Glasgow action against Atos

As part of the national week of action against Atos to coincide with the opening week of the Paralympic games supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, the Accord campaign, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, the Black Triangle disability rights campaign and Anarchist activists united to picket their offices in Glasgow (for a second time this week). A successful and militant protest took place with chants against Atos and the hypocrisy of their sponsoring of the Paralympic games.

Officers from Strathclyde police were called by Atos security guards (G4S) and attempted to harass the protest but with no success as picketers pointed out that they should be more interested in the criminal treatment meted out to the sick and poor! Despite these attempts to interfere with the protest leaflets for future action against Atos and assessment advice sheets were distributed with passing cameramen, in the area to report on filming for the new ‘2 Fast, 2 Furious’ movie, showing more interest in our protest!

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! alongside other groups are holding protests outside the Glasgow Atos office, Corunna house, Cadogan street, on the last Friday of every month. The next one will take place 28 September, 2-4pm. A facebook page ‘Glasgow against Atos’ has been established.

Suggested chants

Hands off the sick and poor, Atos doctors have no cure! (repeat)

Paralympic shame, shame, shame, Atos sponsors of the game! (repeat)

Atos doctors, Nazi Doctors! (repeat)

Remploy workers lead resistance to attacks on the sick and disabled

Remploy workers have taken their second day of strike action across Britain to oppose the imminent closure of 27 Remploy factories. Trade unions including Britain's General Union (GMB) and Unite The Union were forced to respond to members call for opposition as longer term plans to close all 54 Remploy factories will see the loss 2,800 jobs. These factories offer employment for people with varying degrees of disability who would otherwise struggle to find work. Adding the finishing parts to engines and packaging products are some of the tasks undertaken by employees.

FRFI supporter Dominic Mulgrew joined the picket line in Netherton Industrial Estate, Motherwell, and spoke to workers about their ongoing struggle.

The shop steward for the factory, James, pointed out that while these cuts are particularly devastating they were nothing new. With voluntary redundancy schemes implemented in 2008 and 2011 the factory has already lost over half its workforce. The adoption of compulsory redundancy with the closure of these factories was the culmination of what had already been taking place. As one of the workers stated 'the Tories are finishing what Labour started...'. His workmate backed this up saying that 'one party are as bad as the other'.

Employed at the factory for the last eighteen years, James, was particularly concerned for the future of 'the young disabled workers' whose chances of finding employment would be set back by the closures. Another worker spoke of how he had worked in the factory, for the last 31 years, almost since leaving school, and about how much the job had meant to him throughout his life.

Despite a significantly lower number of workers on the picket line compared to the previous week’s strike, those who remained, stood tall with their heads held high and were in good spirits. With hoots of encouragement from passing cars and lorries and support from the community the workers were determined not return back to the factory. A local shopkeeper, Nawaz Asuam, visited the picket describing how he had collected over 2,000 signatures in support of their cause; 'Remploy is good for the community...there are enough people out of work around here...this is peoples lives were talking about'.

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! sends its full solidarity to the Remploy workers and urges readers to heed the words of James and the other strikers on the picket line; 'people must support every disabled employee because the cuts are going to affect everyone'.

With more than 80% of the cuts still to come the working class people who today turn their cheeks to the struggle of the sick and disabled, seen as a 'soft target', must understand the need to stand together and fightback as one. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! alongside the Black Triangle and Accord campaign are organising pickets of the Atos centre on Glasgow's Cadogan Street on the last Friday of every month. The governments abuse of the sick and disabled is widespread and so we must combat it in every corner - whether it is standing on the picket lines with Remploy workers or outside Atos buildings in solidarity with disability benefit claimants.

Victory to the Remploy workers!

Picket Atos!

The next picket of Atos will take place on the 31 August, 2-4pm, Corunna House, Cadogan St, Glasgow. Plans for more Anti-Atos work in Glasgow are currently being put in place and a facebook page has been set up 'Glasgow Against-Atos'. To get involved contact 07734348065 or send a facebook message.

