Happy new year! Unemployment set to soar in 2010

Unemployment will continue to rise at least until the summer of 2010, peaking at 2.8 million, a leading business group has predicted.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development warned of a “sting” in the tail of the recession, with a winter rise in job losses as firms assess prospects for the economy in the coming year.

Employers are set to decide to raise productivity and reduce labour costs, leading to “tough times” ahead for British workplaces, the group said.

The report estimated that the number of people in work will fall by 250,000 between the third quarter of this year and the second three months of 2010.

The 2.8 million unemployment prediction is much lower than an earlier forecast by the institute of 3.2m, with the report claiming that the coming year will be better for jobs than 2009.

The institute’s chief economic adviser Dr John Philpott forecasted a continued squeeze on pay rises next year.

He said: “This could be difficult to deliver following a recession during which many private sector employees have experienced pay freezes or pay cuts.”

Taken from Morning Star

Long-term unemployment has doubled, TUC says

The number of people on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) for more than a year has nearly doubled, the TUC has said.

Those claiming JSA for more than 12 months rose to 201,015 in November 2009, up from 103,930 in December 2008.

And 58 local authorities now have over 1,000 long-term claimants, compared with 19 last year.

The TUC is urging the government to extend its job guarantee for young people to everyone who has been unemployed for 18 months.

The TUC made the calculations using official claimant count data.

It wants to see the long-term unemployed entitled to a job paying at least the minimum wage for a minimum of six months.

Job Seeker’s Allowance currently stands at £50.95 a week for 16-24 year olds, and £64.30 a week for those aged 25 and over.

Damaging

The TUC is also calling for more help for those groups it says are at most risk of becoming the long-term unemployed.

These include people over 50, those who have spent a long time out of the labour market while caring for children or those with a history of unemployment.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber says long-term joblessness is damaging.

“Every job loss is a human tragedy, but when people are out of work for over a year they risk being permanently scarred by joblessness,” he said.

“The government should extend its job guarantee for young people to anyone out of work for 18 months to stop people getting mired in semi-permanent joblessness.”

In his recent pre-Budget report, Alistair Darling announced that the government was extending its guarantee of a job or training to all young people who had been unemployed for six months.

Previously only those under 24 years old who had been jobless for 12 months were eligible.

The chancellor said he hoped to raise £550m from a 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses to help ease unemployment.

In response to the TUC report, work and pensions minister Helen Goodman said long-term unemployment was an issue the government was trying to tackle.

“Action taken to help people back to work in the teeth of a deep global recession, backed by £5bn, has had a significant impact,” she said.

“At 12 months unemployment everyone gets intensive support through the government’s flagship flexible New Deal programme.”

Part-time workers

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell by 6,300 in November to 1.63 million, the first fall in claimants since February 2008.

However the number of people unemployed in the UK, using the government’s preferred measure, now stands at 2.49 million.

These figures show that the number of people jobless for more than a year increased by 49,000 in the latest quarter to 620,000, the highest since 1997.

The number of people who say they are working part-time because they cannot find a full-time position rose by 34,000 in the quarter and now stands at over 1 million.

Taken from BBC News

Defending the Welfare State and Public Services

March and Rally 10 April 2010

The pensioner, trade union and other welfare movements are planning a major demonstration in central London next April, in defence of the welfare state and public services.

The National Pensioners Convention is leading the event and the TUC is giving its full support, along with ASLEF, BECTU, CWU, FBU, GMB, NUJ, NUT, PCS, POA, RMT, TSSA, UCATT, UCU, UNISON, UNITE and USDAW. In addition the BMA, RADAR and the Carers Poverty Alliance are also taking part.

In the New Year we will have a special website advertising the event at www.10410demo.com along with a flyer (attached) which you can order for distribution and a petition.

This will be a major event either just before or just after the general election. Either way it will put down a marker to the next government that the welfare state and public services are important to all of us and must not become a casualty of the economic crisis. Every effort must therefore be used to maximise attendance.

Unemployment rise continues to slow

But its still rising!!!!

The number of people unemployed in the UK rose by 21,000 between August and October to 2.49 million.

The increase was the smallest rise in the jobless total since the March-to-May period in 2008, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed.

However, the number of 16-to-24 year olds who are unemployed rose to 952,000, the highest figure since records began in 1992.

The overall unemployment rate is now at 7.9%, according to the ONS figures.

Meanwhile, the number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell by 6,300 in November to 1.63 million, the first fall since February 2008.

Although the number of out of work 18-to-24 year olds increased by 26,000, this figure was offset by a fall in the number of jobless 16 and 17 year olds of 20,000.

Tough

The government said the problem of rising unemployment was far from over.

“It is still tough for a lot of people and we still expect unemployment to increase again in the New Year. So we are determined to do more, supporting a total of 400,000 extra youth opportunities over the next 18 months,” said Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

But the Liberal Democrat work and pensions secretary, Steve Webb, said the figures showed the government was failing to solve the problem of youth unemployment.

“This is another sad milestone for young people. The government’s headline-grabbing announcements haven’t even scratched the surface of the problems young people are facing in this recession.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May accused the government of trying to solve the problem with empty promises.

“Young people want real help to find work but almost two years since the recession began and unemployment started to rise, all we’ve had from Labour is endless headline grabbing announcements with very little action to back them up.”

“We seriously risk losing a generation of talented young people unless we get a handle on this crisis,” she continued.

The TUC has described the situation as a “national emergency”.

‘Encouraging figure’

The ONS figures showed that the south-east of England saw the biggest rise in unemployment during the quarter, up by 15,000 people. Jobless totals fell in the North West, the West Midlands and the South West.

CHANGES IN UNEMPLOYMENT TOTALS ACROSS THE UK
South East: Up 15,000 to 279,000
Wales: Up 9,000 to 125,000
North East: Up 6,000 to 124,000
Yorks/Humber: Up 6,000 to 239,000
East Midlands: Up 2,000 to 172,000
London: Up 2,000 to 377,000
N Ireland: No change, 54,000
East: No change, 197,000
Scotland: Down 2,000 to 187,000
South West: Down 4,000 to 176,000
North West: Down 5,000 to 287,000
West Midlands: Down 8,000 to 274,000
Source: ONS

The number of people unemployed for more than a year increased by 49,000 in the latest quarter to 620,000, the highest since 1997.

However, the figures also showed that the total number of people in employment rose by 53,000 over the period.

The figures could indicate a general improvement in the job market, according to analysts,

“It’s a very encouraging figure, not just the unexpected fall in claimant count unemployment, but the fact that the ILO figures show that employment rose,” said Howard Archer from Global Insight.

“It’s noticeable that the rise in employment was due to an increase in part-time jobs outweighing full-time employment, ” he continued.

Teacher on why she is forced to work two part-time jobs

The number of people who say they are working part-time because they cannot find a full time position rose by 34,000 in the quarter and now stands at over 1 million.

This shows that the overall stability of the jobs market is still delicate, according to Dr John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

“The emergence of ‘part-time Britain’ is good insofar as it helps keep the lid on headline unemployment, but it is an underlying sign of the pain still being inflicted on the UK workforce by the recession.”

Other analysts say that the general slowdown in the increase in unemployment could point to an improvement in the wider economy.

“These figures will bolster hopes that the recession has ended in the fourth quarter of 2009 with unemployment proving to be more of a contemporaneous indicator than a lagging one during this recession,” said Colin Ellis, an economist with Daiwa Securities.

Taken from BBC News

Debt worries and job security top troubles list

The Samaritans urged people not to let their concerns spiral out of control yesterday after a survey showed one in 20 described 2009 as their worst year ever and almost half said they were most worried about money or debt.

The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 people also found problems in relationships with family and friends (35 per cent), physical health concerns (32 per cent), fears over job security (24 per cent) and workplace stress (24 per cent) made up the top five of Britain’s biggest worries.

Just 18 per cent said they thought it had been a good year.

Samaritans chief executive Catherine Johnstone said: “If people don’t talk about their problems they can build up over time and spiral into more serious emotional distress.

