Bedroom Tax Roundup: Ring of Steel & Wirral Rally

Reposts from Infantile Disorder:

Wednesday, July 31st, 2013

Merseyside Activists Face Down Thieving Bailiffs 

Despite heavy rain, a group of Merseyside activists got together at very short notice on Wednesday morning, to face down bailiffs intent on snatching and destroying a homeless woman's belongings.

The woman - who is in her fifties and a stroke survivor - had lived at the Knowsley Housing Trust property for many years. Her husband had been killed in an industrial incident, and her children had left home, leaving her home "underoccupied" in the eyes of the government, who hit her with the bedroom tax in April, and her arrears quickly grew.

Knowsley Housing Trust evicted the woman last week. At Saturday's 'Enuf Is Enuf' event in Liverpool city centre, her daughter described how she got on her knees to beg bailiffs not to throw her out of her home. These pleas fell on deaf ears, and she was informed that she had four weeks to remove her property from the house, which was initially left tinned up with pet animals trapped inside. However, on Tuesday the woman was told the bailiffs would be coming for her things today. It was at this point she made her first contact with local anti-bedroom tax activists, and they planned to form a "ring of steel" around the door of the building.

On Wednesday morning, with "ring of steel" in place, a Knowsley Housing Trust van drove past and drove on down the road, but the bailiffs did not call. Clearly, the woman at the centre of it all is still in a desperate situation, but she is receiving solidarity from people determined to help her.

Please let Knowsley Housing Trust know what you think of their behaviour: @knowsleyhousing; 0151 290 7000, https://www.facebook.com/knowsleyhousingkht.

Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

Wirral Estate Rallies to Oppose Bedroom Tax 

Outside the One Stop Shop. Photo: @rpattinson83

Around fifty people marched from the Woodward Road estate in Rock Ferry, Wirral, to the local council One Stop Shop yesterday lunchtime, in a display of defiance against the bedroom tax. A high concentration of people on the estate are affected by one of the coalition government's most vicious domestic policies, and with the possibility of evictions looming, tenants are organising themselves to defend their homes.

The demonstration began at a quarter to twelve, and walked just over a mile to the One Stop Shop, where several residents handed in their latest appeal forms, and signed a petition. The event was entirely self-organised and stewarded by bedroom tax campaigners, with no involvement from police. It was the first Wirral demo of any kind outside of Wallasey and Birkenhead town centre in many years, and all the more remarkable for taking place during the middle of a week day.

Maybe ten people from bedroom tax campaigns across Merseyside made the journey to Rock Ferry to offer their solidarity, but the bulk of the participants were from Woodward Road - an extraordinary achievement for a grassroots community organisation. Women, men and children all played their part to make as much noise as possible, and really announced their group's existence to the rest of Rock Ferry. Some held homemade placards and banners with pride, while others blew whistles and chanted.

One particular chant - so familiar to long-time campaigners - took on a poignant new meaning in the mouths of children on their first ever demonstration. "Whose streets? Our streets!" shouted young people on the streets where they have grown up, but from which they are now threatened with removal for the crime of poverty.

When the procession reached the One Stop Shop, speeches were made appeals were handed in en masse, with staff looking quite bemused and flustered at being greeted by a demonstration at work.

In the scheme of things, fifty people at a demonstration might not seem like a lot, and indeed one passerby who uploaded photos to the 'Wirral Talk' website described it as "Very Small Bedroom Tax March". But what the photographer probably didn't realise was that this was the work of just one estate.

While most 'left' parties focus their attentions on the small proportion of the working class who are unionised, the ruling class austerity onslaught is creating whole communities who have nothing to lose from fighting back. The tragedy is that there are many other Woodward Road estates where people have yet to collectively organise, and where individuals feel desperately alone. May the growing Woodward Road resistance inspire people around Merseyside, and throughout the whole country!

Jacobs Bailiffs' headquarters occupied by anti-bedroom tax demonstrators

Parasites in partnership

Demonstrators occupied the Merseyside headquarters of Jacobs Bailiffs on Monday, in what will be a slap in the chops to the parasites feeding off working class communities. We reported in an earlier post that Jacobs Bailiffs were gearing up to exploit people thrown into chaos by the government's attacks on welfare, offering delegates at a recent conference the opportunity to "maximise collections" through Jacobs' "Welfare Reform Recovery" Strategy. So, we decided to pay them a visit.

