Derry IRSP along with comrades from 32csm, RNU and others today protested outside the offices of ‘ingeus’ today, while others entered the offices in opposition to the continued program of unpaid Labour which they are promoting in the City and beyond.
Below is the content of a leaflet handed out to passers by and to workers inside the offices of Ingeus today.
“Steps To Success” program. Quoted by local activists as “An ugly scam for the rich, more misery for the unemployed”
The so called “steps to success” program seeks to force unemployed people into a sham scheme which has proven itself unable to secure even basic employment for the vast majority if those who participate.
Under the threat of benefits sanctions and resulting homelessness, job seekers here are forced to enter a scheme of pointless and mundane “skills building” sessions and are forced to apply for jobs many of which are hopelessly unattainable or simply do not exist.
Worse still under the banner of “steps to success” unemployed people have been forced to take up unpaid posts as “jobs candidates” working for nothing, for low-life profiteering firms such as Poundland and Asda, firms which in the past rightfully stood condemned of using prison labour to stock their shelves.
Equivalent schemes in England have seen an appalling pattern emerge in which businesses have utilized the “workforce” scheme in order to pay off staff and instead replace them with Job Seekers who are expected to work for nothing, under fear of losing already meager benefits and potentially the roof over their heads, this is the ultimate aim of those who designed “steps to success”.
Not only are working class people here forced to live under the threatening shadow of this demeaning and Dickensian scheme (5,333 participants have so far been sanctioned) at least £80 million of tax payers money has been handed over to arch-exploitative firms such as Ingeus UK, EOS Works, and Reed employment in order to implement a program which offers nothing to working class Job Seekers, but a fresh chance at ill-gained profit for the filthy rich.
The Irish Republican Socialist Party stands appalled at the antics of those behind the “steps to success” program, we state openly that working class people should be defended from such demeaning initiatives and we call on all those affected by it to join with us in finding a way to smash what is no more than a get rich scam for Tory Party donors.
