exploitation

Well, well, well, just when you think society cannot become more debased, news comes along that Laura Johnson has been appointed permanent Director of Development and Property at the Barnet Group, which manages the borough's 13,000 council homes. This is the same Laura Johnson who, as Director of Housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, played a principal role in the cost-cutting that led to the Grenfell fire.

It’s June, and rainbow flags are everywhere. 

For one month only, every jailer [1], death dealer [2] and sweatshop owner [3] wants to be an ally. This pride month, us queer workers are looking at our bosses. We see their rainbow flags, and we do not buy the act. Our bosses kill us [4], force us into poverty [5], and sexually harass us [6]. They steal our time, the best parts of our minds, our bodies and lives. 

They waste our very selves on shit that doesn’t matter, just to make us earn the right to live [7]. As queer workers, we feel a special kind of fury when the boot on our throats has a rainbow sticker on it. And if we’re queer, they pay us less. ...

The new rates for the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage from
April 2018 are set out below:

● £7.83 per hour for ages 25 and over
● £7.38 per hour for ages 21 to 24
● £5.90 per hour for ages 18 to 20
● £4.20 per hour for those under 18
● £3.70 per hour for apprentices.

Liverpool SolFed is organising a campaign against bad working conditions in the hospitality sector. The hospitality industry, which includes workplaces like pubs, restaurants, hotels, canteens, etc. has an important presence in the city and is well known for abuses and exploitation. Our aim is to get willing workers of the sector together to fight back against abuses and for better conditions.

Healthcare should be available to all. The need for care outweighs any excuse to restrict access to healthcare, for example whether they have the ability to pay or where they have come from. Yet the Immigration Act of 2014 is trying to reverse this. It affects many areas of life such as housing and health. The aim of it is to punish those who are vulnerable. It is part of an ideology that is racist, and aims to divert attention away from those who benefit from capitalism, stigmatising other areas of society.

This pamphlet, written by members of Brighton SolFed’s Health and Social Care Network, with support from Brighton Migrant Solidarity and Docs Not Cops, looks at how it is affecting the NHS and how it aims to make health workers do the dirty work of the government by policing the people they treat. This is through administrative oppression creating gatekeepers to health.

The title of this post is the sole criterion set down in the new workfare regulations regarding whom and under what conditions a person might be required to undertake one of the Government’s forced labour schemes (with the exception of MWA). Gone is the much vaunted ‘voluntary’ aspect that was used to defend the schemes for the last year; now, if you are a claimant it is now completely arbitrary whether you're forced to chose between wageless employement or the loss of your benefits. 'The benefits system has entered the State of Exception.'

These are schemes that are specifically aimed at providing free labour to parts of the private sector whose profits are hit by crisis. 

Are you unemployed and placed on one of the DWP’s Workfare schemes? Contact us.

The court recently judged the DWP regulations surrounding the workfare programme as unlawful. Claimants on any of the other schemes can now withdraw without threat of sanction and existing sanctions must be brought to an end. Unless the DWP wins the right of appeal, all those who have been sanctioned will be entitled to repayment of lost benefit and all referrals will have been unlawful.

However, the DWP is currently laying new regulations which could make all the workfare schemes lawful and mandatory. Added to this, we’ve had numerous reports of claimants being forced under threat of sanction onto the ‘voluntary’ schemes and there is no reason this won’t continue.

Where: Entrance to St. Pancras Station
When: Monday 19th November, 12:00 – 2:00
Contact: pret.staff.union (at) gmail.com or northlondonsf (at) solfed.org.uk

Since being formed earlier this year, the Pret a Manger Staff Union has faced harassment and victimisation.  In an all too familiar scenario, activists from the union have faced a series of trumped-up disciplinary charges.

Join North London SolFed in standing up to union-busting by helping us picket the Pret shop where the union was formed and where two members are in the process of fighting victimisation.

Solidarity is going to be key to fighting fast food exploitation, so spread the word.

The governement has today significantly increased the sanctions for non-compliance with the benefits regime, including the controversial unpaid, forced work 'workfare' schemes. Under a 'three strikes' policy, benefits will be stopped for three months, six months, and then three years for failing to meet a series of conditions, many of which relate to workfare. According to a notiification letter given to all JSA claimants, this includes:

May 26 saw the National “How Do We Break Workfare” conference in Brighton organised by Brighton Benefits Campaign, with attendees from groups across the country. The one day conference saw a variety of discussions and workshops on the various work for your benefits schemes about the UK