“Sharing your troubles can be a huge relief and is often the first step to finding a way of coping with the challenges that life throws at all of us.”

Taken from Morning Star

Benefits changes force tenants into poverty

A leading charity has criticised the government’s local housing allowance saying it is plunging claimants into poverty.

Housing charity Shelter said the local housing allowance (LHA), a new way of paying housing benefit which was introduced last year, has left thousands of tenants struggling to manage their finances – with many now in danger of losing their home.

LHA was intended to promote fairness, choice and personal responsibility among claimants by paying the money directly into their bank accounts rather than to their landlord.

But a survey of 450 people carried out by the charity found that for 81 per cent it had been “fairly” or “very difficult” to find a home that was affordable.

Six in 10 said they had had to make up shortfalls in their rent themselves.

Many respondents claimed that they had only been able to find the extra money by going without essentials such as food and heating.

Shelter said part of the problem was that the boundaries used to calculate the levels of the allowance people receive – known as broad rental market areas (BRMA) – were too large.

As a result, people in expensive parts of the BRMA were being forced to move to cheaper areas or find the shortfall in rent themselves.

But it warned that in cheaper areas, anecdotal evidence suggested some landlords were raising their rents as they knew the LHA would pay out more than they were charging.

Ninety-five per cent of people receiving the LHA said they were struggling to manage their finances, while the new system had contributed to more than a quarter of people falling behind with their rent.

A growing number of landlords are allegedly refusing to accept LHA claimants as tenants, with 60 per cent of people receiving the benefit saying they had struggled to find a landlord who would let them a property.

Shelter director of policy and campaigns Kay Boycott said: “Under this system tenants have no choice about whether their benefit is paid to them or to their landlord.

“Many claimants are already struggling financially, so when they get rent money paid into their bank account there is a huge temptation to spend it on necessities such as food or bills rather than paying their rent.

“It is vital that the government makes urgent changes to LHA to ensure claimants do not continue to be disadvantaged.”

Taken from Morning Star

A Claimants’ Union for Tyneside?

First meeting -
Tuesday 15th December 2009 at 11am,
at Mark Toney’s Cafe, 91 Percy Street (opposite Haymarket)

A few of us – all in receipt of state benefits of one sort or another – have decided to meet up to discuss setting up a Claimant’s Union.
Anyone is welcome to join us, particularly people claiming benefits of any sort (e.g. JSA, ESA, DLA, Incapacity Benefit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Carers Allowance, Child Tax Credit, etc.), unemployed workers, unwaged people, etc.
We’ll bring some soya milk along for anyone who wants it in their tea.
Please pass this on to anyone who may be interested.

What is a Claimants’ Union?
At its simplest, a claimants’ union is a group of people who are claiming benefits who come together to give each other mutual aid and act collectively to solve problems with the benefits system.
These may be individual problems, like a member’s benefit money being stopped.
These may also be collective problems, such as treatment of people at a Jobcentre.
Solutions could be anything from members giving each other informal advice about how a similar situation has been handled before by other claimants, members accompanying each other to benefits interviews, writing letters of complaint from the union, organising leafleting sessions, or participating in direct action (for example, a group in Hackney, London, have occupied their local Jobcentre on behalf of individual members whose money had been stopped and also for collective problems such as not being allowed to take their children into the Jobcentre), or anything that members can think of.
The actions taken are decided by everyone involved.

For example, Newham Claimants’ Union say:

“We are a Union, not an advice bureau with professional advisers in the office and clients queueing up outside. So, if someone has a problem everyone gets a chance to help. The answer may come from someone who’s had to claim for a while and knows how the system really ticks. Or it might be a wild idea from the newest member that works! Or we’ll just look up the Welfare Benefits Handbook! If a letter has to be written or a form filled in, we try to do it that same meeting. We are a collective & we work together. The benefit business is so complex that one person can’t possibly hold it all in their head; we need each other’s brains!” (http://www.newhamclaimants.org.uk/Newham1.htm)

A Claimants’ Union isn’t like a Trade Union, they are not restricted by the anti-Trade Union laws, and are run non-hierarchically and non-bureaucratically.

