‘Young people need a future!’
by Linda Taaffe, Waltham Forest Socialist Party
‘Young people need youth services’, ‘Youth workers need jobs’, ‘Re-open all closed services’, ‘Young people need a future!’
Under these headlines a Waltham Forest Trades Council (WFTC) public meeting was held about the dismal prospects facing young people; and how the trades council can take this matter up in a big way.
Photo: Paul Mattsson
To start, the floor was given to two Unite London bus drivers from the local Stagecoach company, who’ve been embroiled in disputes with their management for quite a while now, for victimising union reps and creating a toxic culture. Their Unite organiser was unfortunately in Bangladesh – but that didn’t stop him. He joined in on Zoom. You can’t keep a good man down! The room gave them all a big round of applause, and pledges to be there at the next picket.
Oisin Mulholland, a Unite the Union activist in the union’s youth section, and standing for a place on its Executive, said he will not accept this situation quietly. He outlined how, as a start, Unite could call a cross-London youth campaign initiative. Another young speaker, Aisha, described what life is like for young people, especially for those becoming socially isolated and resorting to screens. She also mentioned the maternity hospital where she was born had been closed down for lack of custom!
Young people just can’t afford to have kids themselves; plus, of course, the skyrocketing rents, that drain more than half their wages – if they have a job – forcing them to go to live with parents well into their thirties.
Then, speaking about council cuts to youth services, President of the trades council Nancy Taaffe recalled that when she was young in the 1980s, the words “I am a 1 in 10” – the figures for youth unemployment at the time – were put into a pop song by UB40. Now, those figures are a drastic 1 in 7 and very little is out there publicly on this scandal.
A good number of young people, and parents of young people, added their comments from the floor, spelling out the very same situation in every sector. Deji Olayinka from Croydon made a contribution pointing out the shocking increase in youth violence in his borough. He described the devastation caused on children and young people by austerity, and outlined how we need to link young people with trade unions in a united struggle.
From the floor also, it was noted that we have so many statistics it’s time to draw a line in the sand and fight back! “The local Labour council just passes on austerity exactly like they did under the Tories. We in this room could do a better job. That’s why we want to stand for council in May, starting now with an appeal to join with us as fighting campaigners.”
So, the meeting ended on a high note. We have our work cut out. We have no choice but to fight for a socialist change.