Category: Campaigns

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST SANCTIONS

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LONDON UNEMPLOYED STRATEGIES, SOUTHWARK STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS  AND LAMBETH AND SOUTHWARK UNITE COMMUNITY joined forces today outside Peckham Jobcentre to protest as part of the National ‘No Sanctions’ campaign.

Vulnerable people on JSA and ESA are increasingly falling victim to sanctions, especially nowadays those imposed by heavy-handed Work Programme Providers like PeoplePlus. We are determined to take up these issues locally and nationally as part of the campaign to scrap sanctions.

DO YOU LIVE IN LONDON AND HAVE YOU BEEN UNFAIRLY SANCTIONED BY PEOPLEPLUS OR OTHER WORK PROGRAMME PROVIDERS? GET IN TOUCH via nickplus007@gmail.com and tell us your story. We will not use your name but it will add weight to the campaign.

Demonstration against Housing Bill – 5th January

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Housing Bill demo 2016Housing Bill demo 2016 v.2

The Housing Bill is a major threat to the right of unemployed and low-waged people to stay living in London. Among its main proposals are:

  1. Enabling Housing Associations to sell off their homes, similar to the Councils Right To Buy schemes
  2. Introducing ‘Pay To Stay’ schemes that could force families in council flats with an overall income of £40,000 in London (£30,000 everywhere else) to pay the market rent
  3. Changing secure council tenancies to fixed contracts of 2-5 years, after which they could be evicted

If you are concerned about this then please use the doc below to write to your MP:

Click to access LettertoMPs.pdf

For more info read this:

Click to access KtHBbriefingJan2016.pdf

SOCIAL SECURITY SUMMIT – 31st OCTOBER

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SSSUMMIT OCT 2015 Mark SLUS attended the Social Security Summit convened by Unite Community and PCS in Birmingham on 31st October. Keynote speakers included Unite Assistant General Secretary Steve Turner and PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka.
Their presence was an indication of the importance both unions are placing on the need to build stronger links with unemployed people in the fight against the £12 billion cuts to the welfare budget.
The meeting was well attended by hundreds of delegates from all over the country. The proposed cuts to working tax credits was seen as a major potential campaign that could link unemployed and employed workers.
Mark Serwotka stressed the need for all trades unions to make the issue of benefits cuts to the unemployed a high-priority issue on the TUC agenda. Colin Hampton from TUC Unemployed Workers Centres stressed that a major way of doing this was to promote the Welfare Charter and get it endorsed at every level of the trades union movement. He said that the new developments within the Labour Party made it more inclined to support such initiatives. He therefore urged trades unions to take advantage of this to add momentum to the campaign.
Paula Peters from DPAC said that her organisation was launching a ‘No More Claimant Deaths’ campaign alongside Black triangle in Scotland, following the large numbers of suicides and other deaths linked to Work capability Assessments. They are lobbying Jeremy Corbyn to devote a whole PM’s question session to this issue.

WELFARE CHARTER LAUNCHED AT TUC CONGRESS 2015

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STEVE TURNER (Asst. General Secretary, Unite) LAUNCHES WELFARE CHARTER
STEVE TURNER (Asst. General Secretary, Unite) LAUNCHES WELFARE CHARTER

The Welfare Charter, a series of demands to make life better for all types of benefits claimants, was launched at a fringe meeting at the TUC Congress this week (Sept. 14). It is supported by, amongst others, Unite Community, PCS, The Unemployed Centres Combine and London Unemployed Strategies (LUS). For the full Charter, click on the link below:

WelfareCharter_A5 FULL VERSION

We want everybody to endorse and promote the Charter and get it circulated as widely as possible. LUS wants to start up support/campaign groups all over London run by and for unemployed people, aimed at getting their full rights both as they stand now, and as they can be in the future if the Charter demands are won. If you are living in London, are unemployed or underemployed  and want to help build up a group in your area, please contact Nick at LUS: nickplus007@gmail.com or 020 7467 1283/07530 001653

DEATHS ON BENEFITS

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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/27/death-britains-benefits-system-fit-for-work-safety-net

The National Welfare Charter will be launched at a fringe meeting at the TUC Conference next week. It includes the demand for the scrapping of the current Work Capability Assessments scheme which has been a major factor in the tragedies described above.

More details about the Charter and how you can support it to follow soon.

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST SANCTIONS

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A demonstration of Southwark claimants took place on Thursday 19th March outside Peckham Jobcentre Plus.
It was organised by London Unemployed Strategies (LUS) as part of the Unite Community National Day of Action Against Sanctions. The Southern and Eastern region of the TUC (SERTUC) were also out in force to support.
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Many claimants and passers-by signed the national petition against sanctions and signed up for the ‘Stand Up For Your Rights’ sessions being organised by LUS.
Nick Phillips, LUS organiser, said: ‘We are delivering training sessions called ‘Stand Up For Your Rights’ for local claimants. Many of them feel they are being punished and having their benefits stopped, or ‘sanctioned’ as the Jobcentre calls it, for not being able to find the work they genuinely crave. Peckham Jobcentre Plus according to official DWP statistics is one of the worst in the whole country for sanctioning people and there is no good reason for this. We at LUS are trying to work cooperatively with the JCP and DWP staff unions, management and claimants in the borough to resolve this issue. So if there has not been a dramatic fall in the sanctions rate by the time the next stats come out, we will want to know why.’
One claimant said: ‘I have been screwed by this Jobcentre. In one week I was rejected for three different jobs I applied for. That very same week I was sanctioned for nine months for not looking hard enough for work. I have only just been allowed to sign on again and may never recover from the debt this has put me in.’
Later on, LUS took part in the London demonstration outside the DWP HQ in Westminster where the national petition was handed in.

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Claimants wishing to sign up for the ‘Stand Up For Your Rights’ sessions organised by London Unemployed Strategies can contact Nick Phillips at the TUC on 020 7467 1283 or on nickplus007@gmail.com‘

 

NATIONAL UNEMPLOYED WORKERS CONFERENCE – 27TH FEBRUARY

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ROB AT NUWC TUC FEB 2015

The first national conference of this kind for many years was held at the TUC last month.The day was well-attended by trades unionists both employed and unemployed from all over the country. Key points of consensus emerged from the day about the basic elements of a National Welfare Charter. These included:

  • An end to the current sanctions regime
  • No more Work Capability Assessments
  • An unconditional Citizens Income for all
  • Trades union rights and representation for the unemployed
  • Campaign for a minimum wage of at least £10 per hour to include apprenticeships and other types of training
  • Scrap Workfare – voluntary work should be completely voluntary and not substitute for jobs that should be paid at least the minimum wage

These and other demands arising from the Conference will be developed into a Charter, to be promoted through trades unions, the Labour Party, mass media and other means in the run-up to the General Election. The next open organising committee will be at the Unite Holborn HQ on 25th March at 1.00 pm.