Young Greens of England and Wales

Young Greens
Founded 2003 (2003)
Headquarters 56-64 Leonard Street, Development House, London, EC2A 4LT
Membership Increase 21,000 + [1]
Ideology Green politics
Eco-socialism
Pro-Europeanism
International affiliation Global Young Greens
European affiliation Federation of Young European Greens
Website
www.younggreens.org.uk

The Young Greens of England and Wales [acronym: YG(EW)] is the official youth branch of the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW). All members of the GPEW who are under 30 years old or full/part-time students are members of the Young Greens and are allowed to get involved with their activities.

The Scottish Green Party also has a youth branch, the Scottish Young Greens, who work with the England and Wales group. Young Greens is affiliated with the Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG).[2]

History

The Young Greens was set up by young members of the Green Party of England and Wales in 2002. The organisation aimed to build local groups at universities, colleges, higher education institutions, sixth form colleges and schools, with no lower age limit for joining. Since then, it has grown to a membership of over 20,000 young members of the Green Party, over 60 local groups and regional groups in the North, the North East, South East, South West, the Midlands and London, as well as working with working with young people who are in work, unemployed or not in education.

Many Young Greens have been elected to County or City Councils, including Adrian Ramsay the former deputy leader of the Green Party in Norwich; Matt Sellwood, a former chair of the Young Greens, in Oxford, as well as Sam Coates also a former Chair, and Ash Haynes, a former Co-Chair and youngest ever Green councillor, in Norwich.

One of the Green Party of England and Wales' two deputy leaders, Amelia Womack is a former member of the Young Greens training scheme.

As of 13 April 2015, the Young Greens became the biggest youth party in the UK.[3]

Structure

The Young Greens is governed by a constitution, adopted at a Young Greens meeting at the Green Party's 2014 Autumn Conference. The group has an executive known as the Young Greens National Executive Committee.[2] The Committee is assisted by the Young Greens Coordinator[4] who is employed by the Green Party and works at the party office.

National Executive Committee

The National Executive Committee consists of nine positions: two gender-balanced co-chairs, a treasurer and six non-portfolio officer positions (Non-portfolio officers create their specific role after the election). The current holders of these positions are as follows:

Young Greens National Committee[5]
Co-chair Hannah Ellen Clare
Co-chair Sam Murray
Treasurer Arran Rangi
Non-portfolio Officers Lauren Davies
Alice Kiff
Hannah Graham
Amber Goneni
Tariq Khan
Paul Valentine
Regional Senate Co-Chairs Kat Driscoll
Aaron Parr

Elected to serve from October 2016 - October 2017

Campaigning

The Young Greens have a national campaign called "Fair Pay Campus".[6] The campaign aims to achieve a living wage for all staff, including contracted staff, working at universities; transparency of the pay of Vice Chancellors and senior management; and a pay ratio no more than 10:1 of highest and lowest paid employees at any individual university.[7]

On 17 October 2013, the Young Greens released a report called "The Fair Pay League" [8] which analysed the pay conditions at UK universities and ranked them in a league table. The report received coverage in various publications including Times Higher Education [9] and The Independent.[10] Imperial College London and London Business School were highlighted as "worst performers" and University of London and the School of Oriental and African Studies were highlighted as "best performers".

At Green Party Autumn Conference in September 2014, the Young Greens launched a new campaign called Get Organised! The campaign is aimed at getting Young Green Groups to work with Trade Unions locally and to encourage young people to join Trade Unions.[11]

Representation

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The Young Greens has become increasingly involved in Students' Unions and the National Union of Students (NUS).

National Union of Students of the United Kingdom

At the 2006 NUS Conference in Blackpool, Young Green, Joe Rooney was elected to the 'Block of Twelve' on the NUS UK National Executive Committee (NEC) standing on the Education Not for Sale slate.[12] In 2008, Joe Blakesley was elected as an FE officer on the NUS Wales NEC and to NUS UK Council.[13]

There have been a number of Young Green sabbatical officers with Student Unions such as LSE, Portsmouth, Keele Postgraduate Association, Manchester, Warwick, Teesside and Edinburgh. Young Greens have held non-sabbatical positions at many more campuses including Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Royal Holloway and Stanmore College.

In 2014 Young Greens Co-Chair Clifford Fleming and Green Party member Hannah Graham were elected to the NUS block of 15.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "News". Young Greens of England and Wales. 2015-06-11. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  2. 1 2 "Young Greens Website". Younggreens.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  3. ↑ "Young Greens - Timeline". Facebook. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  4. ↑ "Committee". Young Greens Website. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  5. ↑ "New Young Greens National Committee Elected!". Young Greens of England and Wales. 2015-11-02. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  6. ↑ "Campaigns". Young Greens of England and Wales. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  7. ↑ "10:1 – The Campaign for Fair Pay on Campus". Fairpayunis.wordpress.com. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  8. ↑ "Fair Pay Campus Campaign". Young Greens of England and Wales. 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  9. ↑ Matthews, David (2013-10-17). "Pay ratios point to massive inequality". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  10. ↑ Sidonie Chaffer-Melly (2