Jane Carolan

Slamming cuts in benefits, education allowances and employment opportunities, UNISON NEC Policy Chair Jane Carolan told the STUC, “there has never been a worse time in this country to be young", as she moved a UNISON amendement to the EIS motion

“Quite simply there has never been a worse time in this country to be young. Just when you are reaching the age when you are on the verge of adult hood, when your prospects for taking control of your own life should be at their greatest, this government has decided to dump on you from a great height".

The curse of youth unemployment is not only a tragedy now “but it is a fact that unemployment experienced at that stage of your life continues to affect your employment prospects thereafter.

“We know what the after effects of the Thatcher years were. The Tory attitude to youth unemployment was summed up the cynical cuts to the Future jobs Fund. And every cut they have made since then to public sector employment is another cut to the prospect of well paid good quality secure employment.

“The Tory mantra is that the private sector will grow to create employment. There were also little link pigs flying over the Grandstand this morning. UNISON research suggests instead that for every job lost in the public sector another is also lost in the private sector.”

The STUC will call on the Government to increase Modern Apprenticeship opportunities for young people.