OXFAM SCAM

OXFAM SCAM- How Home Fundraising rips off the public and its fundraisers. I worked for Homefundraising company for 5 shifts and today I got dismissed- I am really happy about that because I’ve realised it is a scam! – Firstly- the money is indirectly taken from the revenue generated- EG Oxfam PAYS Home Fundraisers X amount of pounds- say £ 100 000 TO RAISE £ 400 000. That’s the target. Now the CEO of OXFAM went on Undercover boss (Channel 4 ) AND FIGURED OUT THAT DIRECT DEBIT DOENT WORK...WOOPEE! He says: We will look into creating a system where people can donate by text...Great! Most of the people I spoke to in those 5 days were OPEN to direct donation- which would have insured the majority of the money went to OXFAM- not 20 % for fundraising to an unscrupulous and greedy bunch of scam-artists run as a pyramid scheme to keep the loyal faithful... BEWARE: 1. You don’t get paid min wage. You get less than half. Why? You usually have around 3 hours on top of the 5 which you aren’t paid for. THATS YOUR TIME! £ 7x 5 = £35. £7 x 8= £56. Means you are underpaid over £20. Plus you don’t get paid for training until you complete 30 shifts. Plus you pay £40 for a tshirt and raincoat- which you get refunded if you return. I worked 5 shifts and got paid £ 80. Work it out. My total hours were around 50- which means I got paid less than £ 3 per hour...if I get the £40 + the balance of my shifts... it still works out to only £4 per hour. 90% don’t make 30 shifts. 2. The money that is paid to HF works out to the entire first year of your signup. - £ 8 per month x 12 = £96. They get paid £98. So how is it that so much money can go to a PRIVATE for PROFIT business. 3. As a “CHUGGER”( Charity mugger)- or a CHUNT ( DEROGATIVE NAME FOR A CHARITY CUNT)- you have to knock on over 150 doors a day. You are assigned a team leader who is pressurised as an overseer to get signups- when actually simple texts would suffice. The problem is that the private company would have difficulty gauging how much it raises and its whole system would be screwed. That’s why they want to keep the signup system- 4. Many of the more successful muggers at the door are only successful becoz they themselves are pressurised to hit target. Old and vulnerable people are literally mugged on the doorstep to sign up to give every month ...and the doors get hit several times by several charities. The worst is HF because it uses people like a Pink Floyd meat grinder- ever recruiting desperate people who will accept anything – just to get a job... 5. By the time you get back late at night – you are simply dropped off and you have to make your own way home... This is the so called ethical COMPANY THAT RAISES MONEY POSING as OXFAM- SAVE THE CHILDREN AND BARNADOS CHARITIES! They just use a loophole – plus 25 pence in every pound is matched by gift aid... so fundraisers are expendable. I want to say to anyone thinking about joining these scammers... DONT BE SUCKED IN! They know what they are doing and they don’t care... And by the way... the CEO of OXFAM – as qualified as he is... HASNT implemented this system. It shows hes not worth the £ 360 000 per annum or however much it is. He should get 10% of that and be grateful. I know OXFAM does a lot of good. But to say that 83% of all the money goes to the people it’s supposed to help...this is a lie. To begin with getting rid of these parasites like HF is the beginning of putting ethical fundraising back in business. Raising money thru text or direct giving – and if they choose so- signing them up... this is one thing... but for these companies like HF to make such huge profits from USING people’s naivety and their desire to do something for humanity... this is cynical in the extreme. I am so happy I got dismissed today! I LEARNT WHAT not TO DO AND i AM THANKFUL FOR THAT! Here is another viewpoint... During the time I worked as a fundraiser it was with the company ‘Home Fundraising’ (HF) which is in the latter of the two groups I described. A large emphasis is put on the company being ‘not for profit’ – which simply diverts attention from the large amounts being ploughed into the directors’ wages. Whereas the direct marketing companies work on the basis of blinding young workers with drivel about what they could potentially earn, fundraising companies and charities rely on what amounts to emotional blackmail when it comes to exploiting their workforce. This is thinly veiled by the term ‘emotional contract’ – which managers seek to forge with the team leaders and fundraisers, who are in turn trained to do the same with potential donors. What this term means in reality is that everything to do with the job comes second to the demands of the charity. This relies on getting employees to view the charity not as their employer, but as a