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Would you call G4S for help over discrimination?

G4S   (Click to enlarge)

The Tories have handed the contract for the government's Equality Advisory and Support Service discrimination helpline to notorious privatisers G4S. Sue Powell takes a look at the outsourcers' record...

Imagine the job description.

The Equality Advisory and Support Service helps people facing human rights issues or dis-crimination on the grounds of disability, race, gender and other forms of discrimination.

For example, supporting people denied housing or made redundant due to race, sexual orientation, age or disability. We seek a trustworthy, supportive and understanding manager to run our helpline at a time when hate crime is increasing.

And now, the successful applicant's CV...

G4S

• 1901 - Predecessor private security firm founded in Denmark.
• 1991 - Started running the UK's first privatised prison.
• 1998 - Began operating the UK's privatised children's prisons or 'secure training centres'.
• 2004 - A 'restrained' 15-year-old died in one of our prisons.
• 2007-10 - Claimed parking fines as business expenses to avoid £580,000 in corporation tax.
• 2010 - Unlawfully killed a father of five during deportation from UK. Our military wing was criticised by the US Senate's Armed Services Committee and the UN watchdog Global Policy Forum.
• 2012 - Senate and UN criticise us again.

Meanwhile, in Israel-Palestine, helped the Israeli state run several detention centres for Palestinians, and provided police HQ with security equipment. The Guardian reported that Cell 36 at al-Jalameh prison holds children.

Cashed in on Canada's asylum crackdown.

Part of the UK Olympics security fiasco.

• 2014 - Saw out a mass hunger strike of jailed Palestinians.

Investigated by the UK's Serious Fraud Office and criticised in parliament for charging for electronic tags on released and deceased offenders.

• 2014 - Sold our subsidiary which had been providing 'cleaning and facilities' services at Guantánamo Bay.

Found to use disciplinary techniques in our prisons including tipping a pregnant woman's wheelchair while holding her feet.

• 2015 - Had to sack at least six members of staff at a young offenders' facility after they attracted too much heat. Ofsted reported drug use while on duty, racism and humiliation of children.

Accused of torturing South African prisoners.

Our police control room made bogus 999 calls to hit targets.

Our patient transport service in Kent left a dialysis patient stranded for hours.

• 2016 - Lost our appeal over tax avoidance.

Skills - Corner-cutting, over-charging, under-training, worker exploitation, negligence, racism, brutality.

Referees - UK government (estimated £4 billion of contracts by 2012), other governments looking to privatise anything all over the planet

In this issue

#KeepCorbyn

Kick out the Blairites

#KeepCorbyn: Answer right's attacks with firm socialist programme

Corbyn union nominations round-up and view from the workplace

#KeepCorbyn: huge support at rallies and among Labour rank and file

Socialist Party news and analysis

Black footballer's taser death: stop police racism now

Pay still below pre-crisis levels

Train fares to rise again - nationalise railways now!

£500m on civil service redundancies in two years

Them & Us

International socialist news and analysis

Trump in trouble - political polarisation deepens

International news in brief

Socialist readers' comments

Readers respond to Trotskyist red scare smears by capitalist media

Would you call G4S for help over discrimination?

The Socialist inbox

Workplace news and analysis

Deliveroo strike action forces bosses to back down

Junior doctors set for further strike action

A day in the life of a call centre worker

Workplace news in brief

Save our NHS

Save our NHS!

The threat of private health insurance

Organise against secretive NHS cuts plans

Socialist Party reports and campaigns

Greenwich council tenants: We won't pay! We won't move!

Local estate agents back Butterfields tenants

Nottinghamshire Pride makes history

Immingham residents' housing battle

Home   |   The Socialist 24 August 2016   |   Join the Socialist Party

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Related links:

G4s:

Prison crisis: a catastrophe of cuts and privatisation

4,800 young people hurt after officers 'restrain' them

Justice for Yemen workers

Yemen: families left to starve by multinationals

Discrimination:

Online meeting - Ending violence against women, the socialist approach

A fighting programme for women's rights and socialism

TV: The school that tried to end racism

Yes to self-identity

Prisons:

Oliver Campbell - Still fighting for justice

Them & Us

Knife crime - a product of capitalist misery

Children:

Police attempt to intimidate Newcastle protesters

Covid, capitalism and mental health

Racism:

USA: cop killings and the anti-racist movement

Police:

Vote 'yes' in the PCS DWP ballot

Prison:

Bobby Sands - Nothing but an Unfinished Song

Privatised:

PPE contracts: It pays to have friends in high places

Olympics:

Invest in grassroots sports needs

Palestine:

Conflict in Jerusalem widens across Israeli cities and to war on Gaza

State:

British state absolves itself from killings during 'the Troubles'

Israel:

Stop Israeli state brutality

Human rights:

Councillors in Surrey resign from Labour and look to stand independently

Asylum:

Tories admit guilt for asylum seeker neglect

Deportation:

Tears and anger over the treatment of the Windrush generation

Military:

Brazil: Bolsonaro regime plunges into a deeper crisis