British Heart Foundation Are Out of Some Workfare – But Announcement Leaves More Questions Than Answers

In a humiliating blow for Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) have announced they are to abandon the Government’s Mandatory Work Activity scheme.

Whilst this represents a major victory for anti-workfare campaigners, BHF have also revealed their intention to continue using workfare in some form.  Bungling charity bosses appear to have picked the worst of both worlds.  Whilst they now lose 600 (at the last count) unpaid workers, the ongoing campaign against the charity’s use of workfare is likely to continue.

BHF now say on their website:

“Currently, we are moving away from involvement in the mandatory work activity programme towards schemes which provide longer term voluntary placements. We have just established an important partnership with Job Centre Plus to actively promote volunteering as an option for people who are unemployed.”

This vague statement appears to fly in the face of current DWP policy. There are four main workfare schemes currently in operation.  These are Mandatory Work Activity (MWA), Work Experience, Community Action Programme (CAP) and the Work Programme.

British Heart Foundation say they are out of MWA (or at least moving away from it – some of their over-priced furniture shops are believed to still have MWA staff).  The Community Action Programme (CAP) is six months workfare for long term unemployed people.  It is also a mandatory scheme.  If this is the scheme that the BHF are considering, then they are fibbing when they claim to be moving away from mandatory programmes.

The Work Experience scheme is for young people only and just two months in length, which seems to rule that out.  This leaves the Work Programme, and here the rules are a little more complex.  Whilst workfare for profit making companies is now officially (if not in practice) voluntary on the Work Programme, workfare for a community based projects can be still be mandated under threat of benefit sanctions.

British Heart Foundation have already admitted to having employed hundreds of unpaid staff through the Work Programme.  Whether these staff were mandated or genuine volunteers is unknown.  The answers lie with the welfare to work companies like A4e or G4S whose staff are left to choose whether to mandate unemployed people to community based workfare.

Another possibility is that BHF and Jobcentre Plus have cooked up an entirely new scheme that has yet to be announced.  But even this seems unlikely.  When Universal Credit is introduced next year full time volunteering will no longer be allowed for unemployed claimants, unless the volunteering is mandated by the DWP.

It sounds like the Work Programme is the most likely scheme under which BHF have just “established an important partnership with Job Centre Plus to actively promote volunteering as an option for people who are unemployed.”

Unfortunately if those people don’t volunteer they can be mandated to work for free via the Work Programme.  There isn’t even any reason for British Heart Foundation to ever know that their workers are there under threat of financial destitution.  Claimants, under threat of benefit sanctions should they put a foot wrong, are unlikely to speak up.

BHF could claim to have a happy, genuine team of volunteers who are in fact nothing of the sort.  If that seems dishonest, or even shocking, it is exactly what the charity have been doing up until now.  BHF have boasted that workfare staff on mandatory schemes have agreed that the placement is “appropriate and mutually beneficial”. 

It is hardly surprising that BHF have got themselves in a mess over workfare.  The DWP themselves hardly seem to know what’s going on most of the time.  But the charity only have themselves to blame for being one of the most enthusiastic exploiters of free labour schemes aimed at punishing the unemployed.

None of this takes away from the fact that BHF pulling out of the Mandatory Work Activity (MWA) is a potentially death-dealing blow to the scheme.  BHF claimed to have 600 workers on MWA – a four week programme – at the time of making the statement.  Over the course of a year that means almost 8000 workfare workers on MWA could have been employed by the charity.

This is just under half the of the 16,790  people who started on MWA between May 2011 and February 2012.

It’s impossible to know exactly how many people have been sent to the charity on the scheme because the DWP are desperately attempting to hide all information relating to the programme.

Chris Grayling announced in June that up to 70,000 people could face  the Mandatory Work Activity programme.  Welfare to work insiders already claim they are struggling to find placements for far fewer people than that.  With British Heart Foundation joining an increasing number of charities to reject the scheme, it’s plain to see that workfare isn’t working.  Join in with the upcoming Week of Action Against Workfare Charities and let’s make sure it stays that way.

