Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Whatever happened to the unemployed organising themselves?

one in a million | 03.08.2014 23:50 | Workfare | Education | Free Spaces | Workers' Movements | Liverpool | World

Whatever happened to self- organisation within the unemployed sections of our class? Surely they must have some hours left in the week after being forced on courses, or in to doing voluntary work for nothing.

If you are unemployed and claiming benefits in this day and age you will know just how degrading it is made for you to attend the job centre, or whatever they are called this year. Private security guards to watch over you while you wait for ignorant twats to call you up to sign on 20, 30 minutes or even hours after you were due to see them. Of course if you turned up that late you would have all your benefits removed, and be given a shitty piece of paper with the name of a food bank on it.

We are forced on to courses and schemes, and made to fit the targets of so called advisors, or coaches, without even knowing what exactly our rights are now. There has been a deliberate move to demonise the unemployed even though unemployment is a cause of capitalism. There was no such thing as unemployment before capitalism was forced upon us, and I doubt there will be such a thing when capitalism has finally destroyed itself.

Meanwhile, and unfortunately for us, we have to cope with this stupid economic system, and find a way to organise ourselves to ensure we look after ourselves any way we can now.

Any ideas for some kind of unemployed union? Maybe something that can be shared informally when we are sent on courses etc, and talked about over a ciggy or lunch break...

one in a million

Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

Thoughts and links

06.08.2014 17:25

Forget the filth trolling us. I did a little search on Indymedia and here are some articles and links about unemployed people like us trying to organise.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/10/439588.html – UWU – unemployed workers union

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/09/437912.html – more UWU

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2014/04/516215.html – JSA more recent

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2014/03/515797.html – Stop workfare protests earlier this year


I am sure there's a lot more I have missed. If you can help in pointing us towards something helpful please do :-)

one in a million


Help and some sound advice here...

11.08.2014 17:09

Let's start with some lovely people who want you to have the information you need to make informed decisions while claiming benefits.

 http://www.boycottworkfare.org/ - Boycott Workfare is a UK-wide campaign to end forced unpaid work for people who receive welfare. Workfare profits the rich by providing free labour, whilst threatening the poor by taking away welfare rights if people refuse to work without a living wage. We are a grassroots campaign, formed in 2010 by people with experience of workfare and those concerned about its impact. We expose and take action against companies and organisations profiting from workfare; encourage organisations to pledge to boycott it; and actively inform people of their rights.


 http://refuted.org.uk/ - Extensive Tips on JSA and ESA sanction appeals and claiming Hardship Payments. Your chances of winning an appeal are better than 50-50


 http://www.boycottworkfare.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/how-to-avoid-workfare-leaflet-feb-2014.pdf – Download and share a leaflet explaining how to avoid the governments workfare schemes.


Two in a million


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech