unemployment

Report: Combating workfare in Liverpool

Submitted by working class s... on Mar 5 2012 13:55

A brief report on the Liverpool workfare action on Saturday 3rd March

Members of Liverpool SolFed and AFed participated in an action against workfare on Saturday 3rd March.

Around 75 activists gathered and marched into the Centre of Liverpool. We first targeted WH Smith, only to be told by the store manager that we were, ‘A health and safety risk’, and we were, ‘preventing workers going about their business’

Report: Combating workfare in Birmingham

Submitted by Choccy on Mar 3 2012 20:10

Brief report on the Boycott Workfare demo in Birmingham 3rd March.

About 60 people in Birmingham today protested against the government’s Workfare schemes, which see people forced to work for up to 6 months in order to keep their benefits for already obscenely profitable companies. Boycott Workfare had organised March 3rd as a national day of action, including London, Brighton and Belfast.

People's crawl for jobs - Workers Playtime

An article by Workers Playtime on an unemployment march in the mid eighties.

The second Great People's Crusade for Jobs got off to an inspiring start in Glasgow on April 23rd, with a stirring speech from Michael Foot, on the need to arouse the conscience of The Nation. Infused by his deep personal knowledge of the human waste of redundancy, this established the flavour of the whole event.

Lernia Correctional Facility: a story from a Swedish unemployment programme

A short 'militant investigation' about struggles at a Swedish unemployment programme. by Kim Müller, Kämpa tillsammans!

I have spent about two years in different unemployment programmes in a mid-size Swedish town and this is my story about that experience. For most of the time I was training to become a cook in the Lernia programme (nicknamed "Lernia Correctional Facility" by its inmates).

Tesco's secret workfare

Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2012 23:20

Furious shoppers are threatening to boycott Tesco after their use of forced labour schemes came to light yesterday.

An advert on the Jobcentre Plus website is calling for night-shift workers who will be expected to work for just Jobseekers Allowance (paid by the Government, not Tesco, at a rate of £53.45 per week for under 25s) plus expenses. The position is advertised as permanent.

The new social workhouse? Workfare, the labour market, prison

Submitted by Joseph Kay on Feb 16 2012 20:15

Human resources. Image by Arts Against Cuts.

Workfare isn’t just an austerity measure, it’s part of a longer term restructuring of the labour market. That makes it all the more important to kill it while we still can.

Workfare has been kicking up a twitter-storm again lately.

Forgotten men, what now? : New Deal "security" - Abe Bluestein

Submitted by wojtek on Feb 6 2012 19:16

Abe Bluestein's post- New Deal pamphlet encouraging self organisation and mass direct action among the millions of unemployed Americans.

Forgotten Men, What Now?

Battle of Trafalgar: The UK Poll Tax Riot (Documentary)

Submitted by working class s... on Jan 24 2012 22:48

A chronological account of the anti-poll tax demonstration on 31st March 1990, one that contrasts disturbingly with the version presented by television news. Eyewitnesses tell their stories against a backdrop of the day's events as they unfold. Demonstrators' testimonies raise some questions about public order policing, the independence and accountability of the media and the right to demonstrate. Evidence clearly shows elements within the police provoking the riot.

"The only Nelsons in this battle were of the half variety. Last March's anti-poll tax demonstration in London, which degenerated into a violent shambles, is recalled and analysed, with many participants describing their anger at the police tactics ( or lack of them).

Degrading, de-humanising, and discredited: The UK prison pressure cooker on the boil

Submitted by working class s... on Dec 27 2011 14:48

The UK prison population has reached yet another record high, and many of the issues that led to the Strangeway's riot of 1990 are back on the rise. The prison system is a thoroughly discredited institution that brutalises people, and makes them career criminals, and social outcasts. If you are under 25, an ethnic minority, and poor, you had better watch out, or you may find yourself in the 'big house'.

The UK prison population has hit yet another all-time high this month. On Christmas day, 88,000 people will be languishing in jail.