Why a Claimants’ Union?
On 12 November, it became legal to force unemployed people to work for their benefits – to do 40-hour-weeks for under a third of the minimum wage. The Government’s Welfare Reform Act introduced ‘Work for your Benefit’ pilot schemes, which once completed can be rolled out without any further debate. It also attacked single parents – who face sanctions if they fail to prepare for work outside the home as soon as their child turns three – and people with impairments, disabilities or severe and enduring illnesses. Recent reforms to the benefits system have also attempted to drive people off sickness benefits and into unsuitable work, and have forced people to attend patronising courses and “work-related-activity”. In addition to this, the recession means that there are now a large number of unemployed people, and i suspect that the Jobcentres and benefits offices haven’t got any more fair and efficient at handling claims.

Lots of people are going to get a lot more hassle around their benefits, and Claimants’ Unions are one way of supporting each other and fighting back.

Are there Claimants Unions anywhere else?
Yes, several, such as Newham Claimants Union, in London, and Edinburgh Claimants. There were groups like this all over the country in the 1980s and 1990s. Other groups do similar things but have a slightly different emphasis – such as Hackney Unemployed Workers Action Group and Haringey Claimants’ Action Group, or the Unemployed Workers Unions which have recently been set up in several cities across the UK. Coalitions Against Poverty (there’s ones in London (LCAP) and Edinburgh (ECAP)) work on the same issues, but in a different way – through Direct Action Casework rather than collective groups. There’s also the groups set up to oppose recent welfare reforms – such as the local Defend Welfare group, and the national No To Welfare Abolition network, which we could work with. We could also work with relevant unions, feminist groups, single parents’ groups, disabled people’s groups, pensioners’ groups, asylum seekers’ groups, the local Centre Against Unemployment, the local IWW branch. The Claimants’ Union model is suggested because it is relevant to the widest range of people, and is flexible, non-hierarchical, and collective.

For more information, or if you can’t come to the meeting but would like to get involved,

email: helend130@yahoo.co.uk

Benefits cruelty of cancer patients

Seriously ill cancer patients are being forced to undergo “cruel” back-to-work interviews despite the fact they should be exempt, charities have warned.

Those who are terminally ill or undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy are being threatened with benefit cuts if they do not attend the meetings, according to Macmillan Cancer Support and Citizens Advice.

The “fit for work” interviews are for people seeking the employment and support allowance (ESA), which replaced incapacity benefit and income support in October 2008.

The drive behind ESA is to focus on what people can do rather than what they cannot do, as a means of getting them back to work.

However, cancer sufferers undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy or who are terminally ill are automatically exempt from the interviews.

Macmillan and Citizens Advice condemned the ESA process, saying it was “failing seriously ill and disabled people”. Macmillan’s benefits helpline has taken more than 600 calls about the issue since May.

A joint report – Failed by the System – found evidence of cancer patients with just months to live being told they had to undergo medical examinations and be questioned. Others having radiotherapy and people in hospital have also been refused ESA when they should automatically get it, the study found.

It also noted examples of people with cancer being told they are fit for work even when they are suffering from the long-term effects of the disease.

The charities said poor knowledge of ESA rules among Jobcentre Plus and Department for Work and Pensions medical staff is resulting in claims being handled badly. Poor administration systems and a lack of understanding about cancer are fuelling the problem, they said.

Mike Hobday, head of campaigns at Macmillan, said: “It’s cruel and completely unacceptable that people who are terminally ill or going through gruelling treatment are being made to jump through hoops to get money they should receive automatically. The safeguards to protect cancer patients clearly aren’t working, and the ESA system is riddled with problems.”

Taken from guardian.co.uk

Plotting and scheming for Welfare not Workfare

On 12 November, it became legal to force unemployed people to work for their benefits – to do 40-hour-weeks for under a third of the minimum wage. The Government’s Welfare Reform Act introduced ‘Work for your Benefit’ pilot schemes, which once completed can be rolled out without any further debate. It also attacked single parents – who face sanctions if they fail to prepare for work outside the home as soon as their child turns three – and people with impairments, disabilities or severe and enduring illnesses.

