To start with a bit of background. Last year SUWN activist Tony Cox was dragged through the courts after accompanying a vulnerable woman to the Jobcentre and correcting their interpretation of the rules. As their evidence of ‘threatening behaviour’ fell apart, the charges were dropped – but just before this was confirmed Tony was arrested again, this time attempting to accompany a woman to her Work Capability Assessment with Maximus and insisting on her right to be accompanied by a person of her choice. One might be tempted to think that the DWP and its subcontractors wanted to stymie effective advocacy…

This second court case came to trial today in Dundee.

We have heard evidence so far from three Maximus employees and watched the CCTV tape of the ‘incident’. The tape had no sound, but the Maximus witnesses added metaphorical speech bubbles to tell their story, attributing to Tony a variety of swear words. (Telling a convincing story is Maximus’ bread and butter.)

In his evidence, Tony explained that he had had problems with one of the Maximus assessors on a previous occasion when she claimed that he couldn’t take notes in the assessment, and then called the police when he protested and proved her wrong. This assessor was one of the three witnesses but was having major problems remembering what happened just 7 months ago, giving responses that bore little relationship to her original statement to the police.

The Maximus receptionist (who, of course, was ‘just doing her job’) had given the police a fulsome account of Tony’s aggressive demands for toilet paper, but she failed to make shit stick when this was compared to the CCTV video. However, she then slipped in an addition to the charges, claiming that at just the moment when he was out of the video frame, Tony pushed her. As Tony explained in his own answers, this was the moment when the receptionist was trying to ensure that he was shut out of the building leaving Fiona – the client who he was trying to help – inside to their tender mercies. Far from pushing anyone, he was attempting to keep the door open.

While it was a shock to have and addition to the charge that Tony had not been informed about, we were less concerned about the new CCTV footage that the Procurator Fiscal produced. After watching nothing happen outside the front door of the Maximus building for 10 minutes, the defence lawyer politely asked if we could be talked through what we were looking at, whereupon the Fiscal decided to stop the video.

The Fiscal turned far less amenable when questioning Tony. He did his best to rile Tony with persistent suggestions that he was just out to cause trouble. Tony refused to be riled, maintaining a professional calm as he explained that the SUWN wouldn’t do anything that would disrupt the processes people need to go through in order to get much needed benefits.

Although the Maximus evidence was riddled with contradictions, we were very aware that there are three of them, so the evidence from the woman Tony was accompanying was really important. She wasn’t called until about 3.30pm after waiting since 9.30 in the morning, and she was clearly completely overwhelmed by the formality of the court. Before Tony’s lawyer had asked any substantial questions she had broken down in tears and was unable to recover enough to continue. Rather than go ahead without key evidence, we had to ask for the case to be adjourned. We hope that, when it reconvenes on the 23^rd she will feel able to give evidence via video link.

So much for the formal proceedings; but the action outwith the courtroom was equally worrying.

When we arrived, Tony was told by a court official that his lawyer wasn’t there and they had been contacted by the firm to find a local stand-in. It was a worrying 25 minutes before he found his lawyer and that story was put to bed.

Then a cheery policewoman called Tony aside to ask him about the speech he gave at our anti-workfare demo outside The Range, when he quoted allegations about sexual improprieties by management. A sensitive choice of moment.

When we got into the court, a police woman stopped me taking notes, claiming I needed permission from the sheriff. Permission was eventually forthcoming, and the policewoman was persuaded to apologise -claiming that she had not known that rules had been changed – but I still have a gap in my notes.

And perhaps most seriously, Tony’s lawyer was informed that a court officer had passed the sheriff a note saying that he suspected Tony of operating a recording device in his pocket when on the witness stand. Tony did indeed put his hand in his pocket, but only to pull out a handkerchief with which to mop an understandably sweaty brow.

Our conviction that Tony, and welfare activists generally, are the subject of a major attack by the state is only strengthened by today’s proceedings. As ever, we are proud to have comrades who recognise the importance of this case and of solidarity – including our good friends from Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty and the Glasgow Anarchist Collective, who joined us outside the court in Dundee, and the solidarity protestors in Govan, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Doncaster and Kilburn.

Glasgow Anarchist Collective made this video of the protest outside the court.

