, the number of people in work and the number of vacancies both fell.
"Today's figures show that unemployment is starting to accelerate and it now looks very likely that total unemployment will reach two million during 2009," said the TUC's general secretary Brendan Barber. "It is clear that deflation is a much more pressing threat than inflation, and interest rates should be cut," he added. Earlier on Wednesday, the TUC warned that the number of people out of work for a year or more could almost double by the end of 2009. Unemployment over past decadeThe rise in the headline rate of unemployment to 5.5% took it to its highest level since early 1999. "With unemployment rising, people are looking to the government for a response"
Even after the Labour victory of 1997 strong indications were given that a report tackling these issues was to be ready for July 98. This was then deferred until the “major review of the benefits system.” Unemployed people continued to suffer the indignities as have prevailed, and massively increased, since October 1996.
Failing to Scrap the "Job Seekers Allowance" Labours’ Betrayal !
To describe JSA as a punitive system is well founded by welfare rights teams up and down Britain who, every day, see claimants who have had their benefits slashed (euphemistically called sanctioned), feel pressured into jobs for which they are totally unsuited, told they cannot have a holiday, sent for futile job interviews, thrust into jobs at rates of pay significantly less than the minimum wage.
The number of people out of work in the UK rose by another 81,000 between May and July, to 1.72 million, according to government figures. That took the official unemployment rate up from 5.3% to 5.5%. The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance also rose, by 32,500 to 904,900 in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. In a further sign of the economic slowdown, the number of people in work and the number of vacancies both fell.
"Today's figures show that unemployment is starting to accelerate and it now looks very likely that total unemployment will reach two million during 2009," said the TUC's general secretary Brendan Barber. "It is clear that deflation is a much more pressing threat than inflation, and interest rates should be cut," he added. Earlier on Wednesday, the TUC warned that the number of people out of work for a year or more could almost double by the end of 2009. Unemployment over past decadeThe rise in the headline rate of unemployment to 5.5% took it to its highest level since early 1999. "With unemployment rising, people are looking to the government for a response"
This New Labour Government with both the Prime Minister - Gordon Brown and the Chancellor have totally accepted that governments have no job creation responsibility.
The Question in many a mind in the UK is, are we seeing the End of the Governments Role in dealing with the long term Unemployed ?
In 1999 the Labour Government made a political promise – to end child poverty. Progress had been made; the previous escalation of child poverty had been halted. The Government is way of target to meet the 2010 target of halving child poverty. At the same time it’s not hard to understand why targets have stalled because harassing parents on JSA contributes to increases in child poverty. 1 in 3 children live in families below the poverty line. As a result millions of children go without basic necessities such as adequate clothing, a healthy diet or a warm home.
Stopping JSA payment under harsh rules creates poverty for all within the family. Unemployed Workers can now be sanctioned for failing to satisfy the punitive conditions attached to the receipt of JSA and of course they now have no right to Hardship Payments. In effect unemployed workers can be left with no income whatsoever.
All JSA claimants are required to ‘sign on’ at their nearest Job Centre of which hundreds have been closed down forcing claimants to travel far a field.
The Jobseekers Agreement sets out:
• The steps a claimant must take each week to show that s/he is actively seeking work; • It also states the hours which the claimant is prepared to work and where they are prepared to work; • The minimum wage which the claimant is prepared to accept.
During the first three months of their claim unemployed workers can refuse to accept jobs which are not in their usual trade or don’t pay a similar wage to that they have received. After three months claimants must broaden their job seeking and be prepared to accept others job within their capabilities whatever the wage. This is made clear to the claimant at a restart interview after “signing-on” for three months.Claimants then face a series of six monthly restart interviews where capability, availability and job seeking activity are checked. Claimants must continue to sign-on every two weeks and report any changes in personal circumstances. Job Seeking activity can also be scrutinised at fortnightly signing. If claimants do not conform to various rules, or refuse to sign the Agreement etc., then a system of sanctions will imposed.
Prior to the introduction of JSA unemployed workers could be penalised for not complying with the rules, for example a claimant adjudged to have left their employment voluntarily without good cause could lose their entitlement to unemployment benefit but automatically entitled to a reduced rate of Income Support if they had no other income. With the introduction of JSA a series of sanctions were also introduced. Unemployed Workers can now be sanctioned for failing to satisfy the punitive conditions attached to the receipt of JSA and of course they now have no right to Hardship Payments.
In effect unemployed workers can be left with no income whatsoever.
“We need a major shift in ideas within the Labour Party in favour of ordinary people, many debates have taken place within the pages of the Morning Star & the wider media but it’s the unemployed who are the forgotten victims & who seem to be demonized, patronized & blamed for unemployment within the wider media. “
TUC Congress & delegates gave the unemployed a minimum voice in debates. Massive work needs to be done in re-building the TUC Network of Unemployed of which many have fallen into the trap of just becoming Welfare Rights Advise Centres. The Centres were born out of a TUC Special Conference in 1980 & the Peoples March for Jobs. At a time when the voice of the unemployed is needed to be heard those doors are being slammed shut in there face.
