Poundland Protest

Well done to Sol Fed (Solidarity Federation http://www.solfed.org.uk/ ) who organised the lobby of customers going to the Poundland shop in New Street this afternoon. While it is not yet clear whether this particular store is using Workfare, nationally Poundland are. People under the age of 25 who are on JSA receive only £56.25 per week, yet are then sent on a Workfare scheme to work for their benefits. So that works out as free labour for Poundland, and £1.41 per hour for the young people concerned. So much for the “minimum” wage. And so much for providing young people with a future; this scheme has been shown to actually reduce your chance of getting a “proper” job.

This shameful exploitation of vulnerable young people must be brought to and end. It is to the credit of groups like UK Uncut and Boycott Workfare, that many users of Workfare have pulled out, but there is…