Above pic taken from an Edinburgh protest against the charity.

UPDATE: A taped conversation with a British Heart Foundation fundraiser has just emerged – “they’re taking my taxes that I pay” says the fundraiser when asked about unemployed claimants.  Listen at:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1051646-british-heart-foundation-chugger#t=1m46s

Boycott Workfare in Brum, Brighton, Leeds and Kilburn

Resistance to unpaid labour continues around the UK with at least four anti-workfare protests taking place over the next fortnight.

This Saturday 3rd November North London Solidarity Federation will be meeting outside Poundland in Kilburn High Road from noon.

All welcome, more info on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/events/548947038455870/

On the same day in Brighton a picket of Superdrug has been called by Brighton Benefits Campaign.  Meet at the Clock Tower from noon on Saturday 3rd November:
http://www.facebook.com/events/506918476000194/

The Leeds Unemployment Action Group will also be taking action on 3rd November with Argos, Superdrug and Poundland in their sights.  Meet at 2pm outside Argos on Headrow:
http://www.facebook.com/events/434505809941086/

On the 10th November Boycott Workfare West Midlands will be holding a demonstration at so called charity British Heart Foundation on Harborne High Street.  British Heart Foundation are one of the largest charities making use of forced labour under the Mandatory Work Scheme.  Join in from 11.30 am at British Heart Foundation, 159 High Street Harborne, Birmingham, West Midlands B17 9QE.  More info at:
http://www.facebook.com/events/500424336644051/

If you can’t make Birmingham then don’t forget to tweet British Heart Foundation to demand they pay their workers and pull out of all workfare schemes @thebhf

Please help share, tweet and help spread the word about all events.  Feel free to post details of any other anti-workfare action taking place in the comments.

http://www.boycottworkfare.org/

Dear British Heart Foundation – a letter of complaint

Dear British Heart Foundation

As a previous regular donor to my local British Heart Foundation (BHF) store, I wish to complain about your organisation’s use of ‘workfare’ placements along with the misleading information about the nature of the schemes on BHF’s website.

You state on your website that:

“Our shops rely on the efforts of paid staff, volunteers and people on schemes and placements. Every new person goes through the same process, irrespective of which route they have used to come through our doors. Our shop managers have a discussion with all applicants to ensure that their joining us is appropriate and mutually beneficial. If either side feels that this will not be the case, the applicant will not take up a position with us.” (1)

I believe this statement to be a deliberate misrepresentation of the nature of the Government scheme from which BHF draw many staff.  As BHF are doubtless aware, those on Mandatory Work Activity, and some of those on the Work Programme, face having benefits removed should they not attend workfare placements.  They are not ‘applicants’ but have been sent, under threat of sanction, to attend BHF.  A claimant is therefore unable to say that they do not feel the placement will be “appropriate or mutually beneficial” as this may result on benefits being stopped.  Anecdotal evidence is clearly emerging which suggests many workfare staff at BHF do not consider the placement appropriate and beneficial, as an examination of workfare staff in just one BHF store found:

“Before I could even ask a question, the young woman at the desk hearing why I was there, said quietly and emphatically ‘it’s not nice here, it’s not nice here’. She went on to tell me that she had a qualification in retail and so ‘it’s not benefiting me at all’.”

