Youth workers in prime minister’s home patch battle on to save
Oxfordshire’s youth service
31 October 2011
Youth workers in the prime minister’s home patch of Oxfordshire
have vowed to battle on to save the county’s top class youth
service as they stage their third strike action tomorrow (1
November 2011), on the steps of County Hall, Oxford.
WHEN: Tuesday 1 November 2011 from 8:00am – 12pm
WHERE: Outside County Hall, Oxford City Centre, New Road, Oxford,
OX1 1ND
Unite, the largest union in the UK, has had no response from
Oxfordshire county council to a request for talks to end the
dispute over job losses, changes to terms and conditions and the
wipe out of the youth service profession, which has already seen
workers stage two days of one day walk-outs.
The walk-outs are uniting young people in the area with one
local young man, 17 year-old Jordan Rolfe, making a direct appeal
to the prime minister to intervene to ensure that others get the
same help tackling substance abuse that he got from youth workers
in Banbury (read
the letter from Jordan Rolfe to the prime
minister [Word]).
The action comes just days after 21 young people and youth
workers travelled from Banbury, Oxfordshire to London to join the
Choose Youth lobby of Parliament, where more than 1,000 young
people from across the country urged MPs to stop coalition cuts
ripping the youth service apart.
Oxfordshire county council plans to slash youth service funding
from £3.7 million to £1.4 million, making the county one of the
lowest contributors to youth services in the country.
The jobs of 80 professional youth workers are under threat, as
the Conservative-led council pushes ahead with plans to off-load
the running of its 26 youth clubs and two-detached youth teams.
Mike Beal, Unite branch chair for community and youth workers
and who spoke at the Choose Youth lobby: said: “The council’s
continued refusal to get around the negotiating table to end this
dispute is hurting the most vulnerable young people in the county
at a time when they need the support of trained professionals more
than ever.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. Our members would much rather
be doing their jobs, reaching out to young people who struggle to
engage, that live in poverty or just need someone to talk to.
“Yet, the council’s failure to address the concerns of its youth
workers shows just how little it values the role they play in
turning young lives around.
“Our members are ready to negotiate, but remain determined to
challenge Oxfordshire county council which spends less than one
pence per day on its young people. This falls well short of the
measly national average of 28p spent per day per young person.”
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
Oxfordshire county council has cut its spending on young people
from £67 per young person per year to just £52, this works out at
less than one pence per day. Source: Unite FoI research.
For more information please contact Chantal Chegrinec, Unite
press office, on 07774 146 777 or Mike Beal, Unite community and
youth worker branch chair, on 07946 509 396
