National Rally for Young People this Saturday 29th Jan
Article published: Thursday, January 27th 2011
A national demonstration against the cuts in Further and Higher Education, youth unemployment and the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance will take place this Saturday 29th January 2011 in Manchester.
The National Union of Students (NUS) and University and Colleges Union (UCU) have called for a protest march from the University of Manchester to Platt Fields Park – where they will join with other members of the Trade Union Congress for a rally.
The demonstration will be addressed by a range of speakers including recently elected Unite leader Len McCluskey, UCU General Secretary Sally Hunt, UCU Vice President Kathy Taylor, NUS President Aaron Porter, Kay Carberry from the TUC and Matt Wrack from the Fire Brigades Union.
According to the NUS website, “The protest will act to highlight youth issues, including access to education, the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) and youth unemployment. Manchester has both the largest further education college (The Manchester College) and one of the largest higher education institutions (University of Manchester) in the country, and sits in a region in the UK with the highest rate of youth unemployment.”
“It is important to ensure that not all our activity is based in London, and so staging a national action in a region with such high levels of youth unemployment, jointly alongside the TUC and UCU is a positive and constructive development at this time.”
NUS President Aaron Porter said, “Mobilising for both these mass protests and rallies will act to both highlight and build upon the widespread popular opposition to the cuts agenda. The savage cuts to the further and higher education sectors, the tripling of tuition fees and the move towards a market-based approach within our universities and colleges are all widely recognised to be profoundly unfair, unsustainable and badly thought out. And, what is worst, this is all against a backdrop of staggeringly high levels of youth unemployment.
“It is now more important than ever that we stand together to strongly make the argument for investing in our young people, and in our future. Despite the obvious challenges we face, I remain confident that together, we can win.”
Article researched by Jordan Anderton – student placement reporter from Loretto College
UCU & NUS MARCH: will assemble at 10:30am at the Manchester Museum (near to Oxford Road junction with Brunswick Street) setting off at 11:00am.
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