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condemned to the scrap heap. Shame on this Conservative led Coalition Government if it is prepared
to watch young black people languish in misery and no hope ... a generation condemned to a future
of worklessness!
(4)
We must take action now to stop the indefensible levels of unemployment of young black
people.
(5)
We call on the GFTU in partnership with affilates to:
•
To demand that the Government urgently sets up a Taskforce made up of Community
Representatives, Trade Union Leaders, Faith Leaders, to consult with young black people, voluntary
sector, community and faith organisations, etc to produce recommendations to address the
alarmingly high unemployment rates.
•
Urge the Trade Union movement to come together to organise a National Conference, made
up of young people, Politicians, Police, Public Sector Leaders, Youth Forums, Business Leaders, etc,
to urgently consider and develop strategies to create employment opportunities for all young
people.
•
Lobby MPs and Local Councillors to develop local strategies with the private and public
sectors to urgently address the problem of high employment rates of all young people with a
particular focus on tackling the disproportionate impact of unemployment of Black and Asian young
people.
Resolution 19
Employment Rights & Trade Union Freedoms
(1)
Conference is appalled at the continuing and sustained attack on collective and individual e
mployment rights and trade union freedoms by the present government.
(2)
This has included:
•
Increasing the qualification period to claim unfair dismissal
•
Undermining the health and safety protection for workers
•
Introducing fees for employment tribunals
•
Attacks on trade union facility time, check off and collective bargaining in the public sector
•
Reducing working rights for people in SMEs
•
Cutting the consultation period for large scale redundancies
•
Limiting the amount of compensation employees can receive for unfair dismissal
•
Weakening TUPE legislation that protects employees transferred from one mployer to
another.
(3)
In addition Conference deplores the fact that UK law imposes obligations on trade unions in
relation to dispute and strike ballots that are unprecedented in Europe and that the law seeks to
frustrate trade unions on technical grounds from their right to take collective action rather than to
provide a framework for assessing whether there is genuine worker support for the proposed action.