{"id":29965,"date":"2021-09-13T16:27:45","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T15:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=29965"},"modified":"2021-09-13T16:27:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T15:27:47","slug":"unite-members-to-fight-against-this-needless-hardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=29965","title":{"rendered":"Unite members to fight against \u00e2\u20ac\u0098this needless hardship\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opposition debate on the controversial cut, which is earmarked for after Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Questions (PMQs) this Wednesday, comes just days after work and pensions secretary, Therese\u00c2\u00a0Coffey made the astonishing statement that people would have to work longer to make up the \u00c2\u014120 a week loss in Universal Credit.<\/p>\n

Holding banners up that read\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Keep our families fed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em> and\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Food is not a luxury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em>, the activists are standing up for the six million people in Britain who rely on Universal Credit to get by \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 40 per cent of whom are in work.<\/p>\n

Charities estimate<\/a> that one million households will lose 10 per cent of their income overnight when the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, snatches back the \u00c2\u014120 a week – \u00c2\u01411,040 a year -\u00c2\u00a0with one in four children made poorer as a result.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of the event\u00c2\u00a0Steve Turner<\/strong>, Unite assistant general secretary said,\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTherese\u00c2\u00a0Coffey\u00c2\u00a0lives on a different planet to the rest of us if she thinks already hard-pressed\u00c2\u00a0people can work their way to make up for the \u00c2\u014120 being snatched from their household budget overnight.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSomeone on\u00c2\u00a0Universal Credit bringing in \u00c2\u0141200 a week\u00c2\u00a0would need to earn an extra\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u014167 a week to make up the \u00c2\u014120 loss.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThen there will be additional childcare and travel costs so making up that stolen cash\u00c2\u00a0is impossible and the minister knows it.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members have told us that the \u00c2\u014120 isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t paying for luxuries, but for food, children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shoes, school uniforms and warm clothes.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe chancellor is making a\u00c2\u00a0deliberate and cruel\u00c2\u00a0decision to punish the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working poor\u00c2\u00a0pushing six million people, over a third of which\u00c2\u00a0are already in work, into poverty and debt overnight.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of them have worked right through the pandemic – in social care, in the NHS and as refuse collectors – and they deserve so much better from this government than this assault on their already poverty-level incomes.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite Community members will not rest in their determined efforts to fight against this needless hardship.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Tory ministers and\u00c2\u00a0MPs will never be allowed to forget what they are doing to our children and communities.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Kerry, a Universal Credit claimant from Redcar said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI have three children, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work at the moment because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a carer for my son. The uplift has meant keeping my head above water. Over the last year, whatever I do, the bills have just gone up and up. When the cut goes ahead I will be drowning, robbing Peter to pay Paul.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Susan, a Universal Credit claimant from Swansea said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI only started receiving Universal Credit after losing my job because of the pandemic. I didn’t even realise that there was an uplift until I received a text telling me that my next payment would be reduced by \u00c2\u014187. It’s a struggle now so I don’t know how we’ll survive with cost of living and food going up. And how am I going to be able to get my children anything for Christmas now?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Rachel, a Universal Credit claimant from Morley West Yorkshire added,\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to live off Universal Credit. After the third week, the money starts to run out. If the \u00c2\u014120 is cut, I will lose \u00c2\u01411,000 a year.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Tory MPs including, Universal Credit architect, Iain Duncan-Smith, footballer, and anti-poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford, charities, landlords and debt organisations have all warned against what is the biggest overnight benefit cut since the Second World War.<\/p>\n

Unite is dedicated to advancing the jobs, pay and conditions of its members and will fight back against any efforts to diminish workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 living standards.<\/p>\n

By Chantal Chegrinec<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opposition debate on the controversial cut, which is earmarked for after Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Questions (PMQs) this Wednesday, comes just days after work and pensions secretary, Therese\u00c2\u00a0Coffey made the astonishing statement that people would have to work longer to make up the \u00c2\u014120 a week loss in Universal Credit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[1309,603,44,462],"wps_subtitle":"Universal Credit claimants to descend on parliament to urge Tory MPs to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098keep our families fed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 ahead of Commons vote","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29965"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29965"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29972,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29965\/revisions\/29972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}