My excitement in discovering a programme on basic income on the BBC World Service (Business Daily, 2 June 2016) was decidedly tempered by the glib ignorance of the interviewer and the wilful ignorance of their professorial expert. After briefly discussing the Swiss referendum on the introduction of a basic income that is due to take place on Sunday, and the forthcoming Finnish pilot scheme, the programme turned to a proposal for a basic income for the UK. While the Swiss are talking about a basic income for an adult of 2,500 Francs a month, or around £21,000 a year, the UK proposal given used a figure of £4,000, which the interviewer was quick to dismiss as ‘pocket money’. But where does that figure come from? £4,000 is not enough to live on – but it is what a person over 25 currently gets on Jobseekers’ Allowance, rounded up. (52 weeks at £73.10 = £3801.) The miserliness of our benefits seemed equally unfamiliar to the (Canadian) professor of economics brought in to poor cold water on the whole idea, who described it as ‘much less than most people would be getting’ now. (He also didn’t seem to understand the principle of combining a basic income with changes in tax bands and tax rates to ensure that the overall system is redistributive and doesn’t give extra money to middle and high earners).  With such basic ignorance from the official ‘experts’ and (yes, again) the BBC, it is no wonder we have to struggle so hard to get a sensible debate.

The picture shows Robots for a Basic Income celebrating End of Labour Day in Zurich

 

Today Mid-Lin Day Care Centre was holding an open day, providing a perfect setting for a bit of leafleting. The Centre has been a long-term workfare exploiter, and as they have failed to respond to any of our letters and emails, we thought we would ask the people going into the open day to ‘Please tell Mid-Lin Day Care Centre to STOP USING FORCED UNPAID LABOUR’. As the leaflet explained, ‘We told the centre that we will be here today in order to give them time to deny that they are still exploiting people via this system; as we have heard nothing from them we can only assume the worst.’

The sun was shining, the band was playing behind the grim spiked fence, and we were able to explain to some of those going in the difference between genuine volunteering and forced unpaid labour. John was able to tell them directly that not only had it not helped him find a job, but that as someone who had worked in hotel kitchens he hadn’t appreciated being forced to skivvy in the Centre’s kitchen for nothing and did not need the ‘experience’ for his CV. Of course there are always those people who don’t want to know, but we hope we have made some others think – including Shona Robison MSP who we leafleted as she left. As it was a relatively small event, we distributed the rest of our leaflets through the letter boxes of the surrounding houses.

Although the Mandatory Work Activity scheme is finished and no more people are being made to do Community Work Placements, there is still scope for unemployed people to be forced into mandatory unpaid work through the Work Programme, and organisations such as Mid-Lin make this modern slavery possible. There are plenty of schemes for genuine volunteering, so it is difficult to see why Mid-Lin are so resistant to ending this exploitation, especially as it must be better for everyone to have workers who actually want to be there.

This afternoon around 50 people came to give noisy solidarity to workfare slaves and exploited workers at The Range in Lochee.

See video

In an attempt to salvage their reputation the store had produced their own leaflet for the occasion to give to shoppers who had passed through our picket. This consisted of testimonies from two employees who – unlike many people we have been in touch with – were actually given a paid job after their stint of unpaid labour, and were sickeningly grateful about being rewarded for their slavery with a chance to earn a living with this shockingly exploitative employer. They read like something written by followers of a cult, expressing their devotion to the system that has enslaved them – or by someone with their employer leaning over their shoulder: perfect examples of the cowed yes-men that the DWP would like everyone to become.

A shop such as The Range does not create jobs. Its ruthless employment practices and use of unpaid labour allow it to undercut other businesses that treat their workers decently and pay them properly – as we explain in our own leaflet. Range workers are forced to work 12 hour shifts days together and we have seen allegations of sexual impropriety by management and of attempts to get rid of workers who are over 25 to avoid paying them the higher minimum wage.

Our fight against exploitation brings together unemployed and employed workers: those who took up the loud hailer at this joint SUWN/Dundee Trades Council demo included Mike Arnott from the Trades Council, Tony Cox and Sarah Glynn from SUWN, Arthur Nicoll from Unison, Carlo Morelli from UCU, Mike Taylor and Andy Duncan from Dundee Against Austerity, Leah Ganley from TUSC and Gareth Norman from Solidarity; and there were also folk there from USDAW, RIC Angus and Mearns, and – bringing solidarity from the capital city – Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, as well as several folk who live close by in Lochee.

Police were called to the store, but never spoke to us. They were in there for a long time. Perhaps they were looking at all those bargains for things they never knew they wanted – or perhaps they were hoping that we would try and protest inside and they could arrest us from not leaving.

