{"id":425,"date":"2013-05-01T00:08:44","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T00:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk\/?p=425"},"modified":"2017-08-15T00:14:51","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T00:14:51","slug":"may-day-for-workfare-exploiters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk\/?p=425","title":{"rendered":"May Day For Workfare Exploiters"},"content":{"rendered":"

May Day in Edinburgh saw anti workfare demonstrators touring companies and\u00a0charities using unpaid forced labour.\u00a0\u00a0Starting with an excursion into the giant Homebase at St Leonards the protestors from Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty went on to visit no fewer than 7 exploiting employers.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

At Homebase demonstrators roamed the store putting up stickers \u2013\u00a0THIS\u00a0EMPLOYER USES FORCED UNPAID LABOUR<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0 Special leaflets were given to\u00a0customers and workers detailing the large-scale use of workfare at the\u00a0Haringey Homebase where 21 workfare conscripts are working for nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Homebase manager invited us into her office to discuss the issue<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a0She\u00a0claimed that the stores in Edinburgh did not use workfare but one of the\u00a0several workers we talked to, informed us that they did on occasion have\u00a0unemployed people working there, sent by \u201cagencies\u201d, probably providers\u00a0like A4e. \u00a0We eventually moved on with the manager promising to convey our\u00a0concerns to head office.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over a period of nearly three hours we picketed, stickered and leafleted\u00a0Greggs, British Heart Foundation, Barnardos, Poundland, Tescos and Argos<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0We had phoned British Heart Foundation HQ management earlier in the week\u00a0and so were well aware that they were unrepentantly continuing their\u00a0involvement in the Work Programme, falsely claiming that they were doing\u00a0so without using compulsory forced labour.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At Greggs a sympathetic worker claimed that Greggs in Scotland were strongly unionised and also had a different management structure to England, she said she had never heard of workfare being used in Greggs north of the border and would not work for a\u00a0company which use d workfare.<\/span>
\nHundreds of leaflets were distributed, meeting a generally good response,\u00a0with at least one passer-by joining the rolling picket, boosting numbers\u00a0to around fifteen<\/span><\/strong>, a fair turn-out for an activity just advertised through\u00a0ECAP\u2019s solidarity network<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>All in all a good way to keep up the pressure\u00a0on workfare exploiters in between the Britain-wide days of action, and a\u00a0good way to celebrate May Day<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\r\n\t\t