Kwug was there!
From a Star Blogger in the Making (She has been tentatively dubbed 'Can-Do Cat Woman' though she claims that she has no idea what her 'byline' should be.)
Welfare conference at Trade Union Congress on Friday 27 February 2015 — Outline Summary
11.00-11.30 am:
We were welcome by
Kevin Flynn, Chair Trade Union Congress NCCUW (National Coombine
for Centres for Unemployed Workers?)
- Introduction of Helen Flanagan (PCS): Vice President of the DWP Group of Public & Commercial Services Union who is responsible for Jobcentre issues.
- Introduction of Eleanor Firman (Disabled People Against the Cuts) who is a member of the DPAC Steering Committee and Unite Community.
11.30 am: Workshops:
KUWG members who assisted at the Welfare
Conference were Alan, Ben, Gisele, Joan, Abby, Liam, Leigh and
Pauline. (Robin was one of the organisers.) There were about 100
people who attended the conference and these were divided into four
groups:
1-Sanctions,
Conditionality and Work Capability Assessment.
In this group
people shared their experience on how to challenge sanctions
and the reasons behind sanctions. A jobcentre’ Adviser
apologised for the inhuman application of jobcentre policy.
People
present included among others,
- DPACactive members,
- Boycott Workfare
- London
Coalition Against Poverty (Mohammed),
some members of PCS, - a disabled claimant and
- similar group as ours and many more.
2- Contribution or a right? Who gets what benefits, when and why?
The group looked at
contribution schemes and debated on unconditional basic income. How can we
achieve real economy and social equality? People on the
whole have accepted that there should be a safety net for everyone.
3- Work: Workfare, internship, apprenticeship and traineeships.
The group looked at
the government workfare which exploits and undermines employed
workers. They also debated on how we could challenge such procedures,
the defending of workers' rights and free education. Everyone
agreed that volunteering and training should be voluntary and proper
jobs should be paid, with over 100 charities signing against
mandatory workfare.
4- Equality: Making it a reality in Welfare.
They looked at the
Increase of discrimination and multiple problems that have been
created through the stigma that politicians and the media have
brought up around benefit claimants. And how it resulted for the most
vulnerable in losing touch with services and other issues such as
socialising (being marginalised).
They concluded that
we should implement services to help with more complex needs
especially for those who can’t communicate or are unable to move
because of their physical disability.
12.45: Feedback from workshops with what should be included in the DWP legislation (the combination of all the above workshops).
13.30. Lunch
After lunch
pictures were taken from the group in front of TUC offices with the
banner against benefit sanctions.
14.15: Plenary.
Short history of
the UWC (Unemployed Workers Centres) movement by Alec McFaden. I
missed the talk. At lunchtime there was so much food left over.I put
all the sandwiches in bags and ask Tom Mellish “the organiser” to
give me a hand to bring them to St Mungo's. He helped me to carry the
food to St- Mungo.
14.25: Richard Exell (TUC)
Richard is the
TUC’s Senior Policy Officer responsible for work and on Employment
and social security, writing and commissioning TUC guides and
reports. I missed the talk part of the talk but I do remember hearing
that the sanctions were there to foot the bill for Tax Credit instead
of asking the employers to offer decent wages. They take the money
from the claimants to pass it onto the underpaid.
14.45 Ideas sessions. Mapping a welfare system.
Discussion in mapping a Charter (more or less):
Unconditional income that hasn’t been defined completely
- Banned sanctions for good
- £10 hourly work rate ('Living Wage')
- Jobcentres should advise the claimants. (This advisory role should not be surrendered to an external agency.)
- Workfare that is mandatory should be banned
- Free Education and proper training
- Only doctors, specialists and the claimants should be involve in assessing ESA and other health benefits not ATOS or MAXIMUS.
- Financial Help for families’ carers.
16.15. Report back and brain storming from ideas above.
A final Charter
will be revised and published in later date.
17.00
Liane Grove spoke
about what Unite is doing. Her own experiences and the hard work that
the group is contributing to in changing the policies of this
government through workshops like this one.
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