Join the Fast Food Rights day of action on 28 August

Sick of Your Boss? Youth Fight for Jobs campaigning, photo Nancy Taaffe

Sick of Your Boss? Youth Fight for Jobs campaigning, photo Nancy Taaffe   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Mary Finch

Iain Duncan Smith may claim his changes to the welfare state are making everyone ‘better off’. But the 868,000 16 to 24 year olds who are still unemployed tell a different story. In fact the Institute for Public Policy Research says that even if there was a full economic recovery, youth unemployment will still be a huge problem.

With the onslaught of government funding cuts to the public sector, existing jobs are being slashed. Education cuts mean vocational training courses are also under attack. Young people are being forced out of higher education by £9,000 a year tuition fees. Even with a degree or vocational qualifications, many are forced onto low paid, zero-hour contract jobs.

Fast Food Rights

The talents and aspirations of a whole generation are being crushed by a system that is unable to cater to them. Capitalism is a system based solely on the maximisation of profit – for us that means depressed wages, zero-hour contracts, and employing the minimum number of workers necessary.

We need job creation, restored funding for training courses and education, a £10 an hour minimum wage, and an end to zero-hour contracts. We need a party that stands up for these things because the three main parties all stand for protecting the interests of their capitalist friends.

We need a mass movement that fights for a society democratically run in the interests of everyone’s needs, not just the super-rich and that can offer jobs, education and services for all.

The Fast Food Rights Campaign, set up the Baker’s Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) along with Youth Fight for Jobs and others, has organised a day of action for 28 August. The campaign calls for decent conditions, wages we can genuinely live on, and an end to zero-hour contracts.