On 21 July Dundee sheriff court sentenced Scottish Unemployed Workers Network activist Tony Cox to 150 hours community work. In a classic example of class justice from the biased sheriff, Tony had earlier been found guilty of “threatening behaviour” following his arrest while accompanying a claimant to a work capability assessment at Maximus in Dundee.
People demonstrated in solidarity with Tony on 21 July, both at Dundee Sheriff Court and then at the Maximus assessment centre – Maximus had called the police to arrest Tony after denying the claimant her right to be accompanied by the advocate of her choice.
People came from round Scotland to assert that Advocacy is not a Crime, with ECAP represented and folk present from Glasgow, Stirling, Fife, Edinburgh as well as Dundee.
People declared that we would not be intimidated by this clamp-down, and that the best response was to step up frontline advocacy and collectively fight back against the so-called welfare reforms, which as Tony says are really “an attempt to transform the welfare state into a form of disciplining and controlling workers, both employed and unemployed.”
Reports and photos at:
https://scottishunemployedworkers.net/2016/07/21/no-justice-no-peace/
https://www.facebook.com/edinburghagainstpoverty/posts/1254747277910510
https://www.facebook.com/glasgowanarchistcollective/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1047219538700881
Independence Live interview with Tony Cox
Don’f face them alone! You have the right to be accompanied at all benefits interviews.
