A brief
presentation of the Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group
5.11.12
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 recognises that the struggle of the employed
and the unemployed is one and the same, but it also affirms that smear stories
and marginalisation add to the isolation experienced by the unwaged. Thus in facilitating the coming together
of benefit claimants at weekly meetings, we serve as a springboard for
vulnerable claimants to confidently challenge the DWP’s draconian rules at the
JobCentre, and mercenary Atos Healthcare and Work Programme companies,
achieving victories and alleviating the suffering of the unwaged.
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 beyond are welcome. Retired persons ready to give
their time are welcome and can be very useful.
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 and JobCentres, as well as by
their devolved private companies like Atos, Maximus, Ingeus, A4E, Serco,
Working Links, etc. The purpose of the KUWG is to defend our denied human
dignity. Together, we build our mutual confidence to demand our rights. We
denounce the demonization of the unemployed as if the availability of jobs
depended on our individual disposition to work. We reject with indignation the
DWP ‘Community Action Programme’ (CAP) that could force more than one million
long-term Job Seekers (3 years) to work unpaid for six months if this
particular Work Programme scheme is extended across the country. The 9
billion spent on the Olympics demonstrate that those in power can only find
money, which they do, by keeping millions of human beings in poverty and
dependency - like the women for
instance - who organise, produce and reproduce the human race and civilisation
without pay. This opens the door to every kind of abuse against the poor, the immigrant, the sick, the disabled and
those forced to be dependent. Society is
about more than making profits for the rich. The national taxation fund belongs
to society, not to the rich. When we say we want JSA at £110 and the scrapping of the Work Programme, we are not
asking for the rich to give us anything. We are telling them that they don’t
have the right to say no.
We demand that those on ESA ‘support’ should
not be forced into the ESA ‘Work Related’ category because these persons
need to work at getting well instead of looking for work.
Whenever possible and necessary, the KUWG accompany
our friends to DWP or Atos interviews and meetings. The KUWG condemns the mean
and cruel Welfare Reform Bill that was largely being implemented
before it became law. This Bill lends to the State the devious right to abandon
its duty of social care, as well as to overrule the expert advice of the
medical profession in all matters relating to welfare. We condemn the Labour
leaderships, past and present, for having connived with this barbarism -
fearing us, and consistently negating our power to help them defeat this
capitalist onslaught.
When the PCS union went on strike, the PCS, KUWG,
BrentFightback, Women’s groups and Left political organisations formed a
solidarity picket-line in front of the Kilburn JobCentrePlus, Cambridge Avenue,
London NW6. The KUWG, Brent Fightback and the Brent Trades Council are involved
in campaigns to stop people being evicted through the cuts in Housing Benefits. This added punishment drives individuals
to homelessness, unacceptable suffering and even suicide. The above
organisations are also preparing for a public meeting and demonstration/rally
on 15 Sept 2012 (noon from Harlesden Jubilee Clock, march to Central Middlesex)
against the ‘fusion’ of hospitals and the creeping privatisation of schools.
KUWG is part of the South Kilburn “Counting the Human
Cost of Cuts”. That group campaigns in support of the Criklewood Bus driver and
Unite Member Anthony Counihan - his
wife Isabel and their 5 children, against their eviction from the Borough of
Brent by Brent Council - and in support of persons like Nygell Firminger, ex-KUWG member who is believed to have committed
suicide after losing his benefits, his casual job and his flat, amongst other
problems. Like the familyonthestreet@gmail.com, the KUWG says: “Housing for
all!”
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 those fighting against the welfare and housing cuts. We
believe that the conditions exist for the creation of a London-wide, national
and international organisation of the unemployed. Please help distribute our
leaflets, attend our regular weekly meetings and help us organise our collective
power to build life, our lives, ourselves.
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. We hope
to make links with all possible organisations of the Unemployed Youth,
locally, in London and beyond.
The KUWG holds regular Workshops and public meetings with
particular speakers. On Nov 8th 2012, we had a One Million Climate
Change Jobs speaker. On Nov 15, Pilgrim Tucker from Unite. Nov 22, Speak Out
Against Psychiatry and Nov 29, Previous Unemployed Movements.
KUWG asks sympathetic organisations and benefactors to
link up with us and to make donations. The KUWG thank the Brent TUC and the
Trade Unions that have helped us so far.
Alan Wheatley, Secretary
Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group – 10.11.12
We urge Trade
Unions and Community Funding groups to help us fight the battles that will
complement their own in their workplaces and communities.
