Organising unemployed and unfree labour

[Regicollis]

I'm currently unemployed and is being forced to do scab work to receive my meager benefits. Although I'll have to work I will not be employed and will not have any right to strike, to collective bargaining, pensions, unemployment benefits etc. I'm really pissed off about having my labour expropriated by the city who makes money forcing unemployed people to do work for private companies. I'm also pissed off about being forced to undercut the wages of my fellow workers by this robbery.

The official reason for this is that it will allegedly help me to get employed - all covered in Orwellian newspeak; for instance the order to go scab for the city is called an "offer". However it is clear that the real reason for this is A: To punish the unemployed and make employed workers scared of the unemployment system and B: To provide cheap, unfree labour to the city.

However I hope I can turn this into something positive. A place like that is going to be filled with people who are pissed off at the current system. Maybe I could do a little organising and raise class consciousness a little. However I don't have any experience doing such things and there is no organisation I can work together with (the unions have completely accepted this kind of scabbing). I would be really happy to get some tips or ideas on how to do this.

So how can one fight the workfare scabbing system from within? I plan to notice the companies we'll be forced to work for and then make their names public, together with information on the revoltingly low pay per hour we receive.

[helot]

There's of course also workfare in the UK. Solidarity Federation (British section of the IWA) has been engaging in a workfare campaign that's had some successes so far (e.g. Holland & Barrett pulled out). What's been happening is co-ordinated pickets, communication blockades etc of companies taking advantage of the government's workfare schemes. I don't think you can expect the unemployed forced onto these schemes to down tools or anything as here it can result in severe financial sanctions but pickets etc lack such sanctions.

Most of my comrades in my city and most of my friends are either in work on parmanent contracts or students, it's really just me on the dole at the minute (sucks being in and out of work -_-) although i'm not on workfare at the moment and while we have been targetting companies using workfare i think there's some real prospect of getting alot of claimants involved, thus i'm currently planning a public meeting of local unemployed people to do with workfare and how to combat it.

Once i've got the general jist of the meeting sorted i'll be spending most days in the run up to it leafletting outside the local jobcentre. Hopefully a fair amount of people are interested in getting involved. The fact that SolFed has already had some success in their campaign should help.

[Regicollis]

I've had my first day at the municipal labour camp today and I'm really depressed about the total lack of class consciousness. The other "inmates" have resigned and seem to be blaming themselves for their situation and accepting the forced labour. They suck up to the overseers and laugh at their jokes etc. It is fucking depressing!

I guess this is what happens when all media in a society is bourgeois.

[campesino]

first increase class consciousness, and take collective action(strike, slash tires, be angry in general).

Tell the other inmates the outrage they are suffering, so they become conscious. if an abusive person in management is around teach them a lesson. Find more workfarers and get mad and angry so you(plural) can do something that will teach a lesson to the bourgeois.

You can strike, but don't you really want to punch some people in the face. To be honest when I worked at a job I hated, i would just go home when I felt like it. you should at least teach the others to do a shitty job or go home when they want and not to take their forced labour so seriously.

[Will Scarlet]

I've had my first day at the municipal labour camp today and I'm really depressed about the total lack of class consciousness. The other "inmates" have resigned and seem to be blaming themselves for their situation and accepting the forced labour. They suck up to the overseers and laugh at their jokes etc. It is fucking depressing!

I guess this is what happens when all media in a society is bourgeois.
Sorry to hear about this, I had to do the UK equivalent last year and the one good thing that came out of it was that the others who were on it like me and the everyone that worked there that I spoke to were pretty synmpathetic and aware of what a shit thing it was.
Also, UK unions aren't great but they are against this, I can't imagine them not being so it's pretty shocking that yours are. :(

Campaign against it here is called Boycott Workfare. I don't know how much you can really do while you're being made to do this, because they want to stop giving you anything if you disobey. Just try to talk to other people about how much it sucks, I guess.

