‘Give youth a job chance’ plea to major employers from Councillor Catherine West

Published: 18th February, 2011
by PETER GRUNER

TOWN Hall leader Catherine West has urged major employers to stop “importing” labour from outside Islington and to provide more local apprenticeships.

She called on firms with public-sector contracts to make a real contribution to the borough by providing jobs for local people.

Cllr West said: “It’s not acceptable for companies working on big projects in the borough to simply offer £500 towards a community centre. What we want are real jobs and opportunities.”

The Labour councillor spoke out after one of Islington’s biggest private employers, Kevin McLoughlin, with a workforce of 120 painters and decorators, told the Tribune of  the “scandal” of billions of pounds in taxpayers’ money being spent in the borough, but with few jobs going to local young people.

Cllr West admitted that the council’s own record of providing apprenticeships needed improving. “We have just 77 apprentices working across the council and I want to see that figure increase to 120 over the next two years,” she said.

She wants the council to act as a “broker” for apprenticeship schemes in Islington’s hospitality, retail and customer service industries.

Cllr West said that future contractors who want to bid for council contracts will have to specify just how many local jobs and apprentice schemes they can provide.

She pointed to the worst pocket of deprivation in Bunhill ward, Finsbury, where 39 per cent of households are on unemployment benefit and many families have never worked. 

“The government re­gen­eration board EC1 New Deal spent £52million in that area over 10 years and did some very good improvement work,” she said. “But where were the long-term jobs?”

She will be talking to the capital’s biggest employers, including Crossrail, National Grid, Thames Water and Transport for London. 

“All these organisations have big projects ongoing or about to start,” she said. “We want our young people to be involved. I’ve discovered that thousands of people, for example, are employed on road maintenance. But the average age is 55.”

Cllr West said the London Olympics had met basic legal requirements when it came to taking on apprentices, but again could do better. 

“It’s the construction industry which leads us out of most recessions,” she said. “But where will our kids be in the next few years when things start taking off if no one is teaching them the skills they need to get jobs?”

She will be tackling the jobs issue on behalf of the London Labour Leaders Group, where she is chairwoman of transport and environment.

“I shall also be making the case for more jobs for Londoners,” she said. “If this was Yorkshire or Wales people would be banging their fists on the table, saying: ‘We want more jobs’.”

Pie ’n’ help – Politics in ‘pop-up’ age

ADVICE from Town Hall leader Catherine West was on the menu along with traditional Cockney fare last week.

The Labour councillor staged a “surgery” at Manze’s Pie and Mash shop in Chapel Market, Angel.

Cllr West is staging a series of “pop-up” surgeries at shopping centres around the borough.