to boycott shops that use forced unpaid labour (aka slavery)?

[ChickenLickn]

These stores:

Boots,
Tesco,
Asda,
Primark,
Argos,
TK Maxx,
Poundland,
Arcadia group of stores run by billionaire Sir Philip Green, which includes Top Shop and Burton,

are all using 'workfare' schemes, forcing jobseekers to work 30 hrs/week unpaid for 6 months in profit making companies or face losing their jobseekers benefits. Mre details here.

Please avoid shopping in these shops as much as possible, this is basically slavery and is illegal under human rights law (and currently being challenged in the courts).

The good news is that Waterstones and Sainsburys have recently pulled out of the scheme.

"I'd be grateful for your input because I'll add it to my complaint."

Sorry, that made me sound intolerably pompous. Signed, Dame Pompous of LadyBountifulVille.

Sorry limited that came over as a bit ranty and like i was having a go at you. i wasnt so im sorry if it came across that way.
The reason i posted that was to get the point across to the posters who see nothing wrong with the charities getting this forced labour.
take Shelter for instance. I know theyve pulled out now but imagine,they could have had the power to get a JSA claimant sanctioned for something like being too ill to attend. The sanction could have then caused homelessness. Its a massive conflict of interest and blatent hypocrisy. This is Shelter FFS. Their chief exec must have been either asleep or hungover or just plain fucking stupid to agree to it in the first place.

Limited period only- I am condemning workfare in a big way!!It seems to be putting people on an equal footing with those doing community service!!
Why are job seekers being punished? It's not there fault that the banks were unsupervised by the govt and allowed the economy to crash in such a way.
Idonotlikefun is spot on The only people to benefit are Tesco shareholders and board , the chairman of which I am assuming is a big benefactor to the Tory party.

dandelionss I thought that's what you meant. Sorry, to have offended you. It's just I can't believe some of the people on this thread.

carer don't you worry about ranting. I came back on this thread to rant tell you I've just dug a BHF junk mailout out of the to-be-shredded file and scrawled: 'don't ever think of contacting me again unless you withdraw from this disgusting scheme.'

I used the pre-paid envelope they thoughtfully provided.

Nice one limited.

Heads up... Owen Jones is gonna be on Five Live any min now. He mentioned workfare on QT last night so you never know..........

"if any of you would like to drop a polite, constructive email to Philip Clarke, the chief executive of Tesco (wage £6,900,000 a year), his email address is [email protected] .

Tesco currently save £11,000,000 a year by not paying wages to the people who are on this workfare scheme."

Thanks Taps. I'll do it and pass it on.

Animula on page 2 of this thread you mentioned Conde Nast. Could you elaborate on that please.

I have just sent an email to Tesco customer services, to explain why I wil not be using their new store, but will take my business to Sainsbury's (which is further away).
I am awaiting diagnosis, and (hopefully) treatment of a continuously painful, and debilitating health problem. I worked 33 years, and paid my contributions, to not have this sort of stress in times of sickness/disability. The NHS appears to be too stretched to get this sorted, and I am to ill to be working for what was my normal wage (approx. £10,000 more than I currently get on Incapacity benefit) never mind FOR FREE! However ATOS thinks I should manage in their WRAG, despite the potential health/hygiene/safety risks, and the unpredictabilty of any times I MIGHT be able to do their bidding! I am appealing against this decision, as the only other option is to give up trying to get fixed, and die quietly, or are they building workhouses for the likes of me? !!!!!!!

P.S. WHEN I AM DIAGNOSED AND FIXED I WOULD LOVE TO TAKE A PAID JOB AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Nanna im so sorry to hear this. They are INHUMANE

Argos try to defend the use of the "scheme"

www.boycottworkfare.org/

I am only buying loss leaders from companies that use Workfare. Better than a boycott, buy things they actually LOSE money on!!

YANBU. Pay people properly or don't employ them at all. Equal pay for equal work.

I can't find a (second) job. I have applied to all the supermarkets, have shedloads of retail and customer service experience, but I they are not hiring me.
Because I want to be paid for my labour.And why should they pay when they can get it for free?

I also love the way that jobseekers are always characterised as long term unemployed, young, shiftless and stupid.

My dad was laid off in the last recession, and was unemployed for a year thru no fault of his own.
That would have helped his depression no end, being forced to stack shelves in Tesco for free as a 50 year old man with a good education.

I am not normally a vindictive person but I hope and pray that everyone who thinks workfare is soo good for filling those CV gaps, and gaining work experience LOSES THEIR FUCKING JOB.

Then see how you like them apples.

Oh and this, directed at HuntyCat from *bemybebe, page 8":

"I absolutely understand why some types of work are not accessible to you. (I am also on bed rest btw.) But I have come across a lot of long posts by you frothing etc... you are a capable writer and your level of energy is somehow wasted. Anyway, you are right it is none of my business, but it is illustrative how some people (not you) waste their talents by not looking wider."

