Benefits Staff Fight Cuts

Submitted by Janine on 1 November, 2005 - 3:18

by Charlie McDonald, local PCS branch secretary

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members working in dole offices and jobcentres in London have voted for a series of strikes. The first may take place on 16 November.

This is in response to savage job cuts being implemented by Chancellor Gordon Brown across the Civil Service. 100,000 jobs are to be cut. On top of this, work is being moved out of London. PCS is particularly concerned about the impact this will have on unemployment in black and minority ethnic communities.

We are worried about increasing workload. There is the same amount of work to do now as there was four years ago in London, but 4,000 fewer staff to do it. Around 10,000 Department for Work and Pensions staff work in London.

We are also concerned about service levels. In Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham, new claimants of Income Support wait an average four weeks for a payment.

The Sylvester Road office processes all Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance claims in east London. It is nigh on impossible to get through on the telephone due to antiquated IT systems. All funds for training courses for the unemployed have been withdrawn due to cuts.

We want to see managers recruit extra staff so that we can provide an acceptable level of service, ensuring that payments are made on time and that full support is given to people who want to go back to work. We want to defend welfare provision.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have a completely different vision.They want to hand the welfare state over to their friends in big business. Leaked documents have revealed that secretary of state David Blunkett has commissioned a feasibility study into privatising Jobcentre Plus.

We need strike action to defend jobs, and a campaign uniting workers with service users. We should talk about the sort of social security system we need, one that offers help and support for those who cannot work, instead of the current system which punishes you for being out of work.

Come down to our picket lines. Write to your MP or Councillor asking him/her to support the Union’s campaign for better services.

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