Two days later, members of twenty-three different groups from around the UK met to share information and plan resistance to these pernicious attacks, which will take their toll on working-class and low-income communities.

Groups present included Unemployed Workers Unions from six cities across the UK, the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network, Southwark Mind, WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities), Single Mothers’ Self-Defence (part of Global Women’s Strike) and members of the union in the Department of Work and Pensions – PCS. They were joined by feminist and other groups (all listed below).

The strength to be gained from meeting in solidarity with each other was immense and created a real sense that a movement is building: a movement which will not only fight the immediate attacks of the Welfare Abolition Act, but draw out the connections between our struggles and together challenge the ideology driving them.

The Act seeks to make our worth dependent on work; work defined in the really narrow terms of waged work for someone else’s profit. By making us compete with those in waged work for non-existent jobs, it helps drive down wages and conditions. We all take the brunt as the rich make even more money out of us.

We want solidarity with and from people in low-income, temporary and insecure work. These are the jobs that ‘work-for-your-benefit’ would replace.
We want caring to be recognised as important work in society. Single parents are already working and benefits are their entitlement to a social wage.
We want justice for people with severe or enduring illnesses. The drive to get people off incapacity benefits and Employment and Support Allowance and into work is making people more ill with stress. Only we know what we are capable of and it is wrong for conditions and sanctions to be imposed on us to force us into unsuitable work, unwanted “work-related activity” or “motivation sessions” which press us into their programmes of treatment for addictions and other conditions.
We want the right not to work. People not in waged work contribute loads to their communities. We do not want to be forced into mind-numbing, insecure work that leaves us no better off, or worse off than on benefits and definitely not at £1.27 an hour!
We want free, high-quality, public services to support older people and people with impairments/disabilities. People should not have to become employers managing ‘individual budgets’ in order to access the care they need.
We want to stand in solidarity with migrant workers. Just as unemployed people are pitted against people in work, so migrant workers are pitted against us. We believe that we must stand together and demand all of our rights together.
We want to fight privatisation of the Department for Work and Pensions. Attacks on DWP and Jobcentre Plus workers are attacks on our rights to access welfare. We will support the PCS’ fight against cuts.
We want an end to the apartheid system of benefits, healthcare and housing for asylum seekers.  UK Border Agency support should be scrapped — where people are forced to survive on incomes far below benefit levels – which are already set at subsistence level.  No slum housing and dangerous and dirty hostels, dispersal, or vouchers.

After a day of info-sharing, outrage and scheming, we formed a few working groups. If you’re able to help out with any of the projects, please email hackneyunemployedworkers@gmail.com

1.Media working group – monitor and respond to hostile articles in the media.
2.Our propaganda – creating posters, newsletters etc to get our messages out
3.Website – put together a website as a space to share resources, feedback and comment, get the word out about our campaign and publicise local and national action.
4.Our welfare rights – compiling information to help us access our rights now and creating ‘Know your rights’ leaflets.
5.Defeating the Work for your Benefits pilots – research to support the network to take action against the pilots.

If you want to stay in touch, please join our discussion list here:

http://groups.google.com/group/no-to-welfare-abolition

If you agree with our demands above and would like to take part in our campaign, please ask your group to sign up to this statement and email
hackneyunemployedworkers@gmail.com

And put the next national meeting in your diary now…. 17 April in Manchester!

The meeting had people in attendance from: South Manchester Community Union, London Anarcha-Feminist Kolektiv, London Coalition Against Poverty, Feminist Action, Defend Welfare Newcastle, Manchester Unemployed Workers Union, Cambridge Unemployed Workers’ Union, PCS, Hackney Unemployed Workers, Single Mothers’ Self Defence, Winvisible, Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, Disabled People’s Direct Action Network, Southwark Mind, Women’s Office Manchester Student Union, Riveters feminist group in Manchester, Feminist Fightback, Industrial Workers of the World, No Borders, Stop Deportations, Anarchist Federation, Communist Students, Salford Unemployed Workers’ Union.