{"id":371,"date":"2015-04-30T21:10:44","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T21:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk\/?p=371"},"modified":"2017-08-07T21:17:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T21:17:35","slug":"protesters-denounce-sanctions-workfare-at-edinburgh-jobcentre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk\/?p=371","title":{"rendered":"Protesters denounce sanctions & workfare at Edinburgh Jobcentre"},"content":{"rendered":"

Demonstrators denouncing sanctions and workfare besieged High Riggs Jobcentre in Edinburgh on Wednesday 29th April. Braving pouring rain, <\/span>protesters<\/span> from Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty and other groups displayed banners and placards and distributed hundreds of leaflets urging claimants to resist benefits sanctions and the government’s compulsory “work for your benefits” schemes.<\/span><\/p>\n

At one point the demo moved temporarily from the Jobcentre front door to the staff car park. \u00a0Here, overlooked by the Jobcentre offices, <\/span><\/strong>protesters<\/span><\/strong> used a megaphone to direct speeches and chants to those inside. \u00a0Demonstrators pledged direct action to resist sanctions and workfare, and called for solidarity from Jobcentre workers, pointing out that workfare and sanctions undermine all workers’ wages and conditions – workfare is even being used in Jobcentres!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A representative from the Food Solidarity project, who work with Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty and supply food parcels for sanctioned claimants, entered the Jobcentre to ask them to take a food collection sack to put in the staff room. \u00a0A jobcentre worker initially stated this should be fine, but then a manager ruled that the Jobcentre would not accept the collection sack.<\/span><\/p>\n

SANCTIONS VICTORY<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

ECAP say:\u00a0<\/span>“We support claimants to challenge sanctions and workfare. \u00a0Together with the claimant concerned, we recently overturned a\u00a04 week sanction imposed on an Edinburgh jobseeker who had informed the boss at his intended workfare placement, Oxgangs Neighbourhood Centre, that the community centre should not be participating in such exploiting schemes.”\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are sanctioned – dispute the decision, you have a good chance of overturning the sanction and getting your benefits back. \u00a0Contact us for support, and see\u00a0the practical advice here<\/a>. \u00a0If you are sent on workfare, don’t just accept it, there are ways to fight back – again, contact us and see\u00a0the info here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tide is turning against workfare – 542 charities and voluntary organisations are now signed up to\u00a0“Keep Volunteering Voluntary”<\/a>\u00a0and are pledged to boycott all forced labour schemes.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Resistance to sanctions and workfare is part of\u00a0the wider struggle against all austerity<\/a>. \u00a0Standards of living for waged and unwaged are under attack as the crisis exposes the true nature of the exploitative capitalist system. \u00a0The election won’t solve our problems –\u00a0we need to develop a movement of direct action\u00a0to make the rule of bosses and their political protectors unworkable. “<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The demo saw Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty joined by banners from the Solidarity Federation, Anarchist Federation, and the Industrial Workers of the World, plus contingents from Greater Leith Against the Cuts and Edinburgh Anti Cuts Alliance. \u00a0Police attended throughout the two-hour long demonstration, but there were no arrests.<\/span><\/p>\n

The protest, numbering around 25 participants, was part of a week of action against workfare and sanctions, organised to <\/span>coincide<\/span> with the run-up to the general election, via the Boycott Workfare network<\/a>. \u00a0Actions are taking place\u00a0Britain-wide<\/a>, in various locations in London and Glasgow, and including Swindon, Leeds, the Wirral, Cambridge and Bristol – plus\u00a0several actions in the Netherlands<\/a>, as resistance to workfare goes global.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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