From The Guardian...
A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.
Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government’s Work Programme.
Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.
One young worker said she was on duty between London Bridge and Tower Bridge during the £12m`river spectacle of a 1,000-boat flotilla and members of the Royal family sail by . She said that the security firm Close Protection UK, which won a stewarding contract for the jubilee events, gave her a plastic see-through poncho and a high-visibility jacket for protection against the rain.
Close Protection UK confirmed that it was using up to 30 unpaid staff and 50 apprentices, who were paid £2.80 an hour, for the three-day event )n London. A spokesman said the unpaid work was a trial for paid roles at the Olympics, which it had also won a contract to staff. Unpaid staff were expected to work two days out of the three-day holiday.
She said: “London was supposed to be a nice experience, but they left us in the rain. They couldn’t give a crap … No one is supposed to be treated like that, [working] for free. I don’t want to be treated where I have to sleep under a bridge and wait for food.” The male steward said: “It was the worst experience I’ve ever had. I’ve had many a job, and many a bad job, but this one was the worst.”
Both stewards said they were originally told they would be paid. But when they got to the coach on Saturday night, they said, they were told that the work would be unpaid and that if they did not accept it they would not be considered for well-paid work at the Olympics.
Molly Prince, managing director of Close Protection UK, said in a statement: “We take the welfare of our staff and apprentices very seriously indeed.
Doesn’t it make you proud to be British!
And how long before this sort of thing is so commonplace that no one bothers to report it? That, after all, is what Molly Place wants.
Mind you, if you e-mail me, I’ll send you (in confidence) the name of the left-wing Labour MP who threatened to replace my daughter with an unpaid Yank “intern” when my daughter asked to be paid Union rates. And that was nearly ten years ago.
No need to name one, Mike, there were.(and still are) dozens of the buggers. Thoroughly reprehensible.
Give me his name, I’ll put it out.
I did watch and enjoyed the Diamond Jubilee concert. During the firework display I wondered how much it was all costing the taxpayers at this time of austerity. I would not be surprised if it was £60M.
When all the guff started about proud to be British, I was enraged at the thought of the UK State’s record of human rights violations. Those responsible should hang their heads in shame. Including the Queen who is Head of State and David Cameron the First Minister!
Madness!
On a similar theme…
Plan for cheap prison work ‘may cost thousands of jobs’
In 1922 Labour opined that prison labour should be paid at the same rate as the workforce outside. The unions should be demanding that prisoners are paid the NMW and that there should be no taxation without representation.
Ah, poor little babies! Forced to ‘camp out’ for a whole night under a London bridge, were they? Well, now they might learn that there is no such thing as ‘free lunch’, or a free job-seekers’ hand out.
As for our resident Jailhouse murderer, someone should tell him that prisoners, being fed for free by taxpayers should be forced to work for nothing.
Nothing more, nor less, that we should expect from our resident member of the ‘I, Me, Mine’ Party – motto, stand on your own two feet, and if that means stepping on some other bugger’s in the process, all well and good.
You must be so pleased with the bunch of avaricious public schoolboys ruling on your behalf.
Better than being a member of the ‘I Spend, Your Money, Get Stuffed’ party.
So much for ‘we’re all in this together’ eh? You really must get back on message for your masters, Duffers.
So there you have it Bob, straight from the horses rectum aka David Duff. It’s always been a source of amazement to me that reptiles like Duffers can come out with the crap that they do about the unemployed, disabled or less fortunate than themselves, they have very rarely had to graft in any unpleasant conditions, usually ponceing about in offices, or their heads stuck that far up the gaffers jacksie, or breaking their necks to grass their workmates up(in factory, bulding site, office or shop)Surely any sane person reading that report can see that there is an element among employers that are straining at the leash to enforce draconian conditions and rock bottom wages on to anybody who is unemployed, one lesser harsh example is the way many firms are refusing to pay holiday pay for the second bank holiday given to pay homage to an old lady(who happens to the wealthiest woman in the world, note that there was no attempt by Lizzie or Phil to offer those poor sods who had to give a weekend up and work for nothing in freezing rainsodden conditions, with just the glimmer of a promise of a job for a month at the Olympics for a month)who is the apex of the class system in this class ridden,poxy society. Hopefully Gary Elsby will see what a vile reactionary pillock his erstwhile buddy Duffers is.
I have spent nights out under London bridges, not a pleasant experience at all. It was a relief to spend a night in some MP’s or Lord’s bed…
There are legal avenues against libel, and sending a malicious communication. If it continues there is the more serious harassment legislation.
As I understand it MPs and Lords are being fed for free by the taxpayers. Given this, perhaps they should work for nothing?
“duff 3
n. Slang
The buttocks”. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/duff
Hi Bob, I’ve just noticed this Avaaz Petition concerning the practice.
Can I task you with the job of getting the good Mr Duff to sign it too?
Finally we get the real news. The little babies were driven into London by coach and dropped off at 3.00am ready to start work at 5.00am. So it wasn’t ‘all night under a bridge’, just a couple of hours.
