Ten thousand trees!

Ten thousand trees! That's the number of trees a small band of unemployed work-for-the-dolers have to plant in the Campbelltown area. It is hard and heavy backbreaking work. It is potentially dangerous.

There are supposed to be a dozen or so doing this work. But many do not turn up. This is understandable. Who would volunteer to do this menial slave labour? As in every work for the dole project, they are only paid a mere $10 per week on top of normal dole payment. Some who have to travel find themselves worse off financially than not doing it. 

After a heavy day of tree planting you don't feel like showing up the next day. But those who don't show face the prospect of being breached.  So the heavy workload falls on fewer shoulders. They sure hate their work for the dole project.
The beneficiary from all this is the Campbelltown council. They save money because they no longer have to employ the fully paid labour. The charity giving them this free labour is the Wesley Mission. It is not just unscrupulous capitalist grubs such as H and H who are using unemployed for arduous labouring tasks. It is also the Church. Shame on them!

Work for the dole has been promoted as light warm and fuzzy work assisting the community. Many work for the dole schemes do fit this image. But even these schemes displace community workers. That is why we oppose them. But there is nothing warm and fuzzy about planting trees for Campbelltown council. Nor is there anything warm and fuzzy about tiling concreting, doing the work of a teachers aid, nurse's aid or landscaping.

The rot has to stop! Its time that both unionists and unemployed realise that work for the dole is an attack on all of us. Therefore we need unity to fight it now!
StandUp! aims at building a campaign which will abolish work for the dole. We need real jobs for proper wages and conditions. Shortly, we will be organising a demo outside H and H the worst work-for-the-dole provider. But they are only the worst of a bad lot. The whole system has to go.

Stand up wants to know about your experiences with work-for-the-dole. We want to know specifically if your work involves heavy or potentially dangerous tasks, If your provider treats you in an oppressive way or if the work that you are doing should properly be done by as fully-paid labour.
We need to expose this system in order to fight it.