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Sunday, 26 February 2012

A brief history of us


A brief presentation of the Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group
21.05.2012


The Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group (KUWG) is mentored by the Brent Trades Union Council. It was formed on the 28 July 2009 at the initiative of Sertuc, the South East Region of the Trade Union Congress in London. In that sense, the KUWG is an integral part of the British working class.
The KUWG sent a resolution to the PCS (Public & Commercial Service Union) in support of the strikes of JobCentre Call Centres Advisers who demand more time and better conditions to look after the unwaged. The KUWG recognises that the struggle of employed and unemployed workers is one and the same.
The KUWG accepts the solidarity of any helpful political organisation, but as the KUWG itself, it is not sharing its platform with any political group.
The KUWG operates mostly in the Brent and Camden areas, but individuals from other areas are welcome. The KUWG has the right to attend the Brent Trades Council meetings. There, it can submit resolutions but it cannot vote.

KUWG Web page: http://Kilburnunemployed.blogspot.com.
 0770 993 2267 Marie Lynam, secretary
Facebook: Kilburn Unemployed Workers


The Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group (KUWG) meets every Thursday 3-5pm at the Kingsgate Community Centre, 107 Kingsgate Road, London NW6 2JH.
The KUWG works consistently to help resolve the problems of persons unfairly treated by the DWP, or by the JobCentrePlus in Cambridge Avenue, NW6. The purpose of the KUWG is to defend each other and defend our much-trampled-upon human rights. We give a voice to the women, the sick, the unwaged and the single parents. We stand against the demonization of those out of work, when the bankers and the capitalist governments preside over a brutal and absurd economic system that directs most of the nation’s wealth and power towards 1% of the population at the expense of the remaining 99%.
We support the Job Seekers in their economic and emotional struggle, as they are robbed of the right to use their human creativity. Whenever possible and necessary, we accompany them to DWP interviews and meetings. The KUWG opposes the mean, cruel and ineffective Work Programme and Welfare Reform Bill of the Cameron/Clegg government. We condemn the connivance of the Labour’s Milliband leadership that has no real objection to the principles of ‘austerity’ for the workers and more billions in tax cuts for finance capital.
We protest against the health re-assessment of private companies like ATOS that mock and override the medical profession. Labour unnecessarily introduced these companies in British Welfare, leaving the British people defenceless in front of the government’s war against wages and benefits. The unwaged are becoming work-placement commodities, whilst the trade unions, the minimum wage and the salaries are being assaulted and violently ground down. 
On May 10, 2012, the PCS union went on strike nationally, along with other public service Unions, in defence of pensions. The PCS, the Kilburn Unemployed, BrentFightback, Women’s groups and some left political organisations created an official picket line in front of the Kilburn JobCentrePlus, Cambridge Avenue, London NW6. In central London, the POA (prison officers Union) had joined the strike, and 20,000 off-duty police persons were having their own march.
The KUWG works in a democratic manner so that everybody has a voice, and the experiences of everyone can be used constructively. Under the banner of the unemployed, it is our intention to work in solidarity with all anti-austerity organisations. We believe that the conditions exist for the rise of a London-wide, national and international organisation of the unemployed. The cuts in health, housing and benefits are throwing people out of their homes, out of towns. Unite the Union is organising the unemployed, and we call on them to seek TUC support to start new groups like ours’ in London. 
Please help distribute our leaflets, attend our regular weekly meetings and join us in the struggle against the insane accumulation of riches by a handful of profiteers who are bankrupting the peoples of Europe and of the world.
The KUWG is part of the London Coalition against Poverty (LCAP) that links together similar groups in London. Some of our members have taken part in, and contributed to the St Paul’s Occupy London Stock Exchange camp. We intervened also in the Brent Peoples Assembly organised by BrentFightback and the Brent Trades Council. We call for the continuation of such Assemblies that link the Trade Unions, the workers parties, the unemployed, the various community campaigns and the general population. KUWG demands that JSA be raised for young and adults alike to at least £115 pw.
KUWG asks sympathetic organisations and benefactors to link up with us, and if possible, to make donations. As the secretary of the KUWG at the present time, I wish to thank the Brent TUC and the Trade Unions that have helped us so far.
Marie Lynam, GMB,
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group (KUWG) – 21.05.12

We urge Trade Unions and Community Funding groups to help us fight the battles that will complement their own in their workplaces and communities.

Cheques welcome, made to ‘KUWG’ and sent to: The KUWG Officers, 85 Webheath, Netherwood Street, London NW6 2JS

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