This year marks the 100th birthday of the state pension but after 100 years, 1 in 4 pensioners still live below the poverty line. Its worth pointing out that millions of workers will rely on the state pension when they retire. We must demand that the state pension be raised above the poverty line for all & restore the link with earnings. Most people in Britain care little about personalities but care more about the vision of that government – this government has used deception to hold us down for to long, the “Governments Welfare Green Paper means unprecedented attacks on welfare delivery & the welfare state as we know it – lets us at last realise our true power & win the battle of ideas.”
In 1999 the Labour Government made a political promise – to end child poverty. Progress had been made; the previous escalation of child poverty had been halted. The Government is way of target to meet the 2010 target of halving child poverty. At the same time it’s not hard to understand why targets have stalled because harassing parents on JSA contributes to increases in child poverty. 1 in 3 children live in families below the poverty line. As a result millions of children go without basic necessities such as adequate clothing, a healthy diet or a warm home.
Stopping JSA payment under harsh rules creates poverty for all within the family. Unemployed Workers can now be sanctioned for failing to satisfy the punitive conditions attached to the receipt of JSA and of course they now have no right to Hardship Payments. In effect unemployed workers can be left with no income whatsoever.
All JSA claimants are required to ‘sign on’ at their nearest Job Centre of which hundreds have been closed down forcing claimants to travel far a field.
The Jobseekers Agreement sets out:
• The steps a claimant must take each week to show that s/he is actively seeking work; • It also states the hours which the claimant is prepared to work and where they are prepared to work; • The minimum wage which the claimant is prepared to accept.
During the first three months of their claim unemployed workers can refuse to accept jobs which are not in their usual trade or don’t pay a similar wage to that they have received. After three months claimants must broaden their job seeking and be prepared to accept others job within their capabilities whatever the wage. This is made clear to the claimant at a restart interview after “signing-on” for three months.Claimants then face a series of six monthly restart interviews where capability, availability and job seeking activity are checked. Claimants must continue to sign-on every two weeks and report any changes in personal circumstances. Job Seeking activity can also be scrutinised at fortnightly signing. If claimants do not conform to various rules, or refuse to sign the Agreement etc., then a system of sanctions will imposed.
Prior to the introduction of JSA unemployed workers could be penalised for not complying with the rules, for example a claimant adjudged to have left their employment voluntarily without good cause could lose their entitlement to unemployment benefit but automatically entitled to a reduced rate of Income Support if they had no other income. With the introduction of JSA a series of sanctions were also introduced. Unemployed Workers can now be sanctioned for failing to satisfy the punitive conditions attached to the receipt of JSA and of course they now have no right to Hardship Payments.
In effect unemployed workers can be left with no income whatsoever.
“We need a major shift in ideas within the Labour Party in favour of ordinary people, many debates have taken place within the pages of the Morning Star & the wider media but it’s the unemployed who are the forgotten victims & who seem to be demonized, patronized & blamed for unemployment within the wider media. “
TUC Congress & delegates gave the unemployed a minimum voice in debates. Massive work needs to be done in re-building the TUC Network of Unemployed of which many have fallen into the trap of just becoming Welfare Rights Advise Centres. The Centres were born out of a TUC Special Conference in 1980 & the Peoples March for Jobs. At a time when the voice of the unemployed is needed to be heard those doors are being slammed shut in there face.
This year marks the 100th birthday of the state pension but after 100 years, 1 in 4 pensioners still live below the poverty line. Its worth pointing out that millions of workers will rely on the state pension when they retire. We must demand that the state pension be raised above the poverty line for all & restore the link with earnings. Most people in Britain care little about personalities but care more about the vision of that government – this government has used deception to hold us down for to long, the “Governments Welfare Green Paper means unprecedented attacks on welfare delivery & the welfare state as we know it – lets us at last realise our true power & win the battle of ideas.”
Prior to JSA the Employment Service described the unemployed as clients; the Act imposes the expression jobseeker. Part of the underlying purpose of both the Act and the change of nomenclature is to suggest that the State has no role in job creation and that it is the individual who is responsible for his or her unemployment. Governments see no role in job creation responsibility. It cannot be denied that whatever method of counting is used there are more people seeking work than there are job opportunities.
The UK Economy is at a 60-year low, says Darling. And it will get worse !!Britain is facing "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years which will be "more profound and long-lasting" than people had expected, Alistair Darling, the chancellor told us the British People.The Unemployed will be made to suffer as a result !!!
The UK Economy is at a 60-year low, says Darling. And it will get worse !!Britain is facing "arguably the worst" economic downturn in 60 years which will be "more profound and long-lasting" than people had expected, Alistair Darling, the chancellor told us the British People.The Unemployed will be made to suffer as a result !!!
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this coming 10th December will mark the 60th anniversary of the Declaration.
In many respects the Jobseekers Act, the consequent Regulations of 1996 and their application by Jobcentre Plus is contrary to both the spirit and the words of the declaration so solemnly signed by the British Government in 1948 and never rescinded.
As proclaimed by the United Nations, I draw your attention to section 21 which states: • Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment • Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.• Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary by other means of
Social protection.
