Oisin Duncan, Leeds Socialist Party
Young workers are expected to constantly accept the bare minimum on offer. Youth Fight for Jobs is organising to change that. Our primary fight is for a £15-an-hour minimum wage now.
This was the main demand we brought to the national trade union demo on 18 June. And we have been involved in campaigns for £15 an hour, like the McStrikes.
Strikes by McDonald’s workers showed that young people in precarious jobs deserve better wages. As a bar worker myself, I have first-hand experience of the cost-of-living crisis. Running around a large venue, carrying barrels up and down stairs, and dealing with drunk, potentially abusive customers is difficult enough, especially so when you can barely cover the rent and energy bill.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has recently announced its ‘Fight for £15 campaign’. The TUC says this is a “path” to a £15-an-hour minimum wage by 2030 or “as soon as possible”.
We welcome the TUC’s campaign, but we can’t afford to wait. The cost-of-living crisis is now. We need £15 an hour now.
And we have other questions. What is the TUC doing to build this campaign beyond petitions?
Strike wave
This summer has shown that coordinated strike action is possible. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) brought 170,000 Royal Mail and BT workers out of work on the same day, a historic occasion.
The ongoing strike wave has shown the power of trade unions to a new generation. Mass coordinated action hits the bosses where it hurts most, their profits, and can force the Tories to concede reforms to workers and youth.
For these reasons, we say that the TUC should take the lead in coordinating strike action, to back up the demand for £15 an hour. Mass coordinated action could also raise other demands, like abolishing youth rates.
For our part, young workers can put pressure on the TUC by getting active in our unions, as well as joining the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) lobby when the TUC Congress reconvenes later in the autumn. On top of winning wage increases, a combative union movement could also defeat the anti-trade union proposals that Liz Truss referred to in her election campaign. If Truss tries to attack the unions, she must meet the full force of the workers’ movement fighting for a better deal for the working class. Youth Fight for Jobs will back that fight to the hilt.