cause greater than them, which should come before their rights or needs as a worker. We’re ‘ethical’, don’t you know… Companies like Home Fundraising have benefited greatly from the naked expolitation of ‘nasty’ organisations like the Cobra Group, able to position themselves as the ‘nice’ alternative. When I got a job at Home Fundraising, I was bombarded with assurances of how ‘ethical’ the company was, reinforced with jibberish about how the director was a stockbroker who had an epiphany and became a Buddhist monk, before going on to set up the company – which obviously meant he would a really fantastic employer, with all our best interests at heart. Throughout the training there were many references to the unscrupulous behaviour of Cobra, and how much better HF was because they paid wages and you were a ‘proper employee’. The reality is that the company hold the fact that they pay wages against the workers, and use every means they can to reduce them. For example, from the Liverpool office we would often travel as far a field as Blackpool or Telford for a day’s work and, rather than us being given de facto travel payment, if we didn’t hit our targets, we didn’t get paid for our travelling time – and even when we did, it would only cover us for a maximum of one and a half hours (Travel from Liverpool to Telford is around two hours in each direction) The result would often be that we’d leave our office at 1pm, and would return home at 11pm, having earned only £35. Whenever challenged on issues relating to travel pay, the company’s response would be ‘well, you are paid bonuses for your sign-up rate, therefore work harder and increase your pay’. The bonus scheme works out that if over a five day period you sign up more than seven people for £8.67 per month, every sign up after that point is worth £30, supplementing the £7 per hour you are paid for five hours a day. Whilst this might sound decent on the face of it, the reality is that the vast majority of the workforce do not regularly hit their bonuses, and so when you include travelling time it works out that the company are paying less than minimum wage – and much like Cobra Group, are able to do so legally. Bullying, negligence and harassment A favourite line for the company to whip out if you were lagging on targets would be ‘you’re stealing money from charities’ and is perhaps the best reflection of the point I made about wage payments being held against the workforce. This reasoning would often be used in disciplinary hearings, which were handed out with no consistency, and a lot of of the time seemed to be based on personal dislikings taken by management. This comes on top of the fact that the company refuse to give sick-pay, and whilst insisting that it is a ‘proper job’ employ staff under the same conditions as the worst of precarious employers. Notable instances here included staff not being given paid breaks, not being given paid time off when injured in the course of work (I was badly bitten by a dog whilst working, and was told to take two days off out of my holiday leave) and most commonly, being paid incorrectly or not at all. The latter would happen to a significant number of staff on an almost weekly basis. Things reached a particularly low point in April of this year, when a number of teams – including one that I was working on – realised that they were being followed in cars by unknown people who were photographing them. When questioned, our managers repeatedly assured us that they were nothing to do with the company, and when the stalkers were confronted, they either drove off or denied that they were following us. After two weeks of this going on, the company finally sent somebody from head office who admitted that they had hired what they described as ‘mystery shoppers’ to follow teams on site. It was clear that whether or not these people had been hired from a ‘mystery shopper’ agency, their function was as private investigators – gathering ‘evidence’ and intimidating us rather than assessing the quality of our work at the door. Far from the media perception, fundraising is very difficult underpaid work – and presently in Liverpool – and I imagine, other large cities, it is one of the few options for young workers – who then face the difficulties of organising in a casualised work place – often against a very union hostile management. Both Home Fundraising and Cobra Group have offices in most large UK cities, alongside other organisations such as P and D Marketing and JMS. Its very likely that most readers of this will have a marketing agency or fundraising company based in there area – or possibly know somebody who works as a fundraisers – I’m sure any support you can give to fundraisers trying to organise in their workplaces will be very much appreciated.

