James Corry

Congress threw its weight behind a wide ranging strategy to tackle growing youth unemployment in Scotland and to increase the numbers of permanent, well paid jobs available to young people.

It recognised that the UK Government’s austerity measures are hitting young people hard, and Congress pledged to make jobs and opportunities for young people key to the “There is a Better Way” Campaign and to challenge both the Scottish and the UK Government to implement policies which support youth employment, including the use of procurement in public contracts to promote apprenticeships.

Supporting, James Corry, of UNISON’s Skills Development Scotland Branch, warned Congress to be wary of much of the hype about positive destinations for school leavers and “the much lauded 25,000 modern apprenticeships target” which the Scottish Government says it has reached, which he described as “numerical smoke and mirrors”.

“The devil is in the detail,” said James. “The target has been reached by including not only many fixed term contracts linked to a vocational qualification, but also the accreditation of training under the modern apprenticeship banner that was already being carried out by employers in the workplace with their existing employees.”

James called for vigilance to ensure that any new opportunities offered to our young people are much more than “a clutch of certificates and false hopes,” and urged all trade unionists to make sure that the schemes and courses offered are not short-term “holding corrals” used to mask the real levels of youth unemployment.

“By doing so, we can fully support those opportunities whose foundations are built on sound labour market information and have the requisite built in targets for post programme progression of the young people into permanent sustainable employment. Then we will be doing all we can for our young people who, after all, are the workforce and trade unionists of tomorrow”