I write for a (not quite) living. And it is really not an easy way to make money.
People don't just ring you up and ask you to write stuff. You have to make it your life's work to drum up interest.
It's called business development and it takes up a good proportion of my working week.
And even then, many areas of work are hard to come by due to websites "outsourcing" web content to India, Interns writing newspaper articles for free, and companies frantically trying to save money by doing their own PR copy.

"Just go and earn money writing" is obviously a comment made by someone who has no clue what this takes.

@nannasylve, for you, this was on twitter, if is of any interest to you :)

If you have been put on Mandatory Work Activity - get in touch. #workfare [email protected]

peekabooby, thanks, I'm just going to look now.
KatieMiddleton - Great idea!

So this is the governments response to folks not being able to live on £6 an hour, because the cost of living's sky rocketing. Mass profits for the few, no wages at all for the many {finds corner to sob in}

Don't flame me, I have just bought the DM to see if there was anything about workfare. (don't bother)

Littlejohn - headline "Fight for the right to stay in bed all day" The article goes on to discuss "That dopey bird from Birmingham who claims that stacking shelves in Poundland for £54 per week unemployment benefit"

That would be the dopey bird with a vetinary degree

YANBU
I've just read this thread from the beginning and I am shocked at some of the opinions expressed on here.
NOBODY is saying they are "too good" to do these jobs. It is unacceptable that someone is forced (and they are) to work for a huge company and that company 1) doesn't have to pay them 2) gets a huge subsidy for being "kind" enough to accept free labour 3) does not provide any kind of training (eg qualification) that might possibly make the placement worthwhile 4) is exempt from H&S legislation as regards that employee 5) is using that employee as a straight substitute for a normal, paid employee
I've posted an email that I received from Chris Grayling on another thread at his request (ooh, get me! Personally pissing off a government minister ) and I'd be happy to put it on here if anyone wants to read it. It's full of holes and basically says that the problem is that we just don't understand Workfare, Workfare doesn't actually exist Again to stress ? we do not have a ?workfare scheme?. We have a voluntary work experience scheme are his words, and some nebulous claim that almost half of the 40,000 young people who have so far been involved in this scheme have moved off benefits with no supporting information as to where they have been moved, which makes me suspect that it isn't to paid employment, what with youth employment being so high - if it was to normal employment, he woud have been more than happy to supply these figures.
It is good to finally see this issue getting some media coverage, but it is dubious coverage. Nick Clegg was on Sky News this morning crowing that over £100 million had been invested in tackling youth unemployment and that Workfare? Voluntary schemes? (it seems that Mr Clegg doesn't deny Workfare's existence) will help young people actually find a job because "the private sector cannot magic jobs from nowhere." These magic jobs are exactly what David Cameron expected when he started making huge cuts in the public sector.

Another thing I have noticed is that jobs which would even a year ago have been 7.50 and hour (call centre jobs mainly) are now 6.75.
Companies know that with unemployment so high, they don't have to pay more than minimum wage.
I am doing a temp job next week at 6.75 an hour. I did something very similar 12 years ago for 6.50 an hour.

Same here NorthernWreck, 13 years ago I got a job at £6.50 an hour and I'm about to return to work after having a sproggy for the princely sum of.... £6.08 an hour. But they said it would take a month to do the paperwork so I'm terrified they're going to see if they can get it done by workfare instead.

This is what I sent:

Subject: WorkFare

I had, recently, applied for a tesco clubcard, as you were due to open a store nearby. However, as you are participating in WorkFare, and I see this as causing a reduction of remunerated work in this country, and abuse of genuine workers, as well as genuinely sick/disabled people, I will not be using your store. Sainsbury's is a little further away, but they appear to have more scruples then your company.

This is Tesco's reply:

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your recent email.

Tesco has been working in partnership with JobCentre Plus for many months to offer work experience opportunities lasting up to four weeks for young unemployed people who are struggling to find jobs. No one is under any obligation to take part in the scheme, and JobCentre Plus has assured us that all of those who have come to Tesco have done so as volunteers. Tesco would not take part in any mandatory scheme. This is all about helping young people who want to find a job.

We would never offer longer term work on an unpaid basis. The Department for Work and Pensions has acknowledged that the advertisement was an error on the part of JobCentre Plus. Work experience at Tesco should, wherever possible, be a pathway to a paid job with Tesco. That has already been the case for 300 work experience participants with us so far and we hope it will be for many more people.

We understand the concern that those who stay in the scheme longer than a week risk losing their benefits if they drop out before the end of their placement. We have suggested to DWP that, to avoid any misunderstanding about the voluntary nature of the scheme, this threat of losing benefit should be removed.

We remain committed to offering long-term, sustainable and rewarding paths into employment for thousands of young people.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us about this matter.

Kind regards