Actions Against Atos in Glasgow

People! The war being waged on the poor, sick and disabled in this country has well and truly begun. The former Labour Government set the ball rolling with its introduction of the notorious Work Capability Assessment (WCA) in 2008 and its hiring of the private, profit driven, multinational Atos to carry out these assessments. The Coalition Government have continued this policy with devastating consequences. Reports have shown that between January and August 2011, up to 1,100 claimants died following Atos assessments and being found fit for work. 

We have both a moral and political incentive to stand with those being cut, the ruling class will widen out there attacks on living standards (around 80% of cuts are still to come), and if we are unable to defend the most vulnerable in our society how will we defend others?

With this question in mind Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! held two events in Glasgow this week; supported by the Black Triangle Disability Rights Campaign, the Accord Campaign, the Merrylee Matters Campaign and the Glasgow Defence Campaign. On Wednesday 27 June we hosted a meeting ‘War on welfare: Time for action!’ and this was followed by a two hour picket of the Atos testing centre on Cadogan Street on Friday 29 June.

The meeting was addressed by supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! and the founding member of the Black Triangle Campaign, John McArdle. The FRFI comrade highlighted the parasitic nature of the Atos multinational and its links with the British military and oil and gas exploration abroad. Opposition to Atos he argued had to go hand in hand with a fight against those responsible for its hiring, the British ruling class. John McArdle followed this with a passionate and concrete speech about the reasons why we must support those fight backing, the progress that has been made in this so far and where we must go from here. After the speakers a creative discussion took place with solutions and ideas put forward about how we can most effectively target Atos. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! will be working with others to now put these words into action.

The follow up picket two days later was well attended and everyone; both the people going through the assessments and their cold hearted assessors; inside the centre were made aware of our presence with noisy chants of ‘Atos Doctors, Nazi Doctors!’, ‘Say it loud, say it clear, Atos are not welcome here!’, ‘Hands off the sick and poor: Atos do not have a cure!’. Despite the torrential rain spirits were kept high and anger at seeing those sick and disabled people going to and from the centre, many with tears in their eyes, made sure that everyone was committed to the protest.

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!  will be holding a picket of this Atos testing centre on the last Friday of every month from now on. The next picket date is below. Between now and then we will be organising different activities to combat the scourge that is the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and its hired lackeys Atos.

We call for the greatest unity on this issue amongst the people of Glasgow and left groups (The International Socialist Group/Coalition of Resistance, Scottish Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party etc), who have failed so far to unite and did not attend the events against Atos this week. The Socialist Party sent one member to the picket. Political sectarianism must be left behind and real unity must be formed in the interests of the people on the receiving end of the cuts!

Victory to the poor, sick and disabled!

Oppose Atos and the Work Capability Assessment!

Picket Atos!

Friday 27 July, 2-4pm

Atos testing centre,

Cadogan Street,

Glasgow City Centre.

Contact glasgow_frfi@yahoo.co.uk or 07734348065 for more information or to get involved.

Scams Targeting The Unemployed On Gumtree

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! Glasgow has received notice from a supporter of a scam that is being promoted on the popular search website Gumtree. In the interests of anyone who may use the Gumtree site for job searching we reproduce the statement below and urge everyone to remain vigilant against the cowardly parasites, who exploit the vulnerability of the poor and unemployed for their own selfish ends, behind this. One of the victims of this scam is quoted below...

‘I have been unemployed for some months now and regularly check the Gumtree website to search for jobs. Last week I came across a ‘Hotel Receptionist’ job advertised with the Marriot Hotel in Glasgow City Centre. This was one of the many jobs I applied for that day. A couple of days later I heard back from ‘Aspire Recruitment Services ltd’ and was delighted to hear I had been ‘shortlisted’ for the job and was to come in for 2 days training on the 28 and 29^th June.  The email was well worded but its insistence that £60 was required in the form of UKASH vouchers ‘as a result of recent Government changes to the vetting and barring scheme (VBS)’ made me suspicious. After asking some people about this, I decided that it was all legit, and emailed ‘Samantha Jones, HR Manager’ back the 19 digits for the UKASH vouchers. This was all to my disappointment as when I arrived on the day at the hotel I was told at reception that there was no job on offer and the email I had received had been a fake, as many others had also been caught up in the trap and contacted the Marriot Hotel directly.