BRISTOL-A CITY WITH MANY SECRETS

Bristol:City of Secrets Whilst I could have properly researched this travelblog- I’ve decided not to. I may be wrong about some of the facts... but I want to feel gonzo today...I feel I need to do a Hunter S. Thompson on the good city of Bristol... a city built on human blood, sweat, flesh and tears...and city of IN- “ spire” ation and a city of hidden ghosts and secret slave caves... a city which has spawned secretive artists like BANKSY... and a city which is great if you walk or ride a bicycle or a canoe but terrible if you have a car... its one way systems specifically designed to confuse you into frustration...- my dad hated it!... but the city of Bristol makes up for any of its faults by its extremely friendly and personable people. It has a terrible city council that isn’t compassionate to homeless people but thankfully its residents are more so and Ive come across a remarkable community interest company called “ Positive Causes” which has a unique and direct way of raising cash for its operations and does at the same time help reduce petty crime in the area.www.positivecauses.co.uk And to top it all I was dressed as a banana yesterday on its gay pride day – to implement the method as a practical way of standing in the gap between what the government does and what normal charities do... and it is this... When someone is on benefits... it usually is not enough to live on... it barely maintains a person...and in some cases doesn’t even supply housing needs. Due to the unsympathetic Tory council Bristol is maintaining its hardnosed approach that gave it the desire and the ability to become the world’s centre of slavery... but this is not what this blog is about... It is about Bristol as a city of secrets. What I like about this city is the feel of it. It is the hipsters capital of the Uk...and has recently been declared the GREEN capital of the UK... its ambition..? to get off the grid and supply its own energy needs through a variety of means for example... TIDAL power...a scheme that would have been scrapped had it not been for the forward thinking mayor who is often seen sporting RED pants!!! You see the river has a tidal differential of around 6 metres... boats that came into its berth had to always prepare themselves for when the tide was low and the term in the British navy soon stuck...” Get it shipshape- Bristol Fashion...” Meaning tie everything down nice and tight and real good so nothing falls over and breaks! The other thing I like about the city centre is the colors on the buildings and the weird graffiti on buildings...it’s fantastic...and I can highly recommend a walking journey or hiring a bike to just see the street art around Bristol( mostly in Stokes Croft- near Full Moon Hotel& Backpackers) By the way...if you want cheap the best place and most central place to stay in Bristol is the Rock n Bowl who offer FREE bowling on a Monday night... I tried it for the first time last Monday and I won!!! I guess I’m a natural athlete. So I recommend a day just to see the street art... and of course you must see the Victorian Museum on Brandon Hill...the Bristol Museum and of course the Zoo...which is also world famous for its diversity. If you want to have an overview of the city take a walk up Park street and take a left on Charlotte street to see the Georgian architecture which reminds me a little of New Orleans French Quarter... in fact parts of the old city remind me a little of a combination of Amsterdam( Arnolfini) and Prague( Castle Park Bridge).. It is also quite interesting that HSBC has moved its headquarters here and other financial institutions have also followed suite to avoid the high prices of London... in fact this influx of London bankers has caused prices to go up by 20 % last year in property and any investment you make is bound to see a good return. There are other hidden gems in Bristol such as the SS Great Britain – built by Isambard Marc Brunel – the greatest British engineer... and of course the SLAVE CAVES!!! ( I discovered an entrance to one of them right under the city centre – pointed out to me by a Gambian brother)...Which no one talks about nowadays because it’s part of the shameful history of the city... and this is a pity because the city is so forward thinking in most other regards... TO ITS CREDIT BRISTOL HAS THROWN THE DOG A BONE BY PUTTING ON A TOKEN DISPLAY OF THE SLAVE TRADE BY PLACING A PERMANNET EXHIBIT AT THE MSHED NEXT TO THE SS GREAT BRITAIN...but – its tokenism and nothing more than that. Ask about the slave trade at the local tourist office and they will say..” huh?”- Que?” ... its like asking the Berlin Tourism office for the FUHRER BUNKER OR THE SPANDAU PRISON... this part of their history they have buried their heads in the sand ... and why is it important today? Its important because the heirs of the slavers have all benefitted and continue to benefit from the slave trade and the money created from this criminality. Whereas the heirs to the slaves themselves and the trade itself have not. In fact we see AFRICAN DISUNITY both in AFRICA and in the CARIBBEAN. The German government took pains to educate the youth of the horrors of the Holocaust and what they as a nation did to the Jews. They have not just educated them about this terrible event but they have placed museums and monuments to the fact... plus they have genuinely as a nation apologised and more importantly compensated their victims over a 60 year period. What has Britain done ? What has Bristol done? Tony Blair did take the admirable step of apologising but most people see his apology as only a token and not worth the breathe as he himself was responsible for Iraq and committing Britain to a disastrous war that cost this country money and blood and honor. But to take it back to Bristol... slavers built great big mansions which some are empty today...why don’t the council donate them to the AFRICAN PEOPLE TO BUILD UNITY IN AFRICA AND PROSPOERITY FOR ALL? Its all about acknowledging what pain