Some common sense

Today's news brings with it this little tidbit - Jobless figures rose by 27,000 in the three months to the end of January, bringing the total number of unemployed to 2.53 million people. That's a shocking amount.

The Jobcentre in my home town is open just one day a week. That's despite it having a huge unemployment problem.

Jobcentres aren't just there for people to sign on. They advertise local, and national, vacancies which anyone, employed or not, can view. They serve as places for people to get help and advice. Or at least they are supposed to.
But they're being treated as factories, for pushing people from one end to another as quickly as possible. And now their staff numbers are being cut.

The unemployed are treated as goods on a conveyor belt. Or worse, they are treated like criminals. No-one asks to lose their job, for their firm to go bust, or for them to become ill. So why the criminal treatment?
I honestly don't think this government realises what being unemployed is like. The worthless feeling when you are unable to provide for yourself and your family, that gets worse with every rejection. The humiliation of having to queue in the Jobcentre to sign on for your benefits and prove that you've applied for a certain number of jobs.

And if you have the audacity to become sick then you face the humiliation of claiming ESA. I say humiliation because you're treated as if you're faking your illness from the start. The Work Capability Assessment, carried out by unqualified, non specialist assessors, is designed to prove you can work, not to confirm that you can't.
And because of it's failings, hundreds of thousands of people are about to be pushed onto Jobseekers, to join the rest of the 'goods' on the conveyor belt.
Atos gets paid £300 million for this. That's in addition to the £500 million it's already been paid for it's current services.

And let's not forget the much lauded (by the ConDems) Work Programme. Private companies can bid for government contracts to help the unemployed back to work. At a cost of anywhere up to £2 billion a year, according to the Financial Times

With the number of Jobcentre staff now being cut, the system will get worse. I'm no economist or politician but it seems to me to be crazy to payout millions to private firms whilst cutting the number of Jobcentre staff.
So here's an idea - stop paying the private firms. Stop sacking the JC staff. Recruit more of them and train them properly. Have them take on a case load of certain amount of claimants that they work with - from the initial signing, to the 2 weekly appointment, to jobseeking. Have them get to know their clients. So they can help them better and stop the culture of treating everyone as a commodity to be got through.
Stop paying Atos. Instead of subjecting every claimant to a WCA, work with their consultants.

That way you stop wasting millions, or even billions, you take more off benefits, and you stop vulnerable people from being treated like cattle. When people start being treated as humans again they are more likely to accept help, to trust their advisers and their confidence is boosted. All of this helps them to look for work.
And the disabled and sick stop living in fear. They stop thinking that taking their own lives is the only way out. They gain back that scrap of dignity that it left to them.

All of this is common sense surely?

IDS's latest outrage

This article has me shaking with anger.

The feckless unemployed will be forced to take part in a punishing U.S.-style ‘workfare’ scheme involving gardening, clearing litter and other menial tasks for just £1 an hour in a new crackdown on scroungers.
And if they fail to turn up on time or work hard they will be stripped of their dole for three months.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will tomorrow unveil ‘compulsory community placements’ in an attempt to stop people living on benefits for years without bothering to look for work.

How dare they brand everyone who is unemployed as feckless. They have absolutely no idea of what it's like to be unemployed. Or to have to sign on.
There are work shy out there yes. We all know a few. But the majority of claimants are honest people who try as much as they can and still can't find a job.

There a very few jobs out there. And there will soon be even less, with a huge increase in the amount of people chasing them.
Why can't the DM and the ConDems see this? Why are they being so blind?

Instead of receiving their usual £65-a-week Jobseeker’s Allowance for sitting at home doing nothing, they will get substantially less – and will have to clock on and off on time and work flat out.
The Government has not decided how much people on ‘community placements’ will be paid but it is understood the figure will be between £30 and £40 a week – the equivalent to £1 an hour, one sixth of the minimum wage.

So if you can't find a job you get your money cut. Yes, this is fair.

Now, I have no problem with unemployed people being asked to do voluntary work. But it should be true voluntary work, not jobs that would usually be paid for like the ConDems proposal of litter picking and gardening. Places like the National trust and various charities are crying out for volunteers. Bet they won't be in IDS's scheme. And they should be allowed to pick what they do.
And it shouldn't be a 40 hour week. How are they supposed to look for work or attend interviews/ training courses if they are forced into doing this? Would any Tory supporter be happy to work a 40 hour week for £40 a week?
And they should certainly not be made to do it for less than their benefit or be forced into it.

It makes me sick that the privileged few who have never been in this position are standing in judgement. They should walk a few miles in the shoes of the unemployed before they dare to make a ruling like this.

As one Labour MP said this is nothing short of slave labour.

Osborne isn't working

Brilliant post from David Osler, explaining exactly why Osborne's policies are bad for the UK.
As a socialist, and someone who actually cares about other people, I completely agree with his words.

Especially these:

the number one item on the charge sheet against capitalism is that it can – and regularly does – leave so many people out of work. Never mind the criminal waste of human potential this implies; the social cost of the devastation of entire communities is simply beyond the capacity of economists to measure.

For a Government that supposedly wants to be 'fair', they are failing badly.

Read his article here