NEW DEAL OR NO DEAL

Last Wednesday, members of Brighton Benefits Campaign (BBC) staged a protest outside the offices of corporate welfare spongers, Careers Development Group and Maximus. The two companies are providers of Brightons ‘Flexible New Deal’ (FND), the government’s new flagship scheme for anybody who’s been unemployed for a year. The FND sees services normally provided by JobcentrePlus contracted out to private companies, whose prime motive for involvement is, of course, profit. While the government claims it is spending billions on helping the unemployed, it is just doling out the cash to the private sector, not to help those without jobs.

While the FND providers don’t create any new jobs and the government has spent nothing on job creation, they do manage to expand the low wage, flexible labour market by forcing the unemployed, single parents, the sick and disabled and everyone else to compete for the scarce jobs on offer. As a result, wages plummet and working conditions deteriorate.

The FND also contains a work for your benefits (workfare) element - 40hrs a week for a month – at the fraction above slave labour rate of £1.60 an hour. The BBC are looking to expand their campaign against these parasitic profiteers.

Anyone who wants to get involved should contact them at www.brightonbenefitscampaign@googlemail.com or see www.brightonbenefitscampaign.wordpress.com