Before we had quite exhausted our own leaflet pile we re-formed the demo into a march down Lochee High Street, with more speeches and leafleting in front of the Mary Brooksbank statue – and several speakers drew parallels with the dreadful employment practices of the mills that once occupied the same area. We won’t be dragged back to the Nineteenth Century.

More protests are planned – so watch this space.

 

In response to the mass of critical evidence submitted to the House of Commons enquiry into sanctions, the government proudly announced (last October) a handful of tinker-round-the-edges changes. Chief among these was a ‘yellow card’ early warning system for sanctions, which has just begun a trial run in Scotland (everywhere but the north, which is supposed to provide a comparison). The much-heralded concession is meant to give claimants heading for a sanction an additional 14 days to provide reason and evidence for their alleged misdemeanour; hardly a major improvement as most will probably get sanctioned anyway.

Well, that is what’s meant to happen, but this is the DWP. A man we met at our busy stall outside Dundee buroo yesterday had just then been informed that he was going to be sanctioned and had 14 days to submit reasons for being late to a Work Programme appointment. But he was also told that the fourteen day period had begun 2 weeks ago, so he needed to get his response in there and then.

And another problem in the DWP ‘system’. This is the second time in a row that I have been about to accompany someone into their PIP assessment, only for them to be told on the morning of their appointment – after a sleepless night – that it has been cancelled.

SUWN activists noised up Dundee City Centre in today’s Mayday march, and Tony gave an impassioned call at the rally for folk to come and support next Saturday’s SUWN/Dundee Trades Council protest at The Range. He told the assembled trade unionists that since our Easter Monday protest against The Range’s use of forced unpaid labour, we had been contacted by numerous Range workers and ex-workers who describe working conditions that we had thought were left behind in the nineteenth century – including nine back to back twelve hour shifts, and sexual favours given in the hope of paid employment.  NEXT SATURDAY’S DEMO – AGAINST WORKFARE SLAVERY AND WORKER EXPLOITATION – IS AT 1PM OUTSIDE THE RANGE IN LOCHEE. See youse there!

We were also pleased to note that Eric Cramb, opening the rally, repeated to wide applause the Fairness Commission recommendation to make Dundee a No Workfare City. We want to see this put into effective action and soon. You can show your support by signing and sharing our petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-dundee-a-no-workfare-city

 

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The pictures show our stall in Dundee yesterday – carefully positioned opposite Debra who are a persistent workfare exploiter. (Thanks to Jonathan for the foties.) Despite the bitter spring weather we got out hundreds of leaflets (16-04-24 end forced labour – range demo) informing people about this government-sponsored slavery and about our next protest outside The Range – which we will be holding jointly with Dundee Trades Council on 7^th May at 1pm.

Since our first protest outside The Range on Easter Monday we have been inundated with accounts of appalling treatment of both paid employees and workfare labour. These sound as though they had come from a Victorian jute mill rather than a modern store – including weeks of back to back 12 hour shifts and allegations of sexual impropriety. This behaviour can’t go unchallenged.

The leaflet asks people to:

• Let people know what is happening
• Tell us if you know of places exploiting people through workfare so we can publicise this
• Make a complaint in writing or in person to the manager of exploiting businesses or organisations
• Boycott exploiting businesses and organisations until they withdraw from the scheme
• Ask anyone you know who has been sent on these schemes to contact us so we can help them
• Join our protests against slave labour schemes – including our demo outside The Range on 7 May
• Sign our petition

We have launched a petition calling on Dundee City Council to make Dundee a No-Workfare City. This is an idea that received unanimous support from the Dundee Fairness Commission, and we are calling for it to be translated into action.

The petition reads:

We believe that a fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay, and no-one should be forced to work for benefits. We call on Dundee City Council to do all in their power, without delay, to MAKE DUNDEE A NO WORKFARE CITY.

We call on the City Council to agree that it will not itself be party to any workfare schemes and that it will make non-participation a condition for any organisation in receipt of council funding.

We also call on the Council to give official backing to a well-publicised campaign to give formal recognition to all businesses and organisations who agree not to participate in these schemes

Please sign and share with Dundee friends.

On Wednesday, the Dundee Courier published a desperate plea for volunteers from Mid-Lin Day Care Centre, which provides activities for vulnerable elderly people, including those with dementia. The article admitted that the centre is almost entirely run by volunteers. What it omitted to mention is that many of these ‘volunteers’ are actually unemployed folk, conscripted under various workfare schemes. Some are forced to work there for no pay for six months – 2 ½ times the length of the maximum community service punishment. If they refuse they can face thirteen weeks with no benefits.

