Homebase pay your workers! Picket Sun 14 Apr, 1pm, Harringay

Homebase workfare poster

Posted: April 11, 2013

Poster at Homebase HarringayThis Sunday, a few of people from Boycott Workfare will be coming to Haringey to picket Homebase in Green Lanes about their take up of forced labour.  Sunday is their busiest trading day in the week.  Please come along and join in.

1pm-2.30pm, Sunday 14th April, Haringey Homebase, Green Lanes. (close to Sainsbury’s & Harringay Green Lanes overground)

In just one week, Homebase in Haringey profits from 750 hours of unpaid work, with over 20 workfare placements in the store. A fact which they proudly display on a poster in their back office.

Not surprisingly, this is having a massive impact on the paid work available: a staff member has told us that, since tens of workfare placements were brought in, overtime has been cut for everyone. Some people’s hours have been cut from 48 down to eight – far below the threshold for Working Tax Credits – because that is all they are contracted for.

Haringey Homebase is not advertising for workers and we’ve heard that managers have been instructed to tell people on workfare that there are no jobs for them. This, despite the fact that last year the boss of Home Retail Group – who also own workfare exploiters Argos – was paid £1.1 million.

The public response to this story has been immense and Homebase now say they are “reviewing” their “local arrangements”. But this just means they are carrying on with exploiting people in their Haringey store and possibly elsewhere too.

We need to show Homebase that they can’t get away with workfare exploitation and we won’t go away until everyone working in their stores is paid.

Come and let their customers know what’s going on, let the staff and workfare workers know that we support them and help make business as usual at Haringey Homebase a bit more difficult.

Boycott Workfare – info@nullboycottworkfare.org

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