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Title: Poverty Related Pay
Author: Anarchist Communist Federation
Date: 1996
Language: en
Topics: unemployment, poverty, United Kingdom, Organise!
Source: Retrieved on May 13, 2013 from https://web.archive.org/web/20130516062033/http://www.afed.org.uk/org/issue43/pov.html
Notes: Published in Organise! Issue 43 — Summer 1996.

Anarchist Communist Federation

Poverty Related Pay

Opposition to the Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) from inside the dole

office is hampered by the idea that implementing the JSA is in the

‘interest’ of the workforce. This so called ‘interest’ is commonly known

as Performance Related Pay (PRP). So how does PRP work? Firstly,

objectives are set for the dole office on a national level, these

objectives are then broken down into regional objectives, further

divided into districts and divided again into office objectives, where

finally the manager breaks the objectives down for individual workers.

Objectives Equal More Money

So how are those objectives used to improve pay? Each individual worker

is set objectives, agreed with their line manager and in turn with their

office manager. Each worker is monitored throughout the year by their

managers (by themselves and other workers for that matter). Once a year

how well each worker has ‘performed’ is assessed, whether they have met

their objectives, failed to meet them or, as in the case of the over

enthusiastic worker, superseded them. Then a ‘box marking’ is attributed

to each worker. The ‘box marking’ is just like being graded at school;

Box 1/A (A is for ACE), Box 2/B (B is for BRILL) and Box 3/C (C is for

CRAP). Once each worker has been graded their cut of the wage rise for

that year has been decided.

Objectives Equal Hassle

So what are these objectives which are in the ‘interests’ of the workers

to achieve? The typical list of objectives will require each worker

to; 1. get a varying number of claimants benefit cut or stopped on the

grounds that they are A. Not available for employment B. Not actively

seeking employment C. Placing restrictions upon themselves D. Refusing

employment. 2. Place a varying number of claimants into employment via

the job centre. 3. Place a varying number of claimants onto specific

government courses . Getting claimants to sign off, usually using

tactics not dissimilar from those used by the police, is one of the

fraud officers PRP objectives and is not as yet a written objective for

the ordinary dole office worker.

The Unions

The dole office workers Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA) may

claim to be opposed to PRP on the grounds that it is “divisive”, but in

reality it fails to have had any effect on this pay scheme. Whilst the

CPSA accurately point out that workers are divided by PRP, and

encouraged to be interested only in themselves developing contempt for

one another, CPSA fails to recognise the consequences of PRP on the

claimants and how it divides the workers and claimants further.

Consequently the CPSA’s opposition to the JSA is failing to reach dole

office workers, as is its argument that PRP is not in their ‘interest’.

PRP Equal Hassle

PRP is allowing dole officers to treat claimants like shit, creating the

idea that ‘they’re only doing their job’, and at the same time acting

out of ‘self-interest’ improving their chances of getting a bigger cut

of the wage rise. PRP is a god send to those over enthusiastic

individuals who take great pleasure from treating claimants like shit.

So next time a claimant is hassled its not a simple case of faceless

bureaucracy treating people as no more that numbers, but that claimant

may well be on the way to being a statistic achieved and marked against

a list of objectives.

Effective Organising

A hassle free signing on is largely reliant upon the worker who hasn’t

bought the idea that PRP is in their ‘interest’ and doesn’t care if they

meet their objectives or not. However opposition to the JSA from the

inside needs more than that if it is to work. Effective opposition to

PRP coupled with a sense of unity with claimants, as opposed to contempt

for them, would be welcome. But in the meantime Groundswell and

unemployed activists aren’t sitting on their backsides waiting for the

pig to learn to fly. We are getting active, and organising from the

‘outside’.

GET ACTIVE

GROUNDSWELL IS A loose network of autonomous groups and individuals

united against the JSA concentrating upon gathering information about

the JSA, distributing and co-ordinating that information, and offering

practical advice and support against the JSA. Groundswell is organised

around the idea of ‘no wage slavery, no dole slavery’, offering a

critique of the work ethic so beloved of the left. The next Groundswell

is being held in Nottingham 10^(th) August.