Walking away from the hotel I felt humiliated, angry and disappointed, not so much about the loss of money, but more to do with the fact that I thought I had found some decent work after months of looking. My message for the people behind this attack on the unemployed is this; as the upper classes will one day be held accountable for their crimes against the working class so too will the parasites who live in our midst. You are no better than low life drug dealers, exploiting the vulnerability, hope and sincerity of people who are already being hammered by this system. My advice for anyone searching for jobs online is do not trust any email that asks for money, no matter how sophisticated it sounds. I have attached the email I received in response to my application below so that anyone who comes across ‘Aspire Recruitment Services ltd’ or any other fake employment company maybe helped to see through it.’

Victory to the unemployed!

Parasites out our communities!

NOTE THE NAME OF THE VICTIM HAS BEEN REMOVED FOR REASONS OF ANONYMITY-

Dear ...,

We are glad to inform you that after careful look at your CV for the position of ''Marriott Hotel Receptionist'' advertised on Gumtree, you have been shortlisted to join the Training and Induction Seminar. '' CONGRATULATIONS''

There will be 2 day induction and training which will take place on the 28th & 29th of June 2012 from 10am to 4pm each day at:

MARRIOTT HOTEL CONFERENCE HALL 500 ARGYLE STREET, ANDERSON G3 8RR SCOTLAND

The two day training will be fully paid for and you are expected to come with your original documents which is listed below: 

·  Passport /Birth Certificate/ID card (showing your right to work in the UK)

·  Utility bill (showing current address)

·  N.I number

·  Bank/Building Society/Local Post Office details (for your wages)

·  The Confidential Application Form (print out)  

Attached is a confidential application form, please print, fill in all relevant sections and bring it with you on the day of induction/training. 
 

The pay rate for this position as listed in the Job advert will be

DAY RATE : £9.85
NIGHT/WEEKEND RATE: £11.25 - £12.65 

START DATE: 10/07/2012

There will be Full time and Part time positions to choose from, there will also be morning and night shift, and you will be paid every fortnightly (two weeks). You will be issued a uniform on the induction/training day.

  

Please e-mail us back the following before the 24^th of June 2012

·  Your uniform size (i.e. Shirt, Trousers and Suit)

·  The mode of payment for your CRB checks (Ukash Voucher).

As a result of recent Government changes to the vetting and barring scheme (VBS) the cost of Enhanced CRB check is £60.  Due to insurance purposes and MARRIOTT HOTEL policy, we cannot accept CRB done outside the company.  

A £60 UKASH voucher which is the payment for your CRB disclosure which will be refunded on the day of induction. The UKASH voucher is the safest and secure mode of payment which consists of 19 digits should be emailed to us as soon as possible so that we can commence with the CRB check to avoid any delays with your start date which is on the 10th July 2012.  

This UKASH voucher can be purchased at most Newsagents, off license, most shops with the E PAY/PAYPOINT sign. Once again, you are to send this voucher as soon as possible to avoid any delays, and to avoid being delisted from the chosen post and do not forget to keep your receipt safe for refunds on the day of induction. 

ALL EMAILS SHOULD BE SENT TO HUMAN RESOURCES(HR) at :Aspirerecruitmentservicesltd@job4u.com

The deadline for the submission by email of your uniform sizes and £60 Ukash voucher numbers for your CRB fees will be on the  24^th of June 2012, no work placement will be offered without any of the above and you will not be eligible to come in for the two day training and induction. We are extremely very busy this period and may not be able to respond to your enquiries. We will give you any more information needed on the training/induction day and we are glad to welcome you to our company. 

                   ONCE AGAIN, CONGRATULATIONS ON JOINING  MARRIOTT HOTELS UK.

Kind Regards

SAMANTHA JOELS

HR Manager

Legionnaires outbreak linked to cutbacks

No Cuts! Full Stop! reproduces this article from today's Scottish Sunday Herald 10/06/012 linking the Legionnaires outbreak in Edinburgh to cutbacks...

Revealed: the cutbacks to Legionnaires' watchdogs

EXCLUSIVE BY ROB EDWARDS

THE outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Edinburgh has come against a backdrop of severe cuts in the number of health inspectors and safety checks meant to prevent the life-threatening bug from spreading.