I went over to the three men who were fixing a broken wardrobe. ‘It’s a punishment’ one of the men told me as he hammered a nail into the wardrobe ‘it’s nothing to do with work experience, if you miss a day your benefits are stopped, it’s about stopping people from claiming benefits…Yes, I really appreciate this work experience, the 13 years of work I’ve done managing clubs in London really wasn’t enough’” (2)

Evidence suggests that Mandatory Work Activity (MWA) has no benefit in helping people find work (3).  The Social Security Advisory Committee pointed out that this scheme cannot be volunteered for and could be regarded as a punishment.  The Committee also warned of the prospect of disabled people being referred to Mandatory Work Activity without “proper safeguards being put in place around unrealistic expectations of what they could do.”  It is clear this could also apply to those unwell due to a heart condition.  The Committee recommended that “Mandatory Work Activity Does Not Proceed.” (4)

Whilst BHF claim some workfare staff have gone on to work with the charity, it is crucial to note that under current guidelines, workfare placements must not come with a potential job offer attached. (5)  In the interests of transparency, are BHF prepared to release details of how many of the 1,600 people on Work Programme or MWA with the BHF have moved into paid work with charity and how many have completed an NVQ in Retail or Customer Services as part of their placement?

Due to the recent re-assessment for health related benefits, hundreds of thousands of claimants have been moved from sickness or disability benefits onto Job Seekers Allowance -  including many people suffering from heart conditions.  Several people have been found ‘fit for work’ only to die from heart disease days later (6).  Many people may be suffering from heart related conditions which limit the amount of work they can do, however they can now be mandated to undertake full time unpaid work, possibly in a BHF shop.

BHF recommend that for those diagnosed with a heart condition: “Your GP or heart specialist will help you decide when you are fit enough to return to work.”  Under MWA, claimants could be referred to workfare regardless of the opinion of their GP or other medical specialist.

I therefore wish to make a complaint on the following grounds:

1)  Workfare is unethical.  Workfare for those with health conditions even more so.  Can it really be considered acceptable that somebody with a heart condition could find themselves forced to work without pay in British Heart Foundation’s charity shops?  Stress is a well known aggravating factor in heart disease, and the constant threat of benefits sanctions and unpaid labour are hugely stressful for unemployed benefit claimants.  BHF themselves recommend that doctors, not jobcentres, are the best guide of whether someone with a heart condition is fit to work.

Even if BHF were able to screen out potential unpaid workers who may face health risks due to MWA, the charity’s involvement in the scheme implies an endorsement.  A charity such as BHF should not appear to support a government policy which is potentially detrimental to the health of those unemployed and diagnosed with heart conditions.  There is a clear conflict of interest between BHF’s desire to improve the health of those with a heart condition and the charity’s desire to gain free labour from workfare schemes.

I believe BHF’s use of workfare workers who may have diagnosed, or undiagnosed heart conditions, and the apparent endorsement of MWA, breaches Hallmark 1 of the Charity Commission’s Hallmarks of an Effective Charity which states: “An effective charity is clear about its purposes, mission and values and uses them to direct all aspects of its work.”

2) Whether an organisation uses workfare staff has become a major factor in whether people choose to donate to that charity.  BHF is evasive about the nature of their involvement.  The claim that all those working unpaid with BHF have agreed that their placement is “beneficial and appropriate” cannot be substantiated by facts and is contradicted by anecdotal evidence. Even if the conversation between shop managers and those referred to workfare takes place, the claimant is unable to provide an honest answer.  A claimant who tells the manager they don’t want to work in a BHF Shop will have benefits sanctioned.  Therefore no potential workfare staff can make the choice to “not take up a position” with BHF.

BHF’s statement gives a false impression of consent on behalf of workfare workers.  This Breaches Hallmark 6 of an Effective Charity which states: “An effective charity is accountable to the public and others with an interest in the charity in a way that is transparent and understandable.”

Please treat this letter as a formal complaint.  My attempt to speak to somebody on the telephone at BHF on this matter was unsuccessful despite numerous attempts.  Therefore should a response not be forthcoming within 28 working days I will refer the complaint to the Charity Commission.

