{"id":2114,"date":"2014-11-04T16:42:25","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T16:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2114"},"modified":"2014-11-05T16:00:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T16:00:01","slug":"exploitation-britain-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2114","title":{"rendered":"Exploitation Britain 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Electronics specialist John McArthur has to live off 16p tins of spaghetti without being heated as he was sanctioned by his jobcentre for refusing to work unpaid.<\/p>\n

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John was ordered by the department for work and pensions (DWP) to work for a company that had let him go at the end of a temporary contract for nothing.<\/p>\n

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Sadly John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case represents thousands more people in the same situation.<\/p>\n

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The Tories introduced a controversial policy called Workfare back in 2011.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorkfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst threatening the poor. It takes away people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 welfare rights if they refuse to be exploited and work for nothing,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Steve Turner, Unite assistant general secretary.<\/p>\n

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For those who refuse to work without a living wage they risk having their welfare rights taken away and benefits removed or \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sanctioned\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSanctions are a disgraceful attack by the government on some of the most vulnerable people in our society. They are used to intimidate, humiliate and threaten people into work they are often unfit to do in order to maintain their benefits\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHighly profitable corporations are being rightly exposed for signing up for a scheme that exploits forced labour to do tax payer funded jobs when they should be attracting workers into safe, secure, well paid jobs at their own expense\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Steve.<\/p>\n

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John, who says he has been applying for 50 jobs a week without any joy said the CWP programme was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcompletely exploitative.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government deny its forced labour, that you can say no, but forced doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always mean physical, it can be psychological or economic,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said John McArthur.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe person who is trying to survive on already subsistence level welfare has absolutely no choice in the matter.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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McArthur said there are no jobs for someone of his age in Lanarkshire.<\/p>\n

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North Lanarkshire council passed a motion in October strongly objecting to forced employment schemes. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis council will not provide jobs or placements without pay as a condition of receiving benefits unless it is truly voluntary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest charities, including the British Heart Foundation, Scope, Barnardo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, Sue Ryder and Marie Curie have withdrawn from the CWP scheme highlighting employers mistrust in it.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis particular case is simply shocking,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Jamie Caldwell, Unite community organiser in Scotland. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government claims the whole idea is for young people to gain job experience for their CV\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact that a 59 year old man has been forced to work in his old job for free is just exploitation fair and simple,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 added Jamie.<\/p>\n

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McArthur says he is surviving on a monthly pension of \u00c2\u0141149 after the DWP stopped his unemployment benefit until January as punishment for his refusal to complete the 26 week community work placement. A reality Jamie described as \u00e2\u20ac\u0098scandalous\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Tories talk about lifting people out of poverty while in fact pushing them further and further towards the breadline,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Jamie.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWith Christmas fast approaching its single parents who are going to feel the crippling squeeze most,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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Record numbers of families are facing impoverishment with one in four children in Glasgow living in poverty and foodbanks a lifeline to growing numbers of families.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe reality for many is a choice between food on the table and heating their homes. Christmas presents won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even be a part of the equation,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Jamie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign against workfare<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electronics specialist John McArthur has to live off 16p tins of spaghetti without being heated as he was sanctioned by his jobcentre for refusing to work unpaid.   John was ordered by the department for work and pensions (DWP) to work for a company that had let him go at the end of a temporary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[58],"wps_subtitle":"59 year old sanctioned because he wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work for free","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2114"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2131,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114\/revisions\/2131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}