Britain’s leading trade unionist has given his backing to the work being done by local regeneration organisation Team Leyton, which manages Leyton ward’s Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder and its Neighbourhood Renewal Fund – and on whose board I sit as the Leyton ward ‘Community Champion’ for Jobs.
Earlier today, I met Brendan Barber, head of the 6.4 million strong Trades Union Congress, to discuss projects being developed by Team Leyton to create new jobs and improve local people’s skills in the build up to the 2012 Olympics Games.
Brendan recently spoke at the national ‘Olympics Business Summit’ in neighbouring Canary Wharf, where he, Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell MP and London Mayor Ken Livingstone pledged to ensure that decent quality jobs would be made available to people living in areas of East London such as Leyton and that there would be a boost in the provision of training.
As the resident Champion for Jobs in Leyton ward – which has the highest unemployment in the borough – it is my job to try and make sure local people’s voices will be heard as the work towards 2012 gets under way.
On concluding the meeting Brendan said, “From what I know of Leyton, it is a thriving place with a lot of potential. It has the youngest population in Waltham Forest but it is also the most deprived ward in the borough. That is why the TUC will be keeping a close eye on the government’s and the Mayor’s plans for creating jobs and improving opportunities for youngsters. There is a major opportunity here to radically reduce unemployment and raise local residents’ standard of living. I welcome the efforts being made by local volunteers and ‘Champions’ like Miranda to involve trade unions in the work that Team Leyton is doing”.
For more information about the work of the TUC please go to: www.tuc.org.uk