Should welfare claimants take industrial action against welfare cuts and reforms?

What pressure do you imagine benefit claimants 'striking' would put on the government? A net drain on the treasury going on strike will only reduce overhead

Also good luck getting public support for basically going on 'strike' to whine about how handouts funded by everyone else are not generous enough. They'd just be perceived (and not necessarily unfairly) as ungrateful.

With rail workers and airline workers going on strike against low pay and poor conditions, should welfare claimants also be allowed to take industrial action against the benefits department, to protest against cuts?

People on welfare have suffered a lot over the last 6 years with the benefit freeze, bedroom tax, sanctions for petty mistakes, workfare exploitation, disabled tricked out of their disability benefit by shoddy asos assessments, people made homeless and housing benefit cut.

Claimants should form a claimants Union where they could strike by refusing to attend signing appointments and other interviews refusing to do workfare or attend courses etc.

Discuss.

"Spending on benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is expected to be about £171 billion in 2015/16 (23% of public spending), of which about £90 billion is expected to be paid out in the State Pension."

MoD budget= £45bn

So what makes one more liable to cuts than the other? Why be in favour of cuts to one that will just increase the burden on the other?

no it's straight out my experience on the frontlines of healthcare , as are the 3rd and even 4th generation workless families living within spitting distance of major employers who are having to recruit overseas and then bus people from the big city becasue the locals cling to the delusion that One day Arthur is going to come marching over the hill with t'brass bands playing and they'll all go back down t'pit ....

and despite your protestations what you advocate is stright out the socialist;s play book

I forgot anyone who supports moderate sympathy for the less fortunate is a socialist, I must be one then. The issue with the kind of society you support is eventually it will screw you, look at the pension situation. That will be you when you're done, and you'll probably be paying for healthcare as well.

Talk about stupidity.

and you claim not to be a socialist ?

the outcry over provider management in healthcare is a distraction to ensure the unions remain able to subvert the will of the commissioners

Do your threads get any more stupid?

Going on strike involves employees withdrawing their labour. All not signing on would do is make you lose your right to benefits for 13 weeks or longer.

In the meantime who will pay the rent and what will they eat? You are utterly ridiculous.

And despite your protestations what you advocate is stright out the socialist;s play book

I presume you mean WCA and PIP functional assessments as originally conducted by ATOS , you seem to be forgetting that the decision is made by a DWP employed none-clinician , people also assume that the assessors are mugs and shouldn;t use their clinical acumen to spot the deceptive baehaviours of some claimants; Gregory House is correct about patients and their propensity to say what they think people want to hear.