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Resolution 17
Playwork services
(1)
This conference notes with dismay the damage and destruction wreaked upon play services
as a consequence of the austerity agenda that continues to destroy services. We are dismayed at the
number of adventure playgrounds, outreach play ranger schemes and play centres across the
country that are now closed and unable to support children in poverty at a time when they need the
support most. We believe the current emphasis on targeted work to support only children at a point
of serious crisis is flawed and fails to value children, Playwork and Playworkers.
(2)
It notes with concern the recently introduced childcare regulations, which seriously affect
the professionalisation of the workforce, is leading to widespread redundancies and eroding the
quality of experiences-including the safety – of children in after school clubs and holiday
playschemes.
(3)
We call on the GFTU to: Endorse and promote the Unite statement for employers to adopt
to commit to employing qualified Playworkers.
Endorse the article by Unite Playwork Convenor Chris Martin ‘Play is a serious business’ as well as
the article on the impact of austerity measures on Playworkers in the inaugural Journal of Playwork
Practice.
(4)
Support the work to encourage Playworkers into Trade union membership.
(5)
Support the proposal for Playworkers to be incorporated on to the JNC for Youth and
Community workers and covered by these National Terms and conditions.
(6)
Support the development of plans to rebuild and reinvest in a professional Play service for
Britain.
Resolution 18
Black Youth Unemployment
(1)
Half UK's young Black men are out of work. This was the headline on the front page of the
Guardian Saturday 10 March 2012. If you are White you have more chance of becoming employed, if
you are Black you have less chance of being employed.
This claim has continued with the Department of Work and Pensions in January 2014 declaring that
BAEM communities (Black, Asian & Ethnic Minority) unemployment was 12% while it was 6% for
White communities.
(2)
For those who fight for justice and equality this comes as no surprise. It is obviously a
problem as authorities and organisations don’t talk about it because if they did they would have to
act. The Conservative led Coalition Government fails to recognise this as a national crisis even
though all data, facts and statistics available clearly show that Black young people are more than
twice as likely to be unemployed than their white counterparts.
(3)
There are more than three quarters of a million young people unemployed in the UK. It is
time to act. We cannot stand by and watch the potential of thousands