During the occupation (and parallel-run communication blockade), Simon Jacobs (BSc), co-owner of Jacobs Bailiffs, repeatedly denied that they would be enforcing bedroom tax evictions*, but what he could not deny is the harassment tactics employed in retrieving (stealing) money/goods from people trapped in a vicious cycle of debt. In fact, he seemed proud that this was his chosen vocation (and the tactics that go with it) and gloated about the 'legitimacy' of his business.

In the winter 2012 edition of the Jacobs Newsletter, the company 'meditates' on the challenging times ahead for local authorities, especially with welfare reform changes from 2013:

"Collection and recovery will never be as important next year as Authorities face reduced budgets through loss of funding in addition to internal spending reviews and efficiency savings initiatives."

They go on to ruminate:

"There are a number of options identified for the collection of this new category of [welfare] debt, and indeed, Jacobs have begun discussing these options with clients over the last few months."

"Whilst the growing numbers of debt to collect may be of low value, principle collection process can still be ‘business as usual’.(our emphasis)

A closing question to a welfare reform article in the newsletter asks:

"Can it be ‘business as usual’ for the collection process next year – YES"

When Simon Jacobs and his cronies were interrogated on their intention to exploit people hit by welfare reform, we were met with a deathly silence which answered on behalf of the exploiters.

Jacobs Bailiffs are part of an industry that actively seeks out, harasses and coerces people who, through no fault of their own, find themselves in debt. Whatever the reason for debt, it should not be blamed on the individual actions of borrowers! Individuals are led into borrowing by low wages, meagre benefits and the insidious pressures to consume. 

With welfare attacks now in full swing and families suffering as a result, bailiffs must be challenged, resisted and opposed in our streets, neighbourhoods and communities as they ramp-up their collection efforts. Bailiffs, part of an exploitative economic system, sanctioned by business, banks & government, hold working class people to ransom every day.

1,374 Consumer County Court Judgements (CCJs) are issued every day; 84 properties are repossessed every day; 154 mortgage possession claims are issued and 111 mortgage possession orders are made every day; 426 landlord possession claims are issued; and 297 landlord possession orders are made every day in the UK.

In the months to come, bailiffs will be called upon to seize goods, take rent arrears, council tax and property. We have to start fighting back and taking that fight direct to their doorstep whilst protecting our own. It's immaterial whether Jacobs Bailiffs commit evictions or not (there'll be plenty of bailiffs targeted who do), the disclosure of welfare reform as a stream of bailiff revenue inculcates them in a global robbery of the working class (both in and out of work). And let's not forget: at the end of the day they're fucking bailiff scum.

More anti-bailiff actions on the way.

combatbedroomtax@gmail.com

*clarified that Jacobs don't commit eviction

We know bailiffs are bastards, but this is fucked up!

In what can only be described as sickening parasitism, Jacobs Bailiffs recently posted a news article touting for business at a recent Revenues, Rating and Valuation Conference. The news article included this line:
  

"With Welfare Reforms taking effect from 1^st April the Jacobs team can talk you through our recovery strategies for maximising collections."

Speechless.

We all know Bailiffs are bastards, but this is fucking foul. Remember the above sentence, remember it well. To seek to pilfer off a working class, whether employed or unemployed, facing some of the worst attacks on welfare, on working conditions...these piggin fuckers should be dismantled wherever and whenever they have the audacity to surface in our communities.

On monday, let's kickstart a summer of anti-bailiff actions against these horrorbags. Join the communications blockade against Jacobs Bailiffs: https://www.facebook.com/events/149471701892653/

If you're not on facebook, the deatils of the communications blockade have been posted here: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2013/04/508885.html

“There can be no greater infringement of an individuals civil liberties than to have a sheriff officer examine their personal belongings to ascertain if there is anything worth poinding”

Fuck the bailiffs!

combatbedroomtax@gmail.com