In many respects the Jobseekers Act, the consequent Regulations of 1996 and their application by Jobcentre Plus is contrary to both the spirit and the words of the declaration so solemnly signed by the British Government in 1948 and never rescinded.
As proclaimed by the United Nations, I draw your attention to section 21 which states: • Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment • Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.• Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary by other means of
Social protection.
To stop benefit under the Act if a claimant does not accept a job offer, no matter how ludicrous, is a clear denial of free choice of employment and does not address the issue of any unfavourable conditions of work. Equality of pay for equal work is an alien concept to many of the employers to which unemployed workers are directed under the Job Seeker Regulations.
To describe JSA as a punitive system is well founded & claimants who have had their benefits slashed (euphemistically called sanctioned), feel pressured into jobs for which they are totally unsuited, told they cannot have a holiday, sent for futile job interviews, thrust into jobs at rates of pay significantly less than the minimum wage.
What we have seen taking place within Britain over the last decade is a warning to other countries, take heed !
To describe JSA as a punitive system is well founded & claimants who have had their benefits slashed (euphemistically called sanctioned), feel pressured into jobs for which they are totally unsuited, told they cannot have a holiday, sent for futile job interviews, thrust into jobs at rates of pay significantly less than the minimum wage.
What we have seen taking place within Britain over the last decade is a warning to other countries, take heed !
We need to expose the way the unemployed are now forced onto a "Lie Detector" just to make claims for benefits even "Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit". The way the unemployed are being treated is contemptuous; potentially Union Members will be facing the dole queue as the economy fails. Make no mistake; the Unemployed will be made to suffer as a result!
Confronted by growing unemployment, France, Germany and Italy amongst others have experienced periods of massive social unrest over the last decade and as a result some gains have been made. Lessons that cannot be ignored as the innocent find themselves blamed.
Unemployment increased to 1.67 million between April and June. This is the highest level in over 15 years. Within the next year the unemployment count will soar.
Confronted by growing unemployment, France, Germany and Italy amongst others have experienced periods of massive social unrest over the last decade and as a result some gains have been made. Lessons that cannot be ignored as the innocent find themselves blamed.
Unemployment increased to 1.67 million between April and June. This is the highest level in over 15 years. Within the next year the unemployment count will soar.
As unemployment levels grew throughout the 1920s and 1930s many turned to the National Unemployed Workers Movement (NUWM) the organisation came under the influence and control of the British Communist Party (CPGB). The less than supportive response of the Labour Party and the trade unions to the plight of the unemployed during the depression years has been cited to explain the attraction of the Communist Party for many who found themselves out of work.
Join the Campaign against the Job Seekers allowance on Facebook !!
In 2008 the British Labour Government plans to drive thousands of people off benefits into ultra low paid work & "work for dole" schemes. The Tories fell into line with Labour's plans to drive thousands off benefits and into work. Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling pledged opposition support if Labour backbenchers threatened to rebel over the proposals. Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell has unveiled his widely trailed package to "make sure a life on benefits is not an option." The Labour Government wants to make life on the dole hell - well I've got news for New Labour life on the dole is already hell.Mr Purnell said that one of the goals was to end the idea that there is a choice between claiming benefit and work. Unemployed Workers' have very little choice in becoming unemployed in the first place after being thrown onto the dole scrapheap. The Unemployed are not to blame!TUC general secretary Brendan Barber warned: "This is a mistake. There are already sufficient sanctions to deal with benefit claimants who cheat the system and all the evidence shows that the vast majority of the jobless want to work. "With many commentators expecting unemployment to rise, now is not the time to start blaming the victim."People who lose their jobs want help in getting new skills and new paying jobs, not make-work schemes that provide no pay, no prospects and not even any time to search for a new job."
“Everyone has the right to a decent job – lets’ start highlighting the way the unemployed are being treated, of which is utter contempt!”
Join the Campaign against the Job Seekers allowance on Facebook !!
In 2008 the British Labour Government plans to drive thousands of people off benefits into ultra low paid work & "work for dole" schemes. The Tories fell into line with Labour's plans to drive thousands off benefits and into work. Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling pledged opposition support if Labour backbenchers threatened to rebel over the proposals. Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell has unveiled his widely trailed package to "make sure a life on benefits is not an option." The Labour Government wants to make life on the dole hell - well I've got news for New Labour life on the dole is already hell.Mr Purnell said that one of the goals was to end the idea that there is a choice between claiming benefit and work. Unemployed Workers' have very little choice in becoming unemployed in the first place after being thrown onto the dole scrapheap. The Unemployed are not to blame!TUC general secretary Brendan Barber warned: "This is a mistake. There are already sufficient sanctions to deal with benefit claimants who cheat the system and all the evidence shows that the vast majority of the jobless want to work. "With many commentators expecting unemployment to rise, now is not the time to start blaming the victim."People who lose their jobs want help in getting new skills and new paying jobs, not make-work schemes that provide no pay, no prospects and not even any time to search for a new job."
“Everyone has the right to a decent job – lets’ start highlighting the way the unemployed are being treated, of which is utter contempt!”
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