Without pay…. What part of that don’t you understand, knob!
Are they not all on something called a ‘Job Seeker’s Allowance’, or, a free handout in old-fashioned English.
And I always know when your rattled, Councillor, when you resort to four-letter words, albeit of a fairly meek and mild kind.
David, do you consider the State Pension and the N.H.S. to be “free handouts”? If not, why is JSA any different?
Hi Bob; I see your columns perennial arsehole Duncey Duff has made his usual fatous comments about unemployment; what’s his c.v? he comes across as something that was at the relief of Mafeking. The only thing I have read on his blog was a piece of crap he wrote in praise of George. W. Bush a few months ago. Correct me if I am wrong, but I’m under the impression that he has some sort of military background, most probably the prototype for Col. Blimp, so therefore ,to write an article praising the Vietnam war’s most prominent draftdodger, backed up by his mother and father multimillions speaks volumes about this throwback to victorian times, that you so graciously allow on your blog.
No milk of human kindness for the unemployed or sick, disabled or less fortunate than ourselves from Duffers, sounds like his old mentor Phil the Greek or any of his offspring. Hasn’t anybody told Duffers that the man who works for nothing will never be out of work.
y
Many years ago the Evil Witch was interviewed as to her personal and political philosophies. These included “A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.”
Even she didn’t go this far.
I do realise how irritating reality is to this blog and its supporters but I feel it is my duty:
“Robert Cooke, 30, from Plymouth:
“Organisers found somewhere for us to shelter, and said that if any of us wanted to get into our sleeping bags to keep warm, then we could. Most of us just stayed up chatting. It was a good laugh, and we had access to the portable loos the whole time. They have paid for all the training for my licence and an NVQ in crowd safety. They gave us boots worth £80, and a uniform. We worked out that what they’ve spent is the equivalent of us being paid £45 an hour.”
Kirsty Nicholls, 23, also from Plymouth:
“I would like to thank CPUK for the amazing experience I was a part of this weekend. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity. We were treated with the utmost respect and highly praised for the work we had done. I personally volunteered to do all three days work as I found the experience incredibly pleasurable. I look forward to a long career with CPUK.”
Markus Hanks, another volunteer, said:
“Thanks for a great time at the Diamond Jubilee. Brilliant company to work for, great staff, brilliant atmosphere between everyone, looking forward to working with Close Protection UK again at the London 2012 Olympics. I’m supporting you and the Close Protection UK 110%.””
As Guido points out these are *named* sources.
http://order-order.com/2012/06/07/named-sources-contradict-anonymous-slave-labour-attack/
Well said Kirsty, Markus and Robert. In return for your glowing references on behalf of Workfare UK I think you can look forward to a long career with CPUK… or at least as long as Ms Prince keeps the company going before it is dissolved like all of the other nine companies, most run
downout of the same address in Wigan, that she has been a director of since 2006.You’ve been suckered. You might wangle a couple of weeks more slave labour during the Olympics, and those like Duffy will clap you for your efforts, but… “looking forward to a long career with CPUK“… pull the other one!
And I’m sure that Robert will be able to spend his ‘pay’ at any shop of his choice. Or not.
Hello Bob
While you talk about earning a wage any comments on this ???
Union rates ?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2157053/Gordon-Brown-paid-120-000-hour-forum-Russia.html
I assume you are referring to that bit about Gordon not taking a penny piece personally but donating his fee for charity. I know,generous isn’t he? Taking money of those thieving filthy rich Russians and recycling it to charity seems a damned good idea.
Much nobler than the greasy Etonian boys throwing parties in Downing Street for their old public school chums…and then passing round the Conservative Party begging bowl. And much more dignified than Wee Wullie Vague giving up the Tory leadership so that he could trouser six-figure fees on the after-dinner circuit. Or Liam Fox, treating his old school buddy to foreign jaunts on the taxpayer…or Baroness Warsi… (oh well, that’s enough dignity for now).
Anyway, nice to hear that there still are ‘Sandwell Conservatives’ – a seriously endangered species, protected by the World Wildlife Fund!
Sock it to ‘em Bob; Glad to hear that Sandwell for all its shortcomings, and its dearth of socialist councillors has at least the saving grace that it’s a Tory free zone along with Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Barnsley to name a few, wish I could say the same for Doncaster.
You would think that the Tories would learn , but they never do, as you have pointed out so elequently to Blogger when they try to embarrass you over Gordon Brown, they always shoot themselves in the foot. And you are too much of a gentleman to mention about Vague and Fox’s special advisors and their travelling arrangements. You could also have mentioned Jeremy’s loyalty to his young special advisor who he so very loyally threw to the wolves, mind you he had had a nice little run @£90k. a year(Adam Smith) and he possibly thought the Murdochs would look after him for services rendered, but there again he is hopefully finding out now that he is unemployed, the price of failure from the Tories and the Murdochs and the rest of big business.