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NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2012
Over the weekend some members contacted us with concerns regarding National Council 2012. We have taken on board these concerns and want to outline the action we have taken to address them. Throughout this year the team have made improving engagement in the organisation a priority and we take all members concerns seriously. We are always at the end of the phone, or on email, if you ever want to discuss anything with us. Date and venue of conference Due to circumstances out of our control, we unfortunately weren’t able to secure a date and venue for National Conference before the Christmas break - but have stuck to our aim of always giving at least six weeks notice for an event. We planned to email all members with a date and location for conference early this week. We are pleased to be able to let you know now that Conference will be held 25/26 February in Manchester. Conference will start at 11 on Saturday and finish by 4 on the Sunday. Throughout the year we have announced venues as soon as possible and have introduced a travel fund to help tackle costs. The travel fund will again be...
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Guest Living Wage Blog - Matthew Butcher – fairpensions.org.uk
Labour Students’ campaign to bring Living Wages to universities across the UK is playing a vital part in a fight against low pay that has been running for over ten years. It is vital not just for the low paid workers themselves but also for their children, who are increasingly likely to be growing up in poverty. It is commonly assumed that child poverty only affects kids whose parents don’t work but this simply is not the case. In fact, 59% of poor children have at least one parent who is working. In Britain today it is ever more difficult to ‘work’ yourself and your family out of poverty. Parents on low wages are often forced into the unenviable choice between earning enough to support their family and spending time with their kids. The Resolution Foundation estimates that there are 5 million people- 21% of employees- who earn less than a Living Wage. A Living Wage is defined as a wage that would provide a ‘minimum acceptable quality of life’. 27% of women, who are more likely to be single parents than men, earn below the Living Wage. Parents should not be forced to work all of the hours of...
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SUPPORTING PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS
Two million people went on strike this week due to the Tory-led Government's pension plans. Labour Students and Young Labour members across the country supported them. To show my support for public sector workers, I joined 20,000 others on the march in London. I marched alongside university Labour clubs, London Young Labour and young trade unionists. It was great to see so many Labour clubs represented at the march, includingUCL, Goldsmiths, LSE and SOAS. Labour Students acrossBritain also marched in their home cities, includingEdinburgh,Swansea andCambridge. The day of protest saw students standing up for their teachers, lecturers and all those in the public sector who are so crucial to keeping our society moving - those who will have to pay more into their pensions pots yet receive less under Tory proposals. Pensions may not seem like an immediate concern for many students, but we will be pensioners one day and we need to stand up for what is fair. While the Government’s pension plans may not affect all of us in the short-term, they do affect those around us and it was for those people that we marched. The Government’s proposals...
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Labour Students in the Community - Mitch Theaker
As a society it is all too easy just to stay within the university grounds and not get involved in the local community and with local CLPs. But getting out there is so important. It’s the best way to spread the values we hold as Labour Students, it’s the best way to show that students are an integral part of the community, and it’s the best way of showing that we really care about the area we live in. Over the years in Swansea, we’ve managed to develop strong ties within our community. We have elected members on many different Labour groups, we have organised campaigns to save a local library and a local tax office, and more recently we have been raising money for the Miners’ Appeal led by Peter Hain MP and the NUM. No doubt everyone reading this will have heard about the tragic death of the Welsh Miners recently. Communities from around Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom shared in the sadness felt and acted together to support those who have been affected. Our Secretary James Short, said in one of our Summer Skype meetings that we should do something to help so we...
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IT IS TIME FOR A LOW PAY KITEMARK
The issue of low pay has long concerned me. Seeing my mum work all hours she could when I was young, but still not able to make ends meet, broke my heart. From a young age work was something I was proud to do to help our family and start saving for university. While at Birmingham University I worked two jobs - in later years behind the bar in the student union (we actually call it a guild at Birmingham) and the second as a marginal seat organiser. It’s all I could do to make ends meet. When I become chair of the Labour Club (BULS) my first act was to get in Labour MPs and a big charity cheque to promote Labour national minimum wage. One of my first acts as Guild President was to launch an assault on the low pay of our own staff - two inflation-busting increases and the job was far from done. Today the Young Fabians are launching a new pamphlet, Ambitions for Britain's Future. I have written a chapter calling for - among other things - a 'Low pay kitemark'. A mix between the Fairtrade mark and the Duke...
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Labour Students' Living Wage Campaign
You may have seen in the Guardian that Labour Students are launching a campaign for the Living Wage in higher and further education institutions across the country, a campaign which David Miliband will be supporting on his university tour. The media unsurprisingly focused on the story of David Miliband’s return to frontline politics, leaving mentions of the Living Wage to the end, or in some cases not mentioning it at all. But this focus on personality politics misses an important point. With this move David has committed to campaign for a Living Wage. Labour Students members have prioritised campaigning for a Living Wage this year and will be building local campaigns on their campuses to negotiate a Living Wage agreement. We’ve prioritised it because we believe that those who keep our institutions running should not be paid a poverty wage. It’s the people you don’t always see on campus, who are there before we arrive in the morning and stay late into the night; keeping our campus clean and secure. They often have to work long hours or work several jobs to make ends meet. This means they have to choose between living in poverty and spending less time...
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Celebrating black history month
Black History Month (BHM) takes place every October in the UK. It raises awareness of African, Caribbean and Ethnic Minorities' history and cultural heritage - celebrating positive contributions to the political, economical and cultural life of Britain. It also promotes important dialogue about current and past forms of oppression found in the UK and across the world. At my Students' Union I organised a dynamic programme of events to mark Black History Month in collaboration with the African and Caribbean Society, Politics and Debating Society, Raising and Giving, UPSU TV, Blackwell's Bookstore, Elevation Networks/YBS and the University's Catering Service. From debates, African and Caribbean food being served in the Students' Union bar and raising money for the famine in the Horn of Africa. For me BHM marks the start of celebrating the diversity of all of our society with LGBT History Month in February and International Women's Day on March 8th. I can't wait to work with Pearl, Emma, Joe and Ben for cross liberation work. On a side note the NUS Black Students' Campaign Flagship Winter Conference is Saturday 26 November 2011 10:00 - Sunday 27 November 2011 16:00 "The conference provided an excellent opportunity for African, Arab, Asian...
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