PROTESTORS staged an action at Stroud Job Centre today to highlight what they claim is the disaster of the Government's Universal Credit (UC) system.
Campaigners said that this afternoon’s action was intended to show the disgust at what the group sees as the latest attack on the social security of people living in the UK.
Protestors held up plackards outside the job centre to show their disgust
A spokesperson for RisingUp! Said: “We live in a system which is hell bent on profit, no matter the impact on people or planet and where there is absolutely one rule for the rich and another for the rest of us.
“While we are being pitted against each other and pushed to blame the poorest and more marginalised people for their poverty, the rich carry on evading and avoiding taxes annually (£123bn) and corporations get of order £90bn in corporate welfare- through subsidies and tax giveaways,”
Post-it notes were also put on the windows of the building with comments about Universal Credit
During this afternoon’s protest, organised by RisingUp!, members of the were asked for their views on work and welfare, and members of the group graffitied using the building temporary spray chalk, before attempting to storm the building.
Seven million households will be affected by UC, including over one million part-time workers.
The organisers believe that the new government system will force those who are already in work to prove to the job centre that they’re searching for better paid work or more hours, or risk having their benefits stopped.
At one point protestors attempted to storm the building in order to read out a statement
Simon Bramwell who took part in this afternoon’s protest said “We spoke to people on the streets and there was much support for our action, including from claimants who are deeply affected by Universal Credit.
“One woman told us she was about to get evicted as a result of the policy and another man said delays in his payments and left him struggling to make ends meet.
“On the day after the death of Stephen Hawking, a man who has given Britain so much, we must recognise it would be impossible for such a person to thrive under the current corrupt system,” he explained.
When the protests had finished all the spray chalk was removed and the windows were cleaned.
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