Young people urged to ‘know your rights’
A young woman from Wrexham is making sure that young people know their rights in the workplace through a unique poster campaign.
Fixer Stacey Blundell, 24, and a group of her friends believe many young people can be exploited due to their age.
Working with Fixers, the national charity that helps young people ‘fix the future’, they have created a set of posters to give young people greater awareness of what should and should not be expected of them in the workplace.
Stacey was inspired to become a Fixer earlier this year after hearing stories from friends about discrimination they faced in the workplace over wages, complaint procedures, and holiday allowance.
She believes many young people accept inequalities in life as part of the argument that being older means you are entitled to more.
“Many young people are either not confident enough to speak up or too scared to complain if they feel mistreated in terms of work, holidays, pay, or the information they receive,” says Stacey.
“This fear is because young people are not taught their rights, and only pick them up along the way to becoming an adult.
“They have no awareness of how to fight things that are unfair and are often just patronised.
“Young people should be shown more respect, and be given information to gain more awareness of their rights and to know how tackle discrimination issues if they arise.”
The posters can be viewed here: http://www.fixers.org.uk/news/6828-11208/rights-of-passage.php
Fixers is charity which supports young people across the UK to take action and change things for the better, addressing any issue they feel strongly about.
How each Fixer tackles their chosen issue is up to them – as long as they benefit someone else.
The award-winning Fixers project has already supported over 9,000 young people to have an authentic voice in their community.
Each Fixer is supported to create the resources they need - such as films, websites or print work - to make their chosen project a success.
Now, thanks to a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, Fixers aims to work with a further 19,000 young people over the next three years.
“Fixers started in 2008 as just an idea… an idea given a voice by over 9,000 young people over the past five years,” says Margo Horsley, Fixers Chief Executive.
“They have reached thousands of people with their work, on a national stage as well as in and around where they live. They choose the full array of social and health issues facing society today and set about making their mark. Fixers are always courageous and their ideas can be challenging and life-changing, not just for themselves.”
Peter Ainsworth, Big Lottery Fund UK Chair, said: “The Big Lottery Fund is extremely happy to be supporting Fixers to engage with more young people to change things for the better. Thousands of public-spirited young people across the UK are campaigning to make improvements in their own communities. By providing a platform to highlight their voluntary work and many achievements, Fixers demonstrates the positive contribution thousands of committed young people are making at a local level and challenges negative stereotypes.”
Photo attached. Captions:
Fixer Stacey Blundell wants young people to know their rights: From the left: Lowri Kendrick (a supporter of the project), Stacey Blunder (lead Fixer), Samantha Maxwell (Fixer), Lisa Mathews (a supporter of the project), and Ben Williams (Fixer)
For images, interviews or more information, please contact Maggie Morgan in the Fixers Communications Team by email maggie@fixers.org.uk or phone 01962 810970.
There are lots more stories about young people doing great things on the Fixers website, Twitter and Facebook pages:
www.fixers.org.uk
www.twitter.com/FixersUK
www.facebook.com/FixersUK
