Are these really the darkest days the youth service sector has seen in 42 years?
Doug Nicholls thinks they might be. As general secretary of the Community and Youth Workers' Union, Nicholls last week warned that a ballot over strike action could result if employers - the local authorities - do not alter their stance on pay and conditions (YPN, 29 October-4 November, p2).
This isn't comparable with other public sector professions such as teaching: a strike of youth workers on a national scale has never happened. But as Nicholls says: "There's more concern about this issue than I've ever seen before." The Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Workers (JNC) has always reached "an amicable" agreement over pay and conditions since its launch in 1961, in the wake of the Albemarle Report, he says.
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