Ta

johnny void

(1)
http://www.bhf.org.uk/about-us/our-policies/our-shops/work-programme.aspx

(2)
http://izzykoksal.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/workfare-at-the-british-heart-foundation/

(3)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/13/mandatory-work-scheme-government-research

(4)
http://ssac.independent.gov.uk/pdf/MWA_report.pdf

(5)
http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/workfare-must-not-lead-to-a-job-say-guidelines/

(6)
http://www.birminghammail.net/news/birmingham-news/2012/07/04/birmingham-dad-dies-of-heart-condition-after-being-ruled-fit-for-work-97319-31317519/

British Heart Foundation’s Workfare Lies

Major UK charity, the British Heart Foundation (BHF), have resorted to lying through their teeth to hide their use of mass workfare.

Hundreds of people have contacted them objecting to their use of forced labour on the government’s various workfare schemes.  The charity have responded with this statement:

“Our shops rely on the efforts of paid staff, volunteers and people on schemes and placements. Every new person goes through the same process, irrespective of which route they have used to come through our doors. Our shop managers have a discussion with all applicants to ensure that their joining us is appropriate and mutually beneficial. If either side feels that this will not be the case, the applicant will not take up a position with us.”

This flies in the face of British Heart Foundation’s admission that they currently have 600 unpaid workers on the Mandatory Work Activity (MWA) scheme.  As the name suggests, this schemes involves four weeks unpaid work, and is used as a punishment by Jobcentre staff when they decide someone isn’t trying hard enough to find work.

When MWA was first proposed the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC), who scrutinise government welfare rules, warned:

“We also wonder why, given that the Department views mandatory work activity as a beneficial change, people will not be permitted to volunteer to take part. This seems to us to signal that being mandated to mandatory work activity is regarded as a punishment rather than an opportunity to learn and develop new behaviours and skills.”

The committee recommended that MWA should not go ahead.  Despite this the Government ploughed on regardless and tens of thousands of people have now been sent on the scheme.  MWA does not help people find work, and it isn’t intended to.  Just like community payback, it is a punitive scheme, the only difference being that if you are caught burgling someone’s home you at least get a trial.

Increasing numbers of people have expressed outrage at major UK charities exploiting unemployed people to staff their charity shops.  The more ethical charities such as Oxfam and Marie Curie have already pulled out.  Others like the British Heart Foundation and Scope have carried on regardless and simply attempted to mislead the public about their use of forced labour.

There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence from people forced to work in BHF shops that despite the charities claims, they do not feel their placement with them is “appropriate and mutually beneficial.”

W King, in the comments of this blog recently noted: “I’ve been assigned to BHF starting next monday, definitely nothing voluntary about that.”

Most damning of all are the findings of Izzy Koksal, who recently visited a BHF charity shops in search of workfare and reported:

“Speaking with the manager, she looked around the room and counted those on Mandatory Work Activity, ‘1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 today’ she informed me, adding ‘we do have pure volunteers as well’.”

Speaking to those on workfare revealed the exactly how unhappy some of these ‘impure’ volunteers are:  “the young woman at the desk hearing why I was there, said quietly and emphatically ‘it’s not nice here, it’s not nice here’.”

“I went over to the three men who were fixing a broken wardrobe. ‘It’s a punishment’ one of the men told me as he hammered a nail into the wardrobe ‘it’s nothing to do with work experience, if you miss a day your benefits are stopped, it’s about stopping people from claiming benefits…Yes, I really appreciate this work experience, the 13 years of work I’ve done managing clubs in London really wasn’t enough’ he says good naturedly.”

The full story, which is well worth reading, can be found at: 
http://izzykoksal.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/workfare-at-the-british-heart-foundation/

Today (Sept 8th)  sees another National Day of Action Against Workfare and many groups will be choosing to target charities, including BHF, who are benefiting from unpaid workers.

Even those who don’t consider forced unpaid work to be vile exploitation, may think twice about supporting charities who are prepared to lie about their use of workfare.  After all, if they lie about that when what else could they be lying about.  Charities like BHF, and Scope who also deny using workfare despite having unpaid workers on the MWA scheme, risk bringing the entire charitable sector into disrepute.

