Leeds Youth Fight For Jobs demo in February was a great success, photo Leeds Socialist Party (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
“Hundreds queue for 56 jobs at Selfridges”, reported the Manchester Evening News before Christmas, when 600 job-seekers waited for hours in a queue stretching two blocks for a handful of temporary posts.
Poppy Hamilton, Manchester Youth Fight for Jobs
This sums up why young people and workers from across the north-west will join the regional march for jobs on Saturday 13 March.
Unemployment rose by 4,000 in Greater Manchester last month. The north-west is one of the areas with the fastest-rising youth unemployment. Mass lay-offs have hit the region hard – from the banks, the retail and service sectors, together with construction and what little remains of manufacturing.
The closure of public services such as crèches, where many young people work, is adding further to the dole queue.
One report last year suggested that around 250 people are applying for every job, meaning the majority of job-seekers are trapped in unemployment despite every effort to find work.
Dead-end ‘McJobs’, temporary work or low-paid or unpaid apprenticeships should not be the only options available to young people. Young people deserve a decent future!
Youth unemployment has now reached one million. We have two options: fighting back for decent jobs and resisting job losses or resigning ourselves to years on the dole.
We need to fight against education cuts too. Colleges are cutting courses while universities are laying off staff.
127 jobs are under threat at Manchester Met University, where YFJ has been supporting the workers’ and union fight to save these posts.
Hundreds have been laid off at Manchester and Salford Universities in the last few years, with more to follow. A pittance of education maintenance allowance and grants, and increasing loans is nowhere near enough.
And when they finish in education, young people can join the queue outside Selfridges! Paying more, getting less and with little to look forward to at the end of it – so much for education as a route to better prospects.
Demo details
The demonstration will be against job losses, for free education and for improved job prospects for youth. It will start at 12 noon at All Saints Park on Oxford Road and march into the city centre where we will hold a rally.
The march is supported by the Manchester South branch of the RMT transport workers’ union, Manchester NUJ journalists’ union, Salford and Manchester trades councils, members of the PCS civil service union, and others.
We cannot give up the struggle. If you’re sick of hearing the same old spin from politicians so far removed from ordinary people that they may as well be from another planet, then join our demonstration.
Contact Al on 07933 995 031 for leaflets and posters or more information.
