Two years ago a third of Haringey Council parks department gardeners were made redundant. Now people on workfare are being forced to work unpaid on their estates.
Homes for Haringey is the borough’s arms-length management organisation, set up to manage council housing. Tenants on their estates have found out that local unemployed people are being forced to work on their estates for no pay and with no workplace rights.
Groundwork, a national registered charity working in partnership with Haringey Council, has been using the Government’s workfare schemes – in which unemployed people are forced to work with no pay or workplace rights – to maintain some Homes For Haringey estate gardens.
The last time we picketed the Homes for Haringey office, they issued a statement attempting to deny their involvement in replacing paid jobs. But tenants on Broadwater Farm Estate have seen people on the Groundwork scheme cutting hedges and doing other grounds maintenance work, work that was previousy done by paid council staff. Job Seekers have also been sanctioned for refusing to work for no pay under the Groundwork workfare scheme, losing all entitlement to benefits for several weeks.
Two years ago a third of Haringey Council parks department gardeners were made redundant. They used to maintain all the Council estate gardens. It is unacceptable that these paid jobs are now being replaced with unpaid labour. People should be paid a living wage for the job they are asked to do. Poverty levels are already very high in Tottenham, being forced to work for no pay just makes things worse.
Why should people be forced to work for no pay?
The government has handed millions to private companies to administer these Workfare schemes, supposedly to save money by helping people to find jobs. But the reality is:
- Workfare does NOT get people into jobs. A recent government report found that just 3.5% of people on the Work Programme actually find paid employment lasting more than 6 months (less than teh figure for those would have found work anyway). The government then handed yet more money to scheme providers, which shows that workfare is about driving down wages and subsidising the private sector.
- Workfare affects ALL of us. There are currently about 18 people chasing every job in Tottenham.
Workfare placements replace REAL vacancies, taking away genuine paid jobs, so forcing more people to rely on benefits.
Under workfare schemes unemployed people have to work for nothing or they face sanctions meaning loss of ALL benefits! There is a growing movement of opposition to Workfare, and in response a number of companies have quit the programme.
Homes for Haringey is wholly owned by Haringey Council to manage its housing. The Council should put an immediate stop to the use of workfare in the borough.
What you can do:
- Contact Homes for Haringey: Ask them about their use of unpaid workers. Email feedback@homesforharingey.org, call 020 8489 4337, or tweet @homes4haringey.
- Get in touch with Haringey Solidarity Group or North London Solidarity Federation if you have seen Groundwork carrying out parks maintenance, or other work that was previously done by paid staff.
- Haringey Council have a commitment to pay their staff a London Living Wage. The five councillors below all sit on the Homes for Haringey board. Contact the councillors to speak to them about Homes for Haringey’s use of workfare.
- Cllr Ed Butcher
- Cllr Isidoros Diakides
- Cllr Joseph Ejiofor
- Cllr Juliet Solomon
- Cllr Anne Stennett
- Please come and support a lunchtime protest this Wednesday 24th April, 12pm at the Homes for Haringey offices in Wood Green Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, N22 7TR (2 mins from Wood Green tube)
