Midlands TUC - Open Forum on Jobs & Employment

On 2^nd August 2014 Midlands TUC organised a Young Workers Open Forum Event on Jobs and Employment. The event was attended by both the National TUC Young Workers delegates as well as approximately 25 Young Workers from the Midlands region.

The event started off with a panel of young speakers, talking about their experience and the experience of their peers in trying to find work and the problems that occur in work today.

Dom Anderson, GMB member, spoke about his experience of unemployment after recently leaving a fixed term contract. His speech touched upon the dangerous narrative towards young people today as 'lazy' and 'work shy,' blaming them for not finding work, when in fact there are simply not enough decent jobs available. Dom shared his belief that this acts as an attempt to embed a notion of a social underclass. He also spoke about some of the politics coming from the Department of Work and Pensions as being particularly detrimental to young workers, for example the workfare scheme (a scheme where benefits claimants are forced to do unpaid work or face cuts to their benefit payments). Dom then suggested that trade unions start to think on a broader scale about what they do for unemployed workers (like those completing workfare/work expereince programs).

Amy Ensor, Apprentice Engineer at Brush Electrical Machines and Unite Member spoke next. Amy described how she ‘broke the norm’ insisting on following an engineering apprenticeship instead of hairdressing or beauty, which she said most other girls were being encouraged to do. From day one on her placement Amy joined her union Unite which has been pivotal in making sure she has a quality apprenticeship. Amy is all too aware how bad apprenticeships can be, some offering little to no training, involving menial tasks, on short term contracts with small chance of a career at the end, as well as often being poorly paid (apprenticeship rate is just £2.68 an hour). Luckily, Amy is paid a decent wage and is learning real transferable skills with a high possibility of employment at the end of the apprenticeship programme.

Amy described how her union has taken action in promoting and encouraging women in engineering roles, which in turn has made her passionate about trying to encourage young women into non-stereotypical careers.

“I test turbogenerators, I have also had the chance to try welding, machining and winding. I've been given fantastic opportunities but other young women are missing out due to poor careers advice at school and societies gender basis. Employers need to invest in their apprentices, pay them a decent wage and give them the tools and opportunities to develop in their organisations, doing so is mutuality beneficial and unions are key to achieving this”

Amy spoke about how she is becoming more active through her Union and is involved with the Young Members network and recently attended Unite’s Policy Conference as a youth observer. Amy hopes that through her union young people can have a voice and lobby government to do more to tackle poor apprenticeships, low pay and the gender divide.

Last of the young panelists to speak  was Parcelforce worker Ben Abrams, who spoke about the important role his union, CWU played in securing his job during the recent privatisation of the Royal Mail group. Ben spoke passionately about the importance of young people joining trade unions to protect against the increasing hardship they face in the labour market:

“The world of work is tough and unforgiving. Regardless of if you are a fresh school leaver, or a postgraduate looking for work, young workers are increasingly being treated with the utmost of contempt and disregard.... It's absolutely the duty of the trade union movement to ensure those workers are not left to go it alone. We need to be more visible, we need harder hitting campaigns that relate to young workers. We need to publicise our wins and break through the negative stereotyping by the media of our movement.”

The forum were then joined by MP Jack Dromey who urged young people to get organised and join unions so they can speak out against low pay and insist on a living wage. Dromey spoke of his time as the deputy General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union. He recalled a campaign where the union organised cleaners in Canary Wharf and won the living wage. Dromey described the problem of low wage as particularly acute for young people and told the Open forum how Labour MPs in Birmingham are working hard to drive the agenda of the living wage across the city.

Steve McCabe then responded to the issues raised by the panel of young workers and particularly touched upon the issue of low pay for apprentices. McCabe admitted that this generation has been left worse off with fewer prospects than the generation before, such as: permanent/ secure  jobs and affording to buy your own home. He confirmed Labour's commitment to ensuring  better guarantees for young people leaving education and entering the labour market as well as tackling the cost of living crisis.

Last speaker of the day was BFAWU National President Ian Hodson, who spoke about the successful campaign at Hovis against zero hour contracts and what young workers can achieve when they come together. Workers at the Hovis factory in Wigan went on strike in solidarity with colleagues who were on zero hours and the union was successful in negotiating those workers on permanent contracts. Ian described their fast food workers, campaign which calls for restaurants like McDonald to stop using insecure contracts. Ian spoke out against employers who use these contracts, which strip workers of their rights.

The day was completed with a campaign action outside McDonalds in Birmingham city centre, giving out leaflets to young people on the use of zero hour contracts at McDonalds and raising awareness amongst the general public. Many people stopped and talked to the young delegates who were only too happy to explain the campaign and what the Bakers union are doing to improve working conditions of fast food workers.

Midlands TUC is now planning follow up activity with young trade unionists in the area, if you live in the Midlands and want to know how you can get involved regionally please contact Rob Johnston on: rjohnston@tuc.org.uk.

If you would like to know more about the work of the National TUC Young Wokers Forum, you can follow us on twitter @tucyoungworkers, or on facebook

Alternatively you can contact Carl Roper on cropper@tuc.org.uk or Lauren Usher on: lusher@tuc.org.uk