[helot]

Also, UK unions aren't great but they are against this, I can't imagine them not being so it's pretty shocking that yours are. :(

Some are some arent. Unless the position's changed, the leadership of the Communication Worker's Union supports the use of workfare in the Royal Mail. How a union could support such a thing is beyond me though considering it's a direct attack on their members.

[citizen of industry]

Don't scab. At the very least, go to the union (i.e., the workers you are fucking over) and explain your situation, join their union and do what you can do. Yeah, the financial situation might compel you to scab (that's the definition of scab). Then again, there are workers in like financial difficulties with families who spend years organizing despite those difficulties (at their time and expense), put huge stresses on their families and health, launch a campaign and put their whole life into it, and see other workers destroy their lives and efforts by scabbing.

It doesn't seem like you are breaking a picket line or anything, but the fact that you use the word "scab" implies you know exactly who you are fucking over, so go to that union and ask how you can help their effort in your position. Unions are dying for workers who have the time and energy to devote to building the union.

[citizen of industry]

Also you say the unions have completely accepted this kind of scabbing. Really? You didn't give any background. What union federation? Are they organized by branch or local? How does the branch/local feel about the executive. How do they feel about the federation? How does the executive committee of the union feel towards the federation? Usually the executive has some antagonism towards the federation.

[Regicollis]

I've already been making a lot of "mistakes" during work. Unfortunately I was discovered which led to a rather heated argument. I'm no moron so I just played stupid. However my sabotage led to them having to re-do a lot of work but I know that they haven't found all "mistakes" so hopefully they are going to have some very angry customers :D

I've started working on a "name and shame" project to expose the companies online who exploit us so consumers can avoid forced scab labour. In order for it to work I need a lot of information from the entire country. My dream scenario for the project would be to get online submissions from those working for the companies but but especially during the startup phase this is going to be hard. I'm planning to supplement the online submissions with freedom of information-requests to all the municipalities but those are notoriously slow and I'm not sure that I'll get anything useful out of them.

I'm having some problems with how my attitude towards the overseers should be. They deserve to be treated as the disgusting piece of shit class traitors they are but on the other hand my ability to perform sabotage would improve if they trust me.

Today I approached them with chilled hostility and a complete absence of everyday politeness. This both made them pissed off and caught them off their guard. Apparently they are used to people treating them like co-workers or teachers. They were trying very hard to make ordinary human-to-human contact with me like telling jokes or wishing me a good weekend. I answered those attempts with silence as I do not think they deserve one iota of social acceptance.

This strategy made me feel good but I'm not sure it is the best possible strategy.

As for the possibility of approaching unions my hopes are not high. The union 3F is the only "red" union organising unskilled labour in Denmark and is run by tame career social democrats. The 3F union has a presence at the municipal labour camp however - they organise the overseers.

3F is not going to do anything about forced labour. There is some resistance to it among low-level local union officials but the official line of the union - especially among the higher echelons who negotiate with the government - seems to be that forced labour is a completely natural part of being unemployed. Some 3F officials even seem to accept the premise that forced labour is "helping" the unemployed.

The only alternative to 3F for unskilled workers is a disgusting array of yellow discount unions that doesn't fight for anything or anyone besides their own "right" to make scab work.

[Sea]

Some are some arent. Unless the position's changed, the leadership of the Communication Worker's Union supports the use of workfare in the Royal Mail. How a union could support such a thing is beyond me though considering it's a direct attack on their members.This is to be expected. The "Hey, everybody unionize!" movement did a hell of a lot to help the working class, that goes without saying, but nevertheless unions largely run on compromise and hence by their very nature they will swing their force in both directions. Often to help the working class, but if ever the demands of the workers are simply incompatible with capitalism, for instance if the workers demand to be paid the full market value of their labor, what is bureaucracy of the (non-militant) union to do?

Unions also tend to focus more on opposing poor working conditions than creating better conditions. Hence why workers continue to be exploited, but when largely pacified the union isn't likely to step in.

Now if you excuse me I'm gonna go shave.. I'd hate for people to say that I'm beginning to look like Kautsky. ;)