was caused by slavery. And ding something about it today to make this wound be healed. It will never go away until collectively the British people do something about it. Currently we see disunity and pain on the African continent. Arguably the AFRICAN CHIEFS WERE ALSO RESPONSIBLE BUT THEY DID NOT CREATE THE TRADE... BRITIAN DID....and thus they are responsible for it... even in the holocaust there were Jews that sold out their own brothers... but it was the Nazis who created it. In any case we have found a big cave which we believe may have been used to keep slaves – so we as the Rainbow Family in Bristol have renamed it : “FREMANS “( Freemans)Cave... I had a debate with a radical feminist at the CREATE Centre – which alongside SPIKE ISLAND is an art centre and trying to show its 21st century hippy liberal nature... but comes across as being a bit sterile... like the Island ART STUDIO... there is an underground in Bristol ... a part the establishment want to reach for its creativity ...but it always tried to sterilise it which is unfortunate... Banksy street art tours and the graffiti on the building here in Bristol is quite amazing but it is no Bohemia...not yet anyway. So to return to the Slave question...YES...most definitely something needs to be done... seeing Cabot Towers and Colston Centre – two places named after the top slavelords feels a bit like calling SOMETHING Goring strasse or Hitler platz... WE CAN ARGUE IT IS PART OF OUR HISTORY... but is it a part to be proud of? That is the question! The Africa Unite Movement totally disagrees with how the good people are handling this sensitive issue and tokenism is not the way forward. I was told there is a Malcolm X centre and a St. Pauls festival but the African people collectively deserve a bigger apology than that for the holocaust they created and benefitted from. We are asking for a UNITED STATES OF AFRICA EMBASSY to be officially opened in one of these slave mansions... for example “ Burnhall House near the Clifton Suspension bridge... Something like this could assist with the development of political education and culture and panafricanism. And that’s what we would like to see in the future with the help of the local community leaders. But let’s stick our heads in the sand and move on to the next subject... Bristol has many secrets some good, some bad...and some ugly... take your pick... Its host to the gay pride day once a year that draws in lots of pink pounds... and one of the Shakespeare festivals as well as The St Pauls festival- which is hosted by the afro- Caribbean community of St Pauls. There are two universities here and Bristol has a very vibrant theatre scene – its one of the two places in the UK many people come to do Computer Science degrees and sociology... – the other place is Cambridge... rowing is also popular here on the River Avon and the surrounding areas of Bristol offer good day trips such a s Bath and Glastonbury- Cardiff and Cornwall( the Eden Project)...so HIP is this city becoming that the hotels are usually FULL over weekends...and because of the many different festivals and events going on in and around the town... there’s always lots of tourists coming through and lots of jobs for students to do part time... Bristol was voted recently as the happiest city to live in the UK and finally it has the highest LUX rate ( sunshine or light in the UK)... so if you don’t like the misery of Northern towns and their dampness...come to Bristol...there’s something for everyone here... it’s got a great library and last but not least it’s also known as the “CITY OF SPIRES!...” I would like to rename that to the CITY OF IN- “SPIRE” – ATION! There are many steeples and spires and towers that all taken together make up a cacophony of old and new architecture.... that pierces the British Vanilla Skies... Transport to London is good from the Bus station- only 5 quid by Megabus to London( 2 and a half hours) and by train ( one and a half hours to Paddington)- Temple Meads... it also has a good airport which is serviced by regular buslinks to and from the airport... For the price conscious who want to visit the south west region – it’s only a 20 minute ride to Bath or 45 minutes to Cardiff... and a ticket to and from Glastonbury for example will cost you only £7.10 return... Whilst the city council is very hard assed towards vulnerable people coming through Bristolians have a good heart and this city has per capita the most charities and community interest companies in Britain- which says one thing...people here GIVE! Oh yeah...one more secret... John and Charles Wesley started the first Methodist chapel right here in Bristol and often spoke out against slavery... in fact they were one of the first to do so...the chapel today is a museum but there are services or talks on Friday lunchtimes...and you can even see where the great man slept! And prayed with his fellows... apparently he was quite a bastard unlike his songwriting brother ... but men of the cloth were in those days... It is interesting to note that Michael Eavis the founder of Glastonbury himself is a Methodist and attends church regularly on Sundays... unlike others in the area who are mostly new agers... The community is quite diverse and the place to eat is St Nicholas Market which has food from all over the planet... comparable to Brixton... Another little secret of Bristol! I recommend anyone coming here to set aside at least 3-4 days to see the city properly. For the booze cruisers there’s always a boat ride on the Jolly Roger... so whether you look inside a guide book or discover the city for yourself... take your time!!! I can also recommend a visit to the Palestine Embassy for another point of view... Bristol is it seems quite open to things like that... a very progressive city on one way... a very conservative one in another... quite a quandary...quite a mystery... A city of secrets! A city of spires... a city of many colors... come and see it for yourself and make up your own mind...personally I love it !