Future Jobs Fund - massaging the figures

OUR UNION branch recently discussed the Future Jobs Fund. As a branch predominantly of youth workers, we are well aware of the disproportionate impact of this recession on young people.

We discussed and passed a motion from Youth Fight for Jobs, and agreed to affiliate and donate to the campaign. We will make organising the young people employed in our workplace under FJF, a priority.

Our workplace is having cuts by the backdoor - we have lost seven full time members of staff through posts being 'frozen'. And women on maternity leave are faced with coming back to work to find their projects fallen by the wayside as apparently we are told we can't afford cover for these staff.

We now have only 30 full-time members of staff who are overworked and stressed yet we are now told we have to manage between eight and 12 (it depends what manager is briefing!) employees of the FJF. This is likely to push some staff to breaking point.

We are all for properly resourced, sustainable job creation schemes for young people where they are paid the rate for the job, not undercutting existing pay rates, on the minimum wage (which is substantially below the wage rates of other staff on the same nationally agreed job descriptions in the case of youth work).

We are also told that these employees will be starting work in advance of their CRB [criminal record] disclosures being received possibly putting other young people at risk, all so that the government can massage the unemployment figures in advance of a general election.