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MEP
supports guarantee for unemployed youth
"AT last - a glimmer of hope
for Britain's lost youth," said Local Labour Euro MP Arlene
McCarthy after an agreement reached by EU governments to bring in an
EU-wide ‘youth guarantee.'
The youth guarantee will ensure that all young people under the age
of 25 get an offer of good quality employment, continuing education,
apprenticeship or traineeship after an extended period of
unemployment or leaving formal education.
Arlene added that:- "1 in 4 young people active in the labour market in the North
West are unemployed, the highest level for almost 25 years. I call
on the British government to use the UK's share of the €6 billion
Youth Guarantee funds to save a generation of young people in our
region. Tory MEPs were almost alone in the European Parliament back
in December last year as MEPs from across the political spectrum
were united in our calls for a guarantee to unemployed youth to get
a job for a fixed period."
Labour Euro MPs launch a campaign for a Youth Jobs Guarantee at last
year's Labour Conference, and followed this up with a conference in
Nottingham, where unemployed youth from across the EU met with
employers, Labour Leader Ed Miliband and EU politicians to discuss
different approaches to youth unemployment.
In December last year, Labour MEPs supported the TUC's 'Charter
for a Future That Works' whose aims also included calls for
guaranteed paid work or training after a period of unemployment for
unemployed youth.
Arlene added "In Britain, there are a million young people who
are unemployed. Across Europe, it's over five million. This is
devastating for the young people themselves, but also a huge waste
for our economy, with potentially disastrous implications for the
future.
We now need to ensure that any scheme set up in the UK as a result
of the Youth Guarantee actually creates real employment." |
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Labour Euro MPs
lead initiative to remove asbestos from the EU
LABOUR Euro MPs have been
successful in getting a new initiative on removing asbestos from
public buildings in the EU overwhelmingly accepted by the European
Parliament by a large majority with 558 votes in favour and just 51 against.
The report called for the removal of asbestos from all public
buildings and buildings requiring public access by 2028, an EU-wide
model for screening and registration of asbestos, and a roadmap for
its removal.
Local Labour Euro MP, Arlene McCarthy said:- "Around 4,000
people die every year in the UK due to asbestos related illnesses,
making it the county's single greatest cause of work-related death.
In my own region I have heard first hand from the victims of
asbestos related diseases about the devastating impact it has on
theirs and their families lives.
We are calling for the EU to work for a global ban on asbestos.
Dumping asbestos on developing countries is a scandal, so we are
also calling for the EU to use its weight as the world's largest
economy in international forums such as the WTO to put an end to
this.
Governments must now recognise the dangers of white asbestos (chrysotile)
as well as blue and brown asbestos."
The vote was passed overwhelmingly by MEPs on Wednesday, 13 March 2013,
with only a few extreme eurosceptic politicians in the EFD Group of
UKIP and its allies voting against the measure.
Arlene added:- "UKIP are isolated in their view that white
asbestos is 'harmless', as there is strong consensus from
scientists to the contrary. This is not a pro or anti Europe issue,
it's about the number of people dying in the UK from
asbestos-related diseases."
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