In support of the IWA Days of action in the UK, the Solidarity Federation called for campaign of direct action against workfare. The idea was to use the IWA 3 Days of action to launch a concerted campaign to put an end to unpaid work. This is in support of the ongoing Boycot Workfare campaign, that is being organised in conjunction with numerous other groups and organisations.
At a time of unprecedented youth unemployment in the UK , which now stands at over 22%, the government is subsidising businesses by sending the unemployed to work for them without pay and with the new Youth Contract it intends to expand these schemes even further.
The decision on which company to target was left to just before the Days of action to ensure that the company chosen were not alerted to the planned demos and pickets. After discussion within the Solidarity Federation it was decided to target the company Holland and Barratt a major high street chain of shops selling health products. The SolFed decided to target Holland and Barratt because the company intends to take over 1000 people on work experience this year and with a workforce of around 4000, unpaid workers will comprise a significant portion of their staff.
As part of the International Workers Association (IWA) days of action against austerity, exploitation, and oppression, the Solidarity Federation will be launching a national campaign against Workfare. On the 29th & 30th March, Solidarity Federation Locals will leaflet companies using the Workfare scheme advising workers of their rights. On the 31st March one national company will be targeted with coordinated nationwide pickets and a communications blockade with the aim of forcing the company to stop using Workfare. The name of the target company will be announced a few days prior to the 31st March to ensure the company cannot prepare against the planned actions.
The Solidarity Federation is launching a national campaign against Workfare as the scheme amounts to little more than a modern form of slave labour. Under the government’s various Workfare schemes unemployed workers are made to work for free for up to 6 months with no guarantee of a job afterwards. They are forced to work on these schemes or risk losing welfare payments.
Como parte de los días de acción de la Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (AIT) contra la austeridad, la explotación y la opresión, la Solidarity Federation lanzará una campaña nacional contra el Workfare. Los días 29 y 30 de marzo las Locales de la Solidarity Federation llenarán de panfletos las empresas que usan el esquema de Workfare informando a los trabajadores sobre sus derechos. El 31 de marzo se elegirá una empresa nacional para ser objeto de piquetes coordinados a nivel nacional y de un bloqueo en las comunicaciones con el propósito de forzar a la empresa a dejar de usar el Workfare. El nombre de la compañía elegida será anunciado unos cuantos días antes del 31 de marzo para asegurarnos de que la empresa no se puede preparar contra las acciones previstas.
La Solidarity Federation lanza una campaña nacional contra el Workfare, ya que este esquema representa poco más que una forma moderna de trabajo esclavo. Bajo los variados esquemas de Workfare del gobierno, los trabajadores desempleados se ven obligados a trabajar gratis hasta seis meses sin garantía de conseguir un empleo después. Se les fuerza a trabajar en estos esquemas o se arriesgan a perder el abono de sus beneficios sociales.
The Ryanair Don’t Care Campaign is calling for a Week of International Action against exploitation and recruitment scamming by Ryanair, starting on March 12.
Ryanair Don’t Care was started by John Foley after his daughter was sacked as a flight attendant mid-flight and abandoned abroad without any money. This led to the exposure of a cynical and highly exploitative recruitment scam by Ryanair.
Ryanair current policy of “recruitment-for-termination” is part of the massive exploitation of young people who apply to work for the company. As it stands potential cabin crew have to pay a fee of 3000 euro through an agency to undergo training for Ryanair. As many as 60 are sacked at one time after this initial training period with up to 200 people a month losing their job. All those sacked lose the money they have paid out for training. There are 11 Ryanair cabin crew training courses already underway, to end at the end of March which gives you some idea of the amount of money Ryanair is making out of the “recruit-for-termination” scam.
La Campaña “A Ryanair no le importa” convoca una semana de acción internacional contra la explotación y las estafas en la contratación laboral por parte de Ryanair, comenzando el 12 de marzo.
“A Ryanair no le importa” fue iniciada por John Foley después de que su hija fuera despedida como asistente de vuelo a mitad del vuelo y abandonada en el extranjero sin dinero alguno. Esto condujo a la revelación de una estafa en la contratación laboral cínica y altamente explotadora por parte de Ryanair.
La política actual de Ryanair de “contratación-de-terminación” es parte de la explotación masiva de jóvenes que solicitan trabajo en la empresa. Como los aspirantes potenciales a tripulantes de cabina, que tienen que pagar una cuota de 3000 euros a través de una agencia para recibir formación de Ryanair. Hasta 60 a la vez son despedidos tras su periodo inicial de formación con hasta 200 personas que pierden su empleo cada mes. Todos estos despedidos pierden el dinero que han pagado para su formación. En la actualidad se están llevando a cabo 11 cursos de formación de Ryanair para tripulación de cabina, que terminarán a finales de marzo, lo que os da cierta idea de la cantidad de dinero que Ryanair está sacando de la estafa “contratación-de-terminación”.
On Thursday 19th January members of Manchester SF travelled to Warrington and organized at protest outside the British head of office of ABB. A letter of protest was handed to ABB from the Solidarity Federation. The letter demanded that all the sacked workers at the ABB factory in Cordoba be immediately reinstated and that ABB enter into talks with striking workers.
On Friday 20th January, Solidarity Federation local groups organized pickets outside Adecco offices in London, Brighton, Bristol and Glasgow.
El jueves 19 de enero, algunos miembros de la SF de Manchester viajaron a Warrington y organizaron una protesta en el exterior de la oficina principal de ABB en Gran Bretaña. Se entregó una carta de protesta a ABB por parte de la Solidarity Federation. La carta demandaba que todos los trabajadores despedidos de la fábrica de ABB en Córdoba fueran inmediatamente readmitidos y que ABB se siente a hablar con los trabajadores en huelga.
El viernes 20 de enero, grupos locales de Solidarity Federation organizaron piquetes en el exterior de las oficinas de Adecco en Londres, Brighton, Bristol y Glasgow.
As you will have seen from the media coverage there has been riots across Britain. That riots have taken place is not surprising as large sections of the British working class live in poverty and social deprivation. Many working class communities in Britain have never recovered from the closure of traditional industries coal mining, steel making engineering and so on.
This dates back to the 1970's and 1980's when Britain's manufacturing bases was decimated. In the early 1980's with millions unemployment rioting took place in Britain. The riots were largely concentrated in the "inner cities" and on "council estates" these areas are vast local government built housing estates and are some of the poorest communities in Britain. Though the inner city areas tend to have high immigrant populations the council estates tend to be dominated by white working class. In the 1980's the media at first attempted to portray the riots as "race riots" but the fact that so many white working class on council estates were also taking in part in riots forced the media to drop the attempt at blame the riots on immigrants.
