From Boycott Workfare
Solidarity with unemployed activist arrested for representing a jobseeker:
Take part in a Day of Action at Jobcentres Britain-wide Wednesday 25 February 2015
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| Support Tony Cox from the Scottish Unemployed Workers’ Network, who was arrested after assisting a claimant at Arbroath Jobcentre. |
Scottish
Unemployed Workers Network activist Tony Cox was arrested on 29th
January after Arbroath Jobcentre management called police to stop him
representing a vulnerable jobseeker. We urge you to join a Day of Action
on 25th February at Jobcentres round Britain to show your solidarity.
We
must fight back against this clear attempt to intimidate claimants and
deny us the right to be accompanied and represented. Tony will be in
court in Forfar on 25th February facing charges of “threatening
behaviour, refusing to give his name and address and resisting arrest”.
That same day we call on people to descend on jobcentres round Britain
to show their solidarity with Tony and distribute information to
claimants urging them to exercise their right to be accompanied and
represented at all benefits interviews.
As
we face unprecedented sanctions and benefits cuts, it’s more important
than ever that we support each other and stand up to the DWP bullies.
The Scottish Unemployed Workers Network, Dundee Against Welfare
Sanctions and other groups have established a strong presence at the
Jobcentres in Dundee and in nearby towns and cities like Arbroath, Perth
and Blairgowrie, supporting claimants in opposing sanctions and
harassment.
On 29 January Tony was accompanying a vulnerable woman claimant, who suffers from severe dyslexia and literacy problems. The claimant, D, had been signed up to the Universal Job Match (UJM), the computerised job search system, and was being forced to complete five job searches per day, the pressure of which had led to her having several panic attacks. Tony proposed that D’s UJM account be closed, and that her number of job searches be significantly reduced. The adviser refused to consider this, and so Tony and D met with the Jobcentre manager.
On 29 January Tony was accompanying a vulnerable woman claimant, who suffers from severe dyslexia and literacy problems. The claimant, D, had been signed up to the Universal Job Match (UJM), the computerised job search system, and was being forced to complete five job searches per day, the pressure of which had led to her having several panic attacks. Tony proposed that D’s UJM account be closed, and that her number of job searches be significantly reduced. The adviser refused to consider this, and so Tony and D met with the Jobcentre manager.
The
manager likewise refused to even look at the issue, falsely claiming
that all jobseekers had to be registered with UJM. She even suggested to
D that she should arrange another meeting without Tony or any other
witness or rep present. Despite the pressure D was being put under by
the manager, she replied that she would not attend another meeting
without Tony. At this point the manager demanded that Tony leave the
building or the police would be called. Tony refused to leave, but the
meeting ended when it was agreed that a further meeting be arranged to
discuss the issue further. Tony was arrested after he left the
Jobcentre.
The
right of claimants to be accompanied to interviews, and for the
accompanier to have the right to speak, has been established by groups
like Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, who have forced the DWP
locally and Britain-wide to apologise for calling the police on ECAP
reps, and to affirmclaimants’ right to representation. The DWP clearly state “Claimants
accessing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits and services
can have someone to accompany them to act on their behalf…”
The
attack on benefits and claimants is part of the austerity assault on
the entire working class. We call on all unemployed and claimants
groups, anti cuts and anti austerity groups, human rights groups,
workplace activists, and all working class people, waged and unwaged, to
show solidarity with Tony and the right of the unemployed and all
claimants to organise collectively to fight back.
Visit
your local Jobcentre on 25th February with banners and placards and
distribute leaflets to claimants on Tony’s case and the right to be
accompanied to all benefits interviews.
- Send a message of support to admin AT scottishunemployedworkers.net
- Complain to Noel Shanahan, Director General Operations DWP, Caxton House, Tothill Street London SW1H 9NA
- Sign the petition
- There will be a picket of the Forfar court before the hearing on 25 February, by activists from Dundee, Tayside and area – for details contact admin AT scottishunemployedworkers.net
- There will be a solidarity action in Central London at 3pm – for details contactinfo@boycottworkfare.org
Call out by Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty - ecap AT lists.riseup.net
email admin AT scottishunemployedworkers.net
And don’t forget Disabled People Against Cut’s Day of Action the following week on 2 March!
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