With the government rekindling plans to force even claimants on sickness or disability benefits to work for free, it is vital we show these so called charities that the workfare is unfair, immoral and unethical.  And no amount of spin from high paid charity bosses will hide their dirty little workfare secrets.

For all the latest news on workfare and the campaign to bring unpaid forced labour to an end visit: 
http://www.boycottworkfare.org/

British Heart Foundation are on twitter @thebhf, whilst Scope can be contacted @scope – if you can’t attend today’s day of action in person then why not tell them what you think.

Even charities are at it: Workfare Walk of Shame in London

From Boycott Workfare

Plans for a national day of action against charity involvement in workfare are brewing. Already Liverpool has announced an action with others in the pipeline in Edinburgh and Brighton. London also has plans for the day…

Camden High Street, 11.30am, Saturday 8th September.
Meet outside the Nat West opposite Camden Town station.

Workfare – forced unpaid work for people who need social security – can now be found on every high street. Charities – which really should know the difference between forced labour and volunteering – are helping the government roll out workfare on a massive scale: British Heart Foundation’s policy director has stated for the record that every one of their 700 stores has Work Programme placements. To their shame, many other charities are also involved.

In August, a new workfare scheme was announced which will compel people to work without pay for so-called “community benefit”. In other words, community service-style sentences are being meted out for the crime of being unemployed. This comes on top of the plan to put 1.06 million people onto six months’ workfare, mainly in charity and public sector organisations.

Our actions have pushed back the spread of workfare on the high street, now it’s time that charities respond to the call. Come along to this walk of shame to learn who’s in and who’s out and to step up the pressure on the charities which claim to help people but are pushing the unemployed into further poverty and exploitation.

Please help spread the word.

Before then don’t forget the Week of Action against poverty pimps Atos beginning on the 27th August.

More Lies, Spin and Smears from Chris Grayling and the DWP

Chris Grayling is lying through his teeth again in the Daily Mail today leading to the ludicrous claim that half of unemployed people are secretly working.

This is based on the claim that 46% of people referred onto the Government’s Mandatory Work Activity scheme (MWA)  – a system of community service for unemployed people -  sign off before starting the scheme or fail to turn up and have benefits sanctioned.

MWA is used should a Jobcentre advisor decide someone isn’t trying hard enough to find work.  It consists of 4 weeks unpaid work, similar to a medium level Community Payback sentence.  Job Seekers are now being treated in the same way as those who may have committed burglary, Actual Bodily Harm, or sexual offences, the only difference being the unemployed don’t get the benefit of a trial.

Claimants are sent to work for charity shops and ‘community organisations’.  Many of these charities are household names, such as the British Heart Foundation (@thebhf), who’s charity shops are fast becoming little more than punishment centres for the unemployed.  Other charities have lied through their teeth about their involvement in forced labour.  Charity SCOPE (@scope) are adamant that not one of the volunteers in their shops are there under threat of benefit sanctions.  Yet in a recent press release on the DWP’s own website, a case study is outlined in which someone was sent on Mandatory Work Activity in a SCOPE charity shop.  Failure to attend MWA can lead to benefits being sanctioned for three months.

The brutal testing regime for sickness benefits, carried out by French IT firm Atos, has led to hundreds of thousands of sick or disabled people being forced onto Job Seekers Allowance where they now face workfare.  Many of these people have mental health conditions.  The Social Service Advisory Committee warned that this group in particular may be vulnerable to sanctions if MWA went ahead.

It is quite possible that many of those who signed off after being sent on MWA, or failed to attend the scheme, represent people who are not well enough to work full time, or were not fully aware of the consequences.  These are not people who have been working on the side, but people who have simply been forced out of the benefits system into poverty and quite possibly homelessness.

Grayling himself appears to admit that some of them signed back on when they thought the coast was clear.  This is not the behaviour of someone committing fraud.  Yet this hasn’t stopped the minister and his friends at the Daily Mail of attempting to smear almost a million unemployed people as criminals.

