TAMESIDE TRADES UNION COUNCIL
A Representative Body of the Trades Union Congress
Secretary: Mr. B. Bamford, 46 Kingsland Rd, Rochdale, Lancs, OL11 3HQ.
Tel: 01706 861793
19th December 2016
Anne McLaughlin MP,
House of Commons, London, SW1A OAA.
Dear Anne,
I have been instructed to write to you to thank you for the excellent contribution you made during the debate on the 'Benefit Claimants Sanctions Bill' in the House of Commons on Friday 2nd December 2016.
The level of ignorance or indifference that was displayed by some MP's during this debate on 'sanctions' was quite astonishing. While it’s apparent that some Tory MP's swallow the official government drivel about sanctions, others have clearly put their consciences in cold storage. This Government and many of their MP's display a brutish insensibility to all that does not concern money and wealth - it truly is the worship of Mammon. It is therefore reassuring to many of us who are engaged in protest actions against unfair benefit sanctions that at least some MP's, like yourself, know what they're talking about.
While Victoria Atkins, the daughter of The Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Atkins, and the MP for Louth and Horncastle, didn’t know what a ‘point of order’ was, she was nevertheless, adamant that what you were saying about benefit sanctions was untrue. I was reminded of a remark made by the Greek philosopher, Thucydides, who said:
"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, satisfied with their preconceived opinions."
I don’t suppose that any of us should be surprised to hear this sort of thing. Even in the mid-1860’s, when according to reports, people were dying of starvation in the streets of London at a rate of about two a week, there were plenty in the House of Commons, who denied it, or dismissed it, as the work of providence - "the poor will always be with us." But how, Ms. Atkins, in a media savvy age, could be so unaware of the real and dire consequences of benefit sanctions on the lives of people, is something that beggars belief. Not only have people been driven to hunger and food-banks because of sanctions, they have also been made homeless and driven to suicide.
Only recently, we heard of the tragic and sad case of 18-year-old David Brown, from Middlesbrough, who took his own life after he claimed he'd been belittled by Jobcentre staff to find work. Although David had not been sanctioned or threatened with a sanction, shortly before his death he told his mother - "The way the Jobcentre treat people, it is no surprise people commit suicide." As you are aware the death of David Brown was raised by Anna Turley MP during Prime Minister's Question Time on Wednesday 7th December 2016.
For over two years, we've held a weekly protest against unfair benefit sanctions outside Ashton-under-Lyne Jobcentre, in Greater Manchester, where we give advice and support to Jobseeker's. Although a sanctions system was always an integral part of the unemployment benefit system, it was not so arbitrary or so unfair, as it is today. Many of the cases that we hear about are quite shocking.
For example, one 19-year-old girl had her benefit stopped when she told a prospective employer - who was offering her an unpaid work placement - that she was 23-weeks pregnant. Another was sanctioned for three-months, when he arrived two-minutes late for an interview at the Jobcentre. A 19-year-old lad from Ashton was sanctioned for one month after Jobcentre staff claimed he'd applied for too many jobs but hadn't received enough interviews. This young man told us that he'd lost his home and had finished up living on the streets. Another Jobseeker told us that he’d received a 3-month benefit sanction for making a spelling mistake. In October, a 44-year-old lady from Ashton told us that she’d had her DLA stopped because she'd been too ill to attend an interview, after her home visit had been cancelled by the Jobcentre. Earlier this year, this lady had spent over 3-months in hospital with double pneumonia, kidney failure and sepsis. She also spent 3 weeks in an induced coma. A disabled young man told us that he’d been threatened with a benefit sanction by staff at Ashton Jobcentre, for supporting our protest, and we now understand, that Jobcentre ‘customers’ are being warned not to speak to us. If you want to speak to this lady or some of the others, we can put you in touch.
While the government deny that Jobcentre staff set people up for sanctioning or have national targets, this is refuted by the Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) that represents Jobcentre workers. They say that staff, come under intense pressure to sanction jobseekers, or face disciplinary action. Alan Davis, a former Jobcentre worker from Leicester, told a Channel 4 ‘Dispatches Programme’, broadcast in March 2015:
“The pressure was enormous. I just felt what they were asking me to do, was totally wrong – they were asking me to ‘hammer people’ who in their own way were doing their best to get a job.”
It is clear that some civil servants see themselves as lion tamer's, when dealing with the unemployed. Several years ago, a Whitehall official, speaking about benefit claimants, told the Sunday Times: "If we want them to tap dance, they will tap dance." (Owen Jones, 'The Guardian', 13 January 2012).
While the DWP claim that they are “Making work pay”, around 40% of Jobcentre workers qualify for Universal Credit, because they are so low paid. Some Jobcentre staff that are in receipt of Universal Credit, are now signing-on and facing possible benefit sanctions, because of the requirement to satisfy “in-work conditionality”, which is being piloted at Ashton Jobcentre as part of the roll-out of Universal Credit. In effect, under this scheme, workers are being turned into benefit claimants.
The protests at Ashton Jobcentre have drawn the attention of the national media. In November, a German film crew called to do an interview with some of the protesters. I understand that they had difficulty in comprehending why so many people were so desperately poor and relying on food-banks, in the sixth richest country in the world. They also found it difficult to understand why the British put up with such glaring inequality.
In the 'Northern Poorhouse', many people are becoming increasingly reliant on free food parcels. In 2011, Manchester was dubbed the child poverty capital of Britain, with some 23,000 children growing up in severe poverty. In April 2016, more than 50,000 emergency food supplies were handed out to families across Greater Manchester. Locally, Tameside Hospital, have set up a food-bank because patients were showing signs of malnutrition.
The Trades Union Congress recognise that there is a need to rebuild a modern social security system. The current system has been made increasingly punitive and has effectively been used to stigmatise benefit claimants. The Government's draconian sanctions regime is being used to push people into destitution for the most trivial reasons. The TUC therefore supports a citizens Universal Basic Income Scheme that would be paid to all unconditionally. As trade's unionists, we support such a scheme and would ask for your support as a Member of Parliament.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Bamford.
No comments:
Post a Comment