WeeklyWorker

15.12.1994

Unemployed told to work or starve

Christmas is supposed to be a time of relaxation with the family. But for most workers the drudgery and stress of everyday life is never far away. As the unemployed and low paid try to make ends meet, the rest wonder how long they will be able to hold on to their jobs

THE PATHETIC Tories are in disarray. It is now not a question of if, but when they will be swept away by Labour in a general election. But before you heave a sigh of relief, you should consider just what is on offer: you can choose between the Conservatives’ ‘Jobseekers’ or Labour’s ‘Jet’ - Jobs, education and training.

Tories: Bribe the bosses with national insurance cuts to take on more workers, so long as they are paid less than £205 a week.

Labour: Give the bosses bigger handouts of £75 a week for each worker taken on at minimum wage level - £140 a week!

Tories: Cut off unemployment benefit after six months.

Labour: Make workers take out private insurance and cut out benefit altogether.

Tories: Force the unemployed onto useless ‘training’ schemes.

Labour: Encourage them to ‘volunteer’ for ‘community work’ - for £50 a week!

Tories: Stop paying benefits to single mothers by forcing the cash out of low paid fathers through the Child Support Agency.

Labour: Withold payments to unemployed single mothers unless they are ‘available for work’.

Tories: Tighten up the rules against people who give up looking for jobs that are either non-existent or too badly paid to cover the bills.

Labour: Make sure such ‘scroungers’ report to the Job Centre every day.

Tories: Prevent workers fighting for better pay and conditions through anti-union laws.

Labour: Don’t look at us to repeal them!

The truth is that neither party can offer a way out from poverty and insecurity because they are both committed to running this rotten capitalist system.

The Communist Party says that workers should fight for what we need, not what they say they can afford. If the system can’t deliver, then it must go! That is why communists fight with the Unemployed Workers Charter against unemployment and for workers’ rights.