Fight unemployment with a job guarantee

I was very pleased to see your editorial in support of a job guarantee (25 January). Hornsey and Wood Green constituency Labour party (CLP), at its last meeting, overwhelmingly supported the following motion, proposed by my branch and inspired by Pavlina Tcherneva’s book The Case for a Job Guarantee: “This CLP declares its support for the principle and policy of a job guarantee and urges Haringey council to nominate itself the first job guarantee council. A recent report found that 45% of the workforce in Tottenham was unemployed or on furlough. If we see a return to mass unemployment this winter, our borough will be among the hardest hit.

“We cannot implement a policy offering a socially useful job to anyone who wishes to work without funding from national government, which would also need to establish its terms and conditions. However, under the job guarantee scheme, jobs would be locally provided. So, the council can explore and plan for the implementation of such a policy, when the government is ready to support it. To this end, we urge Haringey council to provide resources to scope and explore what structures the council would need to set up to manage the job guarantee; the likely demand for job guarantee jobs in the borough; how it would interact with existing employment organisations and schemes; the partners in the third sector, community groups and other public organisations that can identify the socially useful jobs that could be created under the job guarantee.”

We await a response from the council, but hope that other CLPs and branches will pass similar motions to oppose any return to mass unemployment.
Nigel Willmott
Chair, Stroud Green Labour party