Exploitation Of The Unemployed

Alice Rahon 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Rahon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/04/jubilee-pageant-unemployed

Yesterday I was not at all surprised to read an article in the Guardian newspaper about unemployed people being exploited.

They were 30 long-term unemployed as well as 50 apprentices; they were all told that they would be unpaid stewards for 2 days during the Silver Jubilee

This was done by a company called Close Protection UK, who informed the unemployed people that if they did not go, they would forfeit the chance of a job during the London Olympics

So the 80 unemployed people were taken by coach from Plymouth, Bristol and Bath at 23.00 on Saturday night, arriving in London at 03.00 in the morning.

When they arrived in London they were told to sleep under a railway bridge, as there was a road under the bridge, they couldn't put up their tents.

They all had to sleep outside on the hard ground, totally unprotected in the cold and rain; on the day they were given thin plastic see-through ponchos and high visibility security jackets to protect them from the rain.

The company also provided boots, trousers and polo shirts, none of which kept them warm or dry.

As there were no facilities for them to change they had to do get undressed outside in the rain with no privacy.

They had to wait for 24 hours to use toilet facilities and were also made to wait for hours to get food and something to drink.

On Sunday night after the event they were taken to a swampy camp site and told to pitch their tents there.

Disgusting way of treating vulnerable people, forcing them to work without pay for two days in such dreadful conditions.

Close Protection UK will be getting a lot of money from the government, to assist people to get employment; seems the only ones benefiting is the company itself.

It seems there will be questions asked in Parliament about this matter and a spokeswoman for Close Protection UK said they were investigating the staff that were responsible for the 80 jobseekers in London.

So once again scapegoats will be found to take the blame for what is surely company policy, how typical, the perpetrators remain free to carry on making huge profits by supposedly helping people back to work.