I am sure many of you will by now be aware of the intended closure of Remploy factories up and down the country.
I like many many others believe that this is wrong and extremely short sighted and like many of you I have made my feelings known.
Today though the reality of the human cost of these closures hit home to me.
I would like to share this with you all.
My friend and I arrived at the Jobcentre at 8.55am this morning, nothing unusual in that for us, for those of you who arent familiar with Jobcentres(if you arent then please do consider yourself fortunate) I will explain what its like at 8.55am.
There is always a queue at this time of day a long queue that seems to be getting longer weekly despite what the Government figures might try and say.
There is a wide mixture of people, young, old, male, female, black, white, some with young children some with older children as its the school holiday all there to sign on or to attend an appt of some sort, some people do go daily to access job search facilities or to use the telephones in the foyer, the telephones have no privacy save for a little black hood thing, there are 4 in a row :(
The job centre is on a main road a very busy main road so everyone is on show, not sure if thats a deliberate act to shame people who have no choice but to sign on but it feels that way :(
There are 2 parts to the Jobcentre, the downstairs where most people go to sign on and then there is upstairs which deals with group appts this is where you sit in a room of strangers and talk about how to find a job :(
The upstairs also deals with new claims and disability advisors are also up there, why they are on the 1st floor and not the ground again there seems no logic at all to this.
My friend and I needed to go upstairs so we joined the forming queue, the doors never open until exactly 9am no matter what the weather :(
Standing there I always people watch, people interest me and I like to see who is around.
Some people were talking to each other some stood alone.
One man stood out from all the others for me this morning.
A gentleman stood close to the wall, he looked sad, a carrier bag in his hand and he was wearing a purple Remploy polo shirt with the logo on, I watched him intently he looked completely lost and that made me both sad and angry.
The doors opened at 9.am on the dot and the queue then became a huddle to get through the door 1st, my friend and I stood back and let them pass, there by the door stood the gentleman from Remploy, he waited until every lady had entered including my friend and I, we both said thank you.
I was so touched by his good manners, and he followed us up the stairs.
Once in the large room you are greeted by a very nice lady who asks you why you are there etc(she knows us so doesnt ask us we just say good morning and pass by)
I dont know why but I felt the need to linger to make sure this gentleman was ok, he still looked lost and that concerned me.
The lady asked him what he was there for whilst the security guard was asking who was there for group sessions and was directing them off to a room, the gentleman was softly spoken and said he wasnt sure why he was there but he had to make a claim for dole or something, he seemed very nervous at this point.
The lady said oh new claim follow me and strangely he was led to right were my friend and I were and told to take a seat, again he seemed unsure so asked where to sit, the lady was nice and said oh just there is fine, the gentleman sat down.
The process for those of you unfamiliar with new claims is that you are seen by a new claims advisor, this involves possibly 15/20 mins of going through your proof of identity and asking if you have claimed before etc, after that you see another advisor who then sets up your claim.
The lady who had been given this gentlemans paperwork less then 5 mins before stood up and called a name out, no one stood up, she called again, still no one, at this point she stood up and walked over to the gentleman and said the name again and he said no, she asked again, no I am not that person replied the gentleman, the lady returned to her desk and then managed to call the right name and the gentleman said is it ok now, she did reasure him it was ok and that he should come and sit at her desk.
My friend and I had to go about our business at this point so I cant tell you what happened afterwards, what I can tell you though is what I saw today was wrong, that gentleman should not have been in the Jobcentre, no one from Reploy should be in a Jobcentre they should be working in the factories up and down this country where they are happy and no doubt feel safe and valued as is everyones right to feel.
I came home with a heavy heart today for this man and I cried for all of the Remploy workers all over the UK who no doubt face the same in the coming weeks and months.
I urge every one of you to do what you can to stop this happening, some will say it is too late, it is NEVER to late and if we ALL pull together we might just make change happen, PLEASE think about it.
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