Employment Zones differs from Labour's other privatisations in that it privatises people - the unemployed.

The unemployed will be sold off to private companies who will make more profits if they manage to move people into work earlier. As such, Labour's ongoing policy of bullying the unemployed will now be driven forward by the profit motive. The harassment of the jobless will be good for business.

In Liverpool and Sefton the contract for running the Employment Zones has been awarded to Reed. Reed is the same company who finished bottom of the performance league when they administered the New Deal in Hackney.

That Liverpool and Sefton's jobless are to be handed over to a company with such a spectacular record of failure only serves to demonstrate Labour's determination to push this policy through.

Jim Dye, President of Liverpool Trades Council, bemoaned the lack of coverage in the local press despite issuing countless press releases to them. He made the point that Reed, through large-scale advertising, has now developed a close relationship with the local media that appears to have ensured a lack of coverage for the anti-EZ campaign.

Simon Elliot, a PCS union rep who had travelled from Middlesborough to share his experiences with the meeting, said: "This is privatisation by stealth. Private companies have taken over the delivery of unemployed services with hardly anyone noticing at all."

The Government, he said, had wanted at least half of Employment Zones in the hands of private companies so they could effectively test the private management of unemployed services.

Employment staff now faced job insecurity, the threat of redundancy, and the knowledge that they were likely to be the people who would deal with the anger of claimants who had been bullied by Reed.

Simon made clear that the quick buck philosophy at the heart of the Employment Zones programme would inevitably mean that those in most need of support would be the ones left by the wayside.

"Companies will be making money by getting people off the register. As such, the Employment Zones will focus on those who can more easily get into what they call sustainable employment."

Incidentally, it is worth giving the official definition of sustainable employment - a mere 13 weeks!

Local PCS rep, Dave Owens, illustrated that this was an issue that should concern the whole labour movement, not just civil service staff.

"During the docks dispute my union ensured that we never touched a docks vacancy. Will Reed do the same? Already we have seen private companies like Manpower organising scabbing for British Airways. Under Employment Zones, the unemployed can be told to scab or face losing their benefit. This is a forced labour scheme for poorly paid jobs."

Reed, who currently do not even have an office in Liverpool, plan to open one in Lime Street, near the city's main railway station."Let us make it our aim as a campaign", urged a speaker from the floor, "to shut them down on the day they open."

Many speakers made the link between the privatisations within the Employment Service and other Labour privatisations such as Air Traffic Control and PFI in the Health Service; as well as issues such as Job Seeker Allowance rule changes and low pay.

Mike Hogan of Liverpool City College UNISON told how catering staff and others who are only employed during term-time are no longer allowed to claim benefit during the Summer, even though they are not paid by their employers at all throughout this period.

Alan Runswick, branch secretary of PCS Revenue said: "My 17 year old daughter has taken a weekend job at McDonald's and they pay her £3. 60 per hour. That is the same as a Revenue Assistant starting in my office. We talk of McJobs and poor employers. Well I work for one. It's called the Government."

The meeting closed with plans to set up a campaign committee to co-ordinate the fight against Employment Zones. Everyone present gave their names and contact details, and asked to be informed of campaign activities.

A North West Anti-Privatisation conference will be taking place in Manchester in the Summer involving many trade union activists."Let us make sure that when we go to the Anti-Privatisation conference", said one speaker, "that we go with news of how we closed down Reed in Liverpool."