Experts are warning that cutbacks in the number of health and safety inspectors and the amount of inspections could have allowed the outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Edinburgh to happen and may cause future outbreaks elsewhere in Scotland.

The Sunday Herald can reveal that City of Edinburgh Council has cut its environmental health officers by 18% in the last three years – double the country's average cut of 9%. The number of officials responsible for protecting public health in the city has dropped from 61 in 2009 to 50 in 2011.

The UK Government's Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has also suffered serious cuts. Its UK field operations division, which is responsible for inspections, has lost 18% of its staff – more than 250 jobs – between 2007 and 2011.

According to the trade union, Prospect, which represents HSE inspectors, the number of preventative workplace inspections was slashed by a third last year on the instructions of UK ministers, from 30,000 to 20,000 a year.

The cuts were described as "staggering, shocking and savage" by Professor Andrew Watterson, head of the occupational and environment research group at Stirling University.

He said: "The crippling impact of cuts in staff numbers and resources is now threatening public health.

"The Legionnaires' disease outbreak has happened against a backdrop of serious and continuing UK cuts, loss of staff and expertise and significant demoralisation in two crucial bodies involved – the HSE and environmental health services. These cuts must raise serious doubts about the capacity of such bodies to deal with similar future threats to public health."

A whole raft of businesses had been recategorised as "low risk" to enable the number of inspections to be reduced, Watterson argued. "The Legionnaires' outbreak should be a wake-up call because so-called 'low-risk' premises such as offices and large shopping premises have cooling towers that require continuing regular inspection as well as proper maintenance if public health is to be protected."

It was hard to imagine how the HSE could effectively enforce the regulations meant to control the risk of legionella with an ever-shrinking group of staff, he added. "Saving money by cuts in personnel and resources could cost lives in the future."

Prospect also said that the Legionnaires' outbreak highlighted the risks of cutting back on proactive inspections.

Simon Hester, chairman of the union's HSE branch, said: "It is a stark reminder of the danger of denigrating health and safety at work and the value of effective inspection by the HSE.

"Due to spending cuts, HSE's occupational health expertise is extremely thinly spread, which has led to a lack of sufficient advice in the field. It is always preferable to avoid incidents that harm people, rather than merely investigating after the event."

Hester added: "Prospect believes that decisions on proactive inspection should be based on professional expertise and that adequate resources are made available. HSE needs more inspectors, not less." The cuts to Edinburgh's environmental health officers were disclosed to the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland, a professional body, in response to a freedom of information request.

Across all of Scotland's 32 local authorities, the number of such officers has dropped from 556 in March 2009 to 506 in September 2011.

The institute's chief executive, Tom Bell, who previously worked as an environmental health officer for Edinburgh City Council, said the council had lost some very experienced staff. Bell said that common sense would suggest there is "some kind of relationship" between cutbacks and the Legionnaires' outbreak.

He said: "Most people would feel that if you reduce the resource, there is the potential for problems to develop and not be remedied or identified, and operators not required to address them." The number of Edinburgh council departments had also been reduced from about 16 to four, he said.

"You're now a very small part of a very large department, so your voice is very hard to hear. It does make the job more difficult when it comes to arguing for resources."

Bell was worried about the "soft touch" regulatory agenda being promoted by the UK Government. "Inspections should be related to the actual risk, and not be about helping businesses," he said.

Edinburgh City Council denied that staff numbers had an impact on inspections, as there was only one site with cooling towers that it was responsible for in the city.

A council spokesman said: "Responsibility for enforcement falls to either local authorities or the HSE, depending on the premises or work activity. Premises within the council's enforcement remit are inspected in accordance with an ongoing inspection programme.

"Work is ongoing to identify the source of the [Legionnaires'] outbreak."

The HSE insisted that the number of inspectors in Scotland has remained stable since 2008, though there had been a drop from 184 in 2010 to 174 in 2012.

A spokeswoman said: "HSE has maintained the broad number of inspectors and other staff based in Scotland over the last five years. It is wrong to claim that numbers have been significantly reduced."