Some old people can be quite uninhibited in letting off their frustrations and making personal comments; for the ‘volunteers’, being sworn at and receiving criticism is part of the ‘job’. And some of the centre’s users are incontinent, so ‘volunteers’ have to clear up the occasional accident. ‘Volunteers’ also take people to the toilet. And despite the intimacy of such tasks, we have been informed that the centre has told people not to worry about the lack of PVG disclosures. In the Courier article the centre manager describes volunteering as ‘great work experience’, but people we have spoken to complain that nothing was offered by way of training. They were even expected to pay for the lunch that ‘volunteers’ had helped prepare.

We know that Mid-Lin provides a vital service for its users, but at what cost – beyond the £18 a day charge? Their website states that they aim to promote ‘dignity’ and ‘choice’ for their users, but what about the unemployed who have no choice but to suffer the indignity of working for nothing. This is the reality of Cameron’s Big Society: a shoestring community service that only survives through a combination of charity and gross exploitation.

We have written three times to Mid-Lin asking them to reconsider their use of forced labour. They have not dignified us with an answer; but we can assure them that so long as they continue with this exploitation we will take every opportunity to let people know what is really going on behind that fence.

If your gran was ending her days in a care home, would you want her looked after by unpaid forced labour from the buroo, including eighteen-year olds with next to no training? If you were a qualified care worker – already a grossly underpaid profession – would you be happy to be made to do the job you are trained in for £73.10 a week buroo money? And would you want to live in a society where teenagers who have just emerged from the rigors of the care system are sent to look after the dying, and rewarded with a bare £1.60 an hour? The UK is that society.

The SUWN was approached last week by a care worker, Jim, who has been out of work just over six months. His ‘Job Coach’ had sent him to a job interview at a home that provides palliative care: a place where patients only leave in a box. But he is familiar with this kind of work and was pleased to be getting the chance of a job. It was only later that he discovered that this was not a job in the normal sense. He was being expected to work three twelve hour shifts a week for six weeks for nothing more than his buroo money. Jim is experienced enough in the world of work to know that this isn’t right – and he had one of our leaflets. He rang us up before going to meet his Job Coach again, and he has refused to sign the papers to enable the placement to go ahead. He will now let them know that he has done everything else that was asked, but just not signed any documents – which he has a legal right not to do. Because he has done all that they can make him do, he shouldn’t get sanctioned, otherwise refusing to do forced labour could have cost him thirteen weeks without benefits. He wants to do this work – but he rightly expects to get paid for it.

Jim told us that when he was in the care home for his interview he met two teenagers who had already been sent there from the buroo. Both had been in care and both had been sent on the placement almost as soon as they had signed on for their (under 25s) benefit of £57.90 a week. The young girl had so little money that he bought her a sandwich and a coffee. No food is provided by the ‘care’ home. But the young man’s situation was even starker. He had been put into care because his mother was an alcoholic – and she is now a patient in the home, dying from alcohol-related brain damage.

We are not publicising the name and location of the home as the young people we have mentioned are still there, but we have informed the local MP of everything that is happening.

The latest protest against the use of the Work Program, the DWP sponsored slave scheme, took place today, and passed off without any major incidents, although, as you can see from the phoaties, that didn’t stop five of Dundee’s ‘finest’ being called by management. We have to say that the polis were a helluva lot quicker to respond to the call out than they were last week, when an unemployed man called them following a claimed assault at the hands of DWP security at Wellgate buroo.

We received a very good response from the many shoppers that we spoke to, including one woman who informed us that she had went to the Range with her son a couple of weeks ago to inquire as to the availability of jobs, only to be told by the manager, ‘why should we employ anyone when we can get labour for nothing from the job centre?’ Many other shoppers also regaled us with stories involving family members who had direct experience of the DWP’s various slave labour schemes. The founder of the Range has boasted that ‘his ethos in business is to make as much profit as possible’. This is probably helped by the fact that the Dundee store has been reported as dropping the hours of their, already poorly paid, full time workers, which is only made possible through the use of DWP conscript labour.

Quite a few shoppers turned on their heels when they heard what the Range management were up to, and many others stopped to talk and offer support before going in to give the manager a hard time. All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend a sunny Easter Monday, and we can assure the Range management that if they continue to profit by slave labour we will be back.

Many thanks to the dozen or so volunteers who made the protest so successful, and Alan Cowan, the Labour candidate for the Maryfield Ward by election, who also joined us to show support.