As ever in amongst Grayling’s slurs and spin he can’t resist an outright lie.  Grayling claims in the Mail today that:

“‘I sat through an interview with a young man in a job centre who was working for a few hours a week, below the benefit threshold, at a local nightclub,’

The benefit threshold is £5 a week.  Either Grayling doesn’t have a clue about the basics of how the benefit system actually works.  Or he is making shit up again to please the braying hounds at the Daily Mail.  Compulsive liar Grayling has moved so far from the truth it is impossible to believe anything that he, or the DWP, tell us anymore.

70,000 claimants are now to face MWA under changes announced yesterday.  It now seems certain that those who refuse to attend workfare on the Work Programme, or Work Experience schemes, will be sent on MWA instead.  When the workfare row blew up earlier in the year Grayling announced that sanctions would no longer be applied to young people who didn’t want to take part in Work Experience and face being sent to sleep under a bridge with no access to food or toilet facilities.

It is now clear that Grayling’s claims were a  deliberate attempt to mislead the business community, charities and the public alike.  Sanctions have been  snuck back into the scheme under another guise as soon as the minister thinks the public have forgotten.  If you refuse ‘voluntary’ workfare, then you will be sent on ‘mandatory’ workfare or face sanctions potentially lasting up three years.

The problem is the public haven’t forgotten.  A week of action against workfare is planned to begin on Saturday 7th July. In Liverpool Solidarity Federation have been carrying out pickets and communication blockades on a weekly basis aimed at fraudulent bastards A4e and fake ethical company Holland & Barrett who plan to use workfare to recruit up to a quarter of their staff.  Solidarity Federation will be continuing to target the company throughout the week of action.  A recent national conference aimed at ending workfare has co-ordinated groups around the UK determined to stamp out the exploitative practice of unpaid work.  Anger on the internet has swelled again with hundreds of people now threatening boycotts of workfare exploiters Argos and the British Heart Foundation.

The pressure needs to be maintained.  There is little point directing protests at the DWP or Chris Grayling who can’t even be trusted to tell us the truth about what is going on in the benefits system.  Workfare exploiters should be confronted directly.  It matters little what crazy schemes Grayling comes up with next if companies and charities realise involvement in forced labour is far from profitable.  If they exploit us, we will shut them down.

http://www.boycottworkfare.org/

Boycott Workfare National Week of Action

A national week of action against workfare has been called by Boycott Workfare beginning on on Saturday 7th July.

Pickets, protests and direct action are planned across the UK with the aim of bringing to an end the current devastating Tory policy of forced labour on an industrial scale.

Visit the facebook page to find out about all actions or to list local events:
http://www.facebook.com/events/481490495199880/

Already announced are: Liverpool – weekly pickets culminating in a 7th of July action!
http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=1082

Brighton – July 7th – 11am – workfare walk of shame
http://www.facebook.com/events/147156832086122/
  Brighton Solidarity Federation will be targeting Holland & Barrett on the same day, details to come.

The Guardian today features an extensive summary of the current workfare situation.  The piece includes a shocking boast from so called charity British Heart Foundation (@TheBHF) who proudly state they use workfare in every single one of their stores, which appear to be turning into little more than punishment centres for unemployed people.

Proper blogging will resume next week.

British Heart Foundation – The Charity at the Heart of Workfare

A recent High Street investigation by Boycott Workfare has unveiled several new workfare sharks operating under our very noses.  Fake hippies Bodyshop, temporary shoe retailers (they fall apart) Shoezone, and Dorothy Perkins are all revealed to use, or to have used, forced labour in their stores.

Dorothy Perkins in particular is interesting as their owners, the Arcadia group, has previously denied any of their stores being involved in workfare.  Surely the huge retailing chain owned by tax dodging bastard Philip Green wouldn’t be lying to us, would they?  This leaves Top Shop, British Home Stores and other Arcadia chain stores with some questions to answer.