NCFS! INTERVIEWS VICTIM OF WORKFARE

No Cuts-Full Stop! Interviewed a supporter of the recent Occupy Dundee camp. Discussions there have shown that people are very well aware of the injustice of workfare. The NCFS! Blog thanks the person who gave an interview and respects his wish to be anonymous for fear of trouble from the welfare authorities.

Q- How long have you been unemployed - on the buroo?

A- I've been signing on since the 1980's. For years I was on Incapacity Benefit but two years ago they threatened to cut that benefit. I was switched over to JSA - Job Seekers Allowance.

Q- How did workfare come to be put to you?

A- I went into the Wellgate Buroo about six months ago and told to accept workfare or face a loss of benefits,

     including Housing Benefit.

Q- What does it involve?

A- I'm in Tescos packing shelves and menial work like sweeping for £55 a week, doing 38 hours.

Q- Any other folk on the scheme?

A- No other people. I'm feeling a wee bit isolated!

Q- What is your view of workfare?

A- Workfare is not for the working class people of Dundee.

WORKFARE - PROTEST AND RESISTANCE.

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! Supporters joined the Boycott Workfare boycottworkfare.org Day of Action protests against Workfare on Saturday 3 March. Shops and outlets like Primark, Tescos and PoundLand were targeted, picketed and occupied. From Dundee to Liverpool, demonstrators united to expose and oppose the exploitation of those compelled to work for benefits.

Since the well publicised protests of the Right to Work campaign, the issue of Workfare has brought the conditions under which the millions of unemployed are expected to suffer, to a wider audience. Posh media presenters have had to, briefly and uncomfortably, acquaint themselves with the stresses and details of the forgotten and marginalised poor. As the crisis deepens and its effects widen, more and more youth - 1 million unemployed at present - and jobless are experiencing the compulsory demand that work is accepted at benefit rates - Job Seekers Allowance of £67.50 per week for adults, £53.45 for under - 25's. Boycott Workfare estimate that there are over 250,000 people on Workfare programmes who are compelled to take jobs at these rates or face the suspension of benefits.

After the First World War, in 1919, the unemployed facing the same compulsions, marched under the banner of “1914- Fight!, 1919- Starve!”  These minimum benefits are the means today by which millions of people subsist, to remove them means that poverty, hunger and cold become a savage reality for the working class here. While bankers, business and parliamentary politicians rake it in, the working class is forced to sell its labour power at the lowest rates. On this basis a capitalist economy can be rebuilt but the working class will pay - and lose! The fight against Workfare is part of the battle against the cuts. We refuse to pay for the debts of the wealthy and powerful. The people of Greece are further down that road than we are, wage cuts and unemployment as well as assuaging finance capital's 'debts', are designed to drive down the wages of the working class across Europe by at least a third - more if possible. The battle against workfare is part of the battle against capitalist exploitation. http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/international/2425-greek-workers-fight-back

No Cuts. Full Stop! would like to make two very necessary points about the general campaign against Workfare which we believe would bring political and social strength to our battles.

This struggle cannot be reduced to the deliberately false characterisation of Workfare as an exclusively Tory bogeyman. This argument is produced to spook us into accepting Labour party concerns about the shabby scheme as genuine and evidence of the possibility of a Labour led campaign against the Tories. This is a fabrication. Anyone on workfare in the last 2 years will know vividly that the Labour government before the election of May 2010 was the enthusiastic architect of workfare, using its previous 13 years in office to begin and develop the compulsory system. The Right to Work Campaign which made headlines occupying stores on Oxford Street in London, continues this corrupt cover - up for Labour with it's recent arguments to include of Labour councillors who had voted for cuts budgets on 'anti- cuts' platforms. 

While tax dodging multi - nationals like Tescos, MacDonalds and Primark have undoubtedly exploited the labour of the unemployed here, we would argue that these money - making outfits are all well used to making blood soaked profits from slave labour. The goods which these firms peddle have their origins in the poor peoples and countries of this world. Imperialism is the means by which the labour of children, women and men is brutally super - exploited. 14 - hour days in pesticide soaked fields in Africa, in the sweat of the cotton looms of Bangladesh, in the back street smelters of Thailand – there is slave labour of the most brutal kind. Unity with the fight and resistance of the working class here and there - common cause against the common exploiters - is the way forward.

Michael MacGregor