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Search for
apprentices to cook up a storm
A search is underway for 6
young apprentices to work at a new world class restaurant in
Liverpool. Chef Paul Askew; who already runs the acclaimed
London Carriageworks; is opening the Art School Restaurant in the
Hope Street Quarter later this year.
He is looking for a number of young people aged 16 and 17 years old
who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) to be part
of the new venture.
3 commis chef and 3 waiting staff positions are being offered,
funded by the Mayoral Youth Contract Apprenticeship Business Grant
Initiative.
No training or experience is necessary and the successful applicants
will be paid at the national minimum wage for apprenticeships, which
is currently £3.72 an hour.
Councillor Nick Small, Cabinet member for employment and skills,
said:- "This is a great opportunity for young people to get
their foot on the employment ladder working at a top quality
restaurant and I am delighted we are working with Paul Askew on this
project.
So many of our teenagers have fantastic raw potential and this
initiative is designed to make sure we don't end up with a lost
generation that aren't given the opportunity to show what they can
do."
Paul Askew said:- "I am looking for raw talent that are
enthusiastic, eager to learn with an excellent attitude to be part
of my new restaurant team and play a key role in its success."
Over the last 12 months, more than 100 young people have been taken
on by dozens of employers as part of the Mayoral Youth Contract,
giving them a chance to get on the 1st rung of the employment
ladder.
The roles have ranged from horticulture, hairdressing and childcare
through to catering, construction and sport with companies from the
private, public and non-profit sectors.
It forms part of the City Deal negotiated with Government, and
Liverpool is 1 of only 3 places able to allocate its own pot
of money to the scheme through the Youth Contract.
The cost of being NEET from 16 to 18 years is estimated to cost the
public purse around £56,000.
Liverpool's Open Air Art
Gallery is opened
LIVERPOOL now has a brand
new art gallery. The gallery is part of an arts
project in Old Swan in which local young people from the Joseph
Lappin Centre have been working with artist Nicola Taggart to
produce work reflecting their neighbourhood. It is sited in the
front of Tesco car park in Prescot Road and was opened by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool,
Councillor, Gary Millar, on
Tuesday, 10 June 2014.
Councillor Millar said:- "This will be one of my last
engagements as Lord Mayor and I am pleased that it will be in the
ward I represent. It will not only brighten up the area but it shows
what creative and talented young people we have there." The gallery is part of the wider Prescot Road Arts Project which
will also include, in the future ,a mosaic and a site where giant
poppies will be installed to mark the centenary of World War 1.
Funding for the gallery has been provided through the Mayoral
Neighbourhood Fund with contributions from Liverpool Mutual Homes
and Tesco and help from Riverside Your Place.
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Bakers Food &
Allied Workers Union call for legalisation of lightning strike
action
BAKERS THE 2014 Annual
Conference of the Bakers Food & Allied Workers Union, who have
approximately 30000 members, is taken place in Southport. On 8 June
in a wide ranging address singled out food employers such as 2
Sister's Food Group, founder Ranjit Boparan, for criticism warning
supermarket bosses and others, the Union would strike if members'
livelihoods were threatened. He said:- "Mr Boparan's business
model is nothing more than asset stripping, which leaves companies
and people tossed aside with total disregard. However in David
Cameron's 'big society' Britain of hard working people, this kind of
behaviour is rewarded. It demonstrates the sheer perverse nature of
the business world when making huge profits at the expense of
workers is something to be celebrated. To those employers who freeze
or cut our pay, we will strike, reduce our terms and conditions we
will strike, attack our health and safety, we will strike, bring in
slave labour workfare schemes, we will strike." He
criticised the UK Government's lax approach to health and safety
highlighting that they say sees 1 worker die every 15 seconds in the
world, as a result of poor working conditions. "The fact is
that more people are killed at work than on the battlefield, yet
this is never reported in the mainstream media."
The
BFAWA represents, who all work
in the food and allied industries and trades on 9 June 2014, then
voted unanimously to pressure the Labour Party to reintroduce the
right of workers to exercise their democratic right without
"restrictive balloting" procedures and reform of the Trade
Union Act 1984. Ronnie Draper, General Secretary said:- "I
would like to see secondary action re-introduced. It is illegal at
present and should be repealed." Mr Draper also criticised
the TUC leadership for failing to follow through on the issue
despite some positive noises. He said that:- "The TUC will
make the right noises, but to carry out anything a bit radical or
slightly to the left, it gets short shrift. We need workers to rise
like lions from the slumber to fight back." So does this
affect you? Let us know your views on this issue via emailing us
to:-
news24@southportreporter.com.
The Union's General Secretary, Ronnie Draper, has also made the
comments on the 2nd day of the Labour Party affiliated at the
conference in Southport, Merseyside. Mr Draper said he had a message
for Mr Miliband who has a "hell of a job" to win the
general election next year. He said:- "We're not asking for
the earth. It is not about being radically left wing. We want a
living wage, an end to zero hours contracts unless a worker
genuinely wants one, end the dependency on food banks by feeding
people properly and repeal of the anti-trade union laws. My message
to Ed Miliband; make a commitment to build a substantial amount of
new houses- that's a vote winner, promise to keep the NHS free at
the point of need - that's a vote winner. And promise to take back
our postal service into public ownership; that is a vote winner."
Turning his attention to industrial relations law, Mr Draper said
the UK was the easiest place to sack a worker in the Western world.
The recent changes to Employment Tribunals have seen costs for each
tribunal jump to £1,600 and a right to claim unfair dismissal
doubled to 2 years. He added:- "This country is condemned by
the International Labour Organisation year on year because we are
outside the international norms of industrial relations. This
government have taken away access to justice. Somebody in McDonalds
who is on minimum wage, how can they afford £250 just to register
for a hearing, never mind go to a full tribunal? It is a scandal."
The Union says that it has been at the forefront of a global
campaign for Fast Food Workers Rights which calls for a living
wage.
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