LIFE*SPIN - Workafre Resolution

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WHEREAS the Mission Statement of LIFE*SPIN identifies it as an organization that strives to support the empowerment and self-development of low-income individuals in their efforts to attain self-sufficiency; and

WHEREAS one of the objectives of LIFE*SPIN is to uphold the voluntary nature of volunteers and to remove the financial barriers to volunteering by providing necessary support, such as transportation and child care; and

WHEREAS workfare threatens the true nature of volunteerism; and

WHEREAS the threat of starvation and homelessness forces obedience; and

WHEREAS in 1976 both Canada and Ontario signed the United Nations International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and

WHEREAS the Covenant includes the following:

"the right to work, which includes the right of everyone the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses to accept . . ."; and

WHEREAS the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also declares in Article 23 (1):

"Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and protection against unemployment."; and

WHEREAS through workfare programs people are forced to work for welfare level benefits, in direct contravention of these rights; and

WHEREAS workfare is based on the myths that people on welfare are unwilling to work and there are jobs available; and

WHEREAS social services statistics from London and across Canada demonstrate that when jobs are available, people on welfare apply for those jobs and get them; and

WHEREAS workfare keeps welfare recipients in poverty, forces them to take jobs of existing workers at cheaper wages and, therefore, results in higher unemployment; and

WHEREAS experience in Quebec, Alberta and New Brunswick have proved that workfare is costly and not only fails to help people find work replace real jobs; and

WHEREAS it is becoming increasingly apparent that the province intends to download the administration of workfare to community-based organizations and municipalities;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the corporation Low Income Family Empowerment *Sole-support Parents Information Network will not serve as a delivery or monitoring agent of Ontario Works and will not cooperate in any mandatory work for welfare schemes.