Boycott Workfare also single out known workfare exploiters, the British Heart Foundation, as deserving a special mention for their sheer enthusiasm for forced labour.  According to Boycott Workfare, “The manager boasted that 5/6 people will work 30 hour weeks at any one time, with workfare provider Seetec sending fresh replacements at the end of each month!”.

When the workfare row blew up at the beginning of the year many charities issued furious, if not quite honest denials, abut their involvement with the scheme.  Some, such as Shelter and Marie Curie, very publicly distanced themselves from the scheme.  British Heart Foundation (@TheBHF) however remained silent throughout.

From the investigation by Boycott Workfare, it would appear the charity are involved in the Mandatory Work Activity scheme.  This is four week block of forced labour handed out to unemployed people who aren’t deemed to be trying hard enough to find work.  It effectively operates as a system of Community Service for the unemployed, many of whom may have health conditions which might mean full time work is unsuitable.

Some, like Stephen Hill of Derbyshire, may even have serious heart conditions.  Mr Hill tragically died of a heart attack a month after being found fit for work and ineligible for sickness benefits.  Had he lived he might have found himself forced to work in a British Heart Foundation charity shop for no pay.

British Heart Foundation are also known to have used workfare in Edinburgh where they have already faced at least one occupation (pic above).  The charity are the biggest charity retailers in the UK and earned a whopping £31 million in profit last year.  It’s clear that not paying staff is good business.

BHF charity boss Peter Hollins is one of the UK’s highest paid charity bosses.  The latest publicly available figures show he earned a staggering £153,000 way back in 2008.  Predictably he is an Oxbridge toff.

British Heart Foundation have a forum on their website should anyone wish to discuss the organisation’s use of forced labour.  They are on twitter @TheBHF and facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/bhf

The Government are now refusing to tell us which charities and companies are using workfare.  Boycott Workfare have some tips on their website of how to track down workfare exploiters.  If you know of any organisation using workfare, or are on workfare yourself, please contact them and help keep the direct action target list up to date:  info@boycottworkfare.org

Reports From Day of Action Against Workfare

More reports on yesterday’s National Day of Action Against Workfare

Brighton – two Holland & Barretts picketed – more info at:
http://brightonbenefitscampaign.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/day-of-action-against-workfare-targets-holland-barratt/
and followed by a successful march against anti-squatting laws.

Edinburgh – British Heart Foundation and Poundstretcher targetted:
http://www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/node/74

Liverpool – ASDA then Holland & Barrett:
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=liverpool/combating-workfare-in-liverpool-3132012

Halifax – Started early with a picket of Holland & Barrett on Friday:
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=west-yorks/holland-and-barrett-picket-in-halifax

Bristol – Punk classics outside Holland & Barrett then a tour of the city’s other workfare exploiters:
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=bristol/bristol-abolish-workfare-demo-targets-holland-and-barrett

Wakefield – West Yorkshire Solfed and Anarchist federation link up:
http://www.solfed.org.uk/?q=west-yorks/anti-workfare-poundland-picket-wakefield

Bournemouth – Wessex Solidarity picket two branches of Holland & Barrett whilst ukuncut do their thing in Vodafone:
http://wessexsolidarity.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/holland-barrett-pickets/

Swindon – Swindon Anarchists picket Holland & Barrett:
https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/04/494447.html

Lincoln – Lincoln Underground Collective visit Holland & Barrett, Primark and Poundland:
http://lincolnundergroundcollective.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/report-on-31st-march-action-against-workfare-in-lincoln/#

York – York Welfare Campaign take a tour of the city’s workfare exploiters:
http://yorkanarchist.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/workfare-protests-in-york/

Glasgow – Solfed, the IWW and Anarchist federation picket Holland & Barrett:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/04/494455.html

In London there were pickets outside Holland & Barrett in both North and South London as covered yesterday.

Actions took place in many other towns and cities around the UK – please post up links to any more reports in the comments.

Above pic from the Bristol action.