Socialist Students join Yorkshire March for Jobs

Yorkshire Youth March for Jobs in Leeds – photo Iain Dalton

Socialist Students took part in the Youth March for Jobs in Leeds on 9th of October.

The demonstration and march, attended by some 50 people, included impassioned speeches from representatives of NHS workers say no, the Socialist Party, and members of Socialist Students of Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, and York, with a particularly poignant speech from one of our York 6th form members highlighting the failures of our education system.

As one student put it “We’re made to chase league tables, get the top grades, get a degree (and a masters), then end up in Pret on £8 an hour?”

After marching through the city centre, the protest ended with a rousing call to action from the general secretary of BWAFU, Sarah Woolley; stating the need to take the fight to the Tories.

As the youth unemployment rate reaches 13%, with most young people forced into zero-hour hospitality jobs, one attendee said of this, “these jobs require emotional labour, as someone who struggles to even look people in the eye, what can I do?”.

The fight for better jobs, better pay, and the education to achieve those, is not being led by the Labour party. As enmity towards Keir Starmer grows, it’s up to us to lead, and to make these ideas a reality.

Anthony Bracuti, Leeds Uni Socialist Students

March for Free Education in Leeds

Marching for free education past Leeds University & Notre Dame Sixth Form

Students across Yorkshire joined together this past Friday for the Yorkshire March for Free Education; organised by Leeds for Free Education the demonstration attracted around 150 people from across the region including Sheffield, York and Huddersfield.

Aggie Chaplin, Sheffield Hallam Socialist Students & Iain Dalton, Socialist Students Yorkshire Organiser

As well as marching, the event included a number of excellent speakers, such as Socialist Students member Lily Green from Huddersfield, a sixth-form student who gave an inspiring speech on the disastrous effects the marketisation of education has had for students across the country.

Lily Green addresses the starting rally outside Leeds University Union

Similarly, Sam Morecroft, a PHD student at the University of Sheffield and the UCU Anti-Casualisation campaign, highlighted the plight of university teaching staff who are currently paid an exploitative hourly wage and stressed the importance of a united front of students and workers to fight the privatisation of education.

Donations from trade unions such as UCU & the RMT had supplied vital funds to produce leaflets, and local trade unionists assisted students in stewarding the march.

One of the placards on the demo expresses the predicament facing large numbers of graduates

Sarah Woolley, a member of BFAWU executive and a local Greggs worker, explained how student debt and tuition fees are linked to zero hour contracts. As she commented “…you shouldn’t have had to have a dad who went to Eton to be able to get a university degree.”

Many of the speakers criticised Labour’s pathetic pledge to only reduce tuition fees to £6,000 a year. In this context, it was significant that the only speaker on behalf of a political party was Megan Ollerhead, York Uni student and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) PPC for York Central. As well as calling for students to support TUSC, she explained “…whatever combination of colours gets in this May, it’s still going to be the same flavour… we need to continue to organise events like this.”

Mary Finch addresses the final rally on behalf of Leeds for Free Education

Importantly, the march engaged with quite a number of people we passed on the streets, including having most of drivers stuck waiting for the march to pass cheering their support out of car windows! Socialist Students members worked hard to leaflet throughout the demonstration and successfully engaged with students and workers alike which resulted in quite a lot people joining the march along the route, including a big group of students from Notre Dame Sixth Form.

Friday’s demonstration was an excellent starting point for further action for the Free Education Movement throughout the country. Most importantly, the successes of this event in terms of publicity and new supporters should be capitalised on to enhance the cause and to fight the sell-off of our education.