The Socialist 9 February 2011

Big Society? Big Con!

Big society? ... big con!

Fight the cuts - whoever makes them

Ditch the library cuts

Hands off our forests!

Campaigners reject maternity unit cuts

Billy Bragg helps raise Exeter Anti-Cuts funds

Institute of Directors, bosses' organisation, bares its teeth at unions

Solidarity with the Egyptian masses

Uprising in Egypt - Socialist Party public meetings

EDL racists terrorise Luton

Fast news

National education shutdown needed

PCS young members' network conference

Yorkshire: organising the student movement

Demonstrating against cuts in Grimsby

Volunteering 'plaster' for unemployment

Egypt: Is revolution derailed?

Economic crisis in Greece: Immigrants made scapegoats

Solidarity messages needed for US prison reform activist

Southampton campaigners march in defence of jobs and services

Jobs massacre at Pfizer

Striking against health job cuts

Scottish Unison members oppose leadership's sell-out

Leicester Unison members rally against all cuts

March against the job losses in Greenwich

Unite anti-cuts conference

Woody Sez

Life on the autistic spectrum

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Volunteering 'plaster' for unemployment

On 7 February the government approved plans for charities including the Prince's Trust to set up stalls in Jobcentre Plus offices across the country.

What a fantastic alternative the government is offering whilst they raise university fees, scrap EMA and preside over youth unemployment of nearly one million!

Volunteering can be a good way for people to gain personal fulfilment, experience in a particular field or to do something productive with spare time or a gap year.

However it is no alternative to paid employment.

Young people will be expected to survive on the poverty living that benefits provide whilst doing work that could be used to undercut wages in existing public sector workforces.

Whilst the government freezes recruitment across much of the public sector and slashes wages and jobs their answer is to put a plaster over the 20% rate of youth unemployment, the highest figure since records began in 1992.

If the government was serious about tackling unemployment it would put money and resources into mass employment and apprenticeship programmes that offer young people decent wages, decent conditions and a chance to contribute to society in a meaningful way.