Arbeitslosenselbsthilfe O l d e n b u r g
Kaiserstr. 19
D-26122 Oldenburg (Oldenburg)
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 10:00:45 BST Subject: BABC (UK) campaign report To: workfare-discuss@icomm.can, euromuk@aol.com Message-ID: <ECS9809141045A@central.susx.ac.uk> From: J.Drury@sussex.ac.uk (John Drury)
BRIGHTON AGAINST BENEFIT CUTS Fighting 'New Deal' workfare and other attacks on our benefits PO Box 2536, Rottingdean, BRIGHTON BN2 6LX U.K.
Campaign Report, July - August 1998
Campaign newsletter We have started a new campaign newsletter, 'Where's my Giro?', which we will produce every six weeks or so. We produced several hundred copies of the first issue, and covered both broad political issues such as the Government's crackdown on benefits 'fraud', and our own local activity. We distributed the newsletter via a weekly stall - both in the high street and outside one of the Jobcentres - as well as through shops, pubs and cafes, plus via mail and email to other campaign groups across the country. At one of the stalls, we were approached by the Employment Service District Manager. We had a long meeting with him in which he tried to persuade us to print more positive items about the New Deal. We agreed - as long as the Jobcentres publicize the negative aspects, such as the effects on wages etc.
Simon Jones Memorial Campaign Simon Jones, someone known to members of BABC, was killed by a crane while working at Shoreham Harbour four months ago. He was sent to the docks by the Jobcentre and an employment agency and received no Health and Safety training. He was a victim of casualization, and a campaign has been set up to publicize the issues raised by his death, by putting pressure on the docks company (Euromin), the employment agency (Personnel Selection) and others. BABC are involved in the campaign and participated in its first action - a successful occupation of the Euromin docks. Banners were hung from their lighting towers and their gate was d-locked to prevent lorries entering. We successfully stopped work for the day, and the action was covered extensively by local TV stations.
Spoof leaflet We are still planning to produce another spoof New Deal leaflet after the success of the first one. But we need money from other campaign groups in order to do this. So far only Bristol have sent us any money.
Campaign meetings Some of our campaign meetings have been poorly attended - perhaps because of the summer holiday. Usually, though, we average over 10 people at our weekly meetings.
Money Money remians a problem, and we have relied heavily of late on the generosity of certain local union branches.
Index of Welfare-Workfare-State Archives
Last Modified: October 1998