{"id":8057,"date":"2016-03-09T17:49:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T17:49:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=8057"},"modified":"2016-03-09T17:49:25","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T17:49:25","slug":"its-got-to-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=8057","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to end\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite Community members were out in full force for Anti-Sanctions Day today (March 9), as dozens gathered outside the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to protest the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brutal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and often deadly\u00e2\u20ac\u201c benefits sanctions regime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They joined Unite-led demonstrations outside Jobcentres up and down the country to send the government a message that sanctions, which see vulnerable people lose benefits for unimaginable reasons, such as missing a Jobcentre appointment to attend the funeral of a family member.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The main demonstration in London was attended by Gill Thompson, sister of David Clapson, an ex-soldier diabetic who died starving because he was penalised by the Jobcentre for missing a meeting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His body was found surrounded by CVs and his electricity had been cut off making his insulin unusable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clapson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sister Gill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s presented the DWP with a petition signed by tens of thousands calling on the government to implement a review of sanctions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gill\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s previous campaigning led to an inquiry by MPs into her brother\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bPeople are dying as a direct result of sanctions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including my brother \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and they shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be dying,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gill told UNITElive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Missed appointment <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMissing a Jobcentre appointment because you had to go to the doctor, for example, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a criminal offence, but these people are being met with such cruelty and severity, and it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t right,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy brother worked for 35 years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c essentially his entire adult life,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gill explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHe just hit a time in his life when he couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cope. But they are sanctioning people with mental health issues, with cancer, with a bad heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese people are ill and vulnerable \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they need our support. The welfare system was brought in to look after these very people, but instead the system is making them suffer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy brother died because he missed two meetings. They knew he was a Type 1 diabetic but they still sanctioned him and he died within a week.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will keep campaigning because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to stop. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got to end.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Banners <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite community members carried banners as they marched to deliver the petition, which listed the names of scores of people who had died after being sanctioned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite community member and university student Chris Francis said he attended the demonstration today out of anger towards a system that has affected so many, including his own mother who has a degenerative disease.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m here especially for the people who cannot be here today,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy mother had worked her entire life and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s paid into the system for years and years. To then be denied benefits when she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too ill to work and then to be sanctioned because of it \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beyond belief. The way we treat the sick and disabled in this country is abhorrent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAusterity is essentially a fancy word for class warfare \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to divide and rule.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite community branch secretary for Ealing Raj Gill has personally experienced the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Work Capability Assessment (WCA), a tick-box exercise that often rules people who are unable to get about their daily lives as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 in order to deprive them of disability benefit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m completely blind in one eye and partially blind in the other due to diabetes,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Gill explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been on insulin for a good many years. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been on disability living allowance but now my family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s benefit has been cut.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid national insurance for forty years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid for these benefits and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m entitled to them. This government shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be taking away benefits that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve all worked for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good that Unite community membership is getting on board in vast numbers to oppose benefits sanctions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joining up <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re joining up with local people all around London and the entire country,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Raj went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis protest is not the end; thus protest is just the beginning. [Work and pensions secretary] Iain Duncan Smith will go before any of us go anywhere.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jan, a Unite community member with three children who have chronic illnesses, has not had an easy life, and attended today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demonstration to support society\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most vulnerable who are now under attack.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI did not realise, after experiencing severe child abuse, after being homeless several times and after experiencing domestic abuse that I, at 60 years of age, would be living in a world that treats its poor, its young, and its ill so horrifically,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jan, who is retired, explained that Unite community was an important catalyst that could bring various people from all sorts of backgrounds under the banner of social justice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWorkers are the backbone of our movement but [Unite community] can be the beating heart,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are the people that can go out on the streets when people on low-pay and zero-hours contracts who are struggling to pay rent can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be here. We can go out and be the messengers. And we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll do this united with people in work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite community co-ordinator Liane Groves asserted that the union will continue to be front-and-centre of the fight against benefit sanctions and the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s austerity regime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will not put up with sanctions and we will continue to campaign until this government abandons its policies,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about Unite community\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued campaign against benefits sanctions here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pictured are Gill Thompson (left) with Unite Community member, Maggie Zolobajluk. By Mark Thomas <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite Community members were out in full force for Anti-Sanctions Day today (March 9), as dozens gathered outside the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to protest the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brutal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and often deadly\u00e2\u20ac\u201c benefits sanctions regime.   They joined Unite-led demonstrations outside Jobcentres up and down the country to send the government a message […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8056,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[231],"wps_subtitle":"Saying no to a deadly regime","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057"}],"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=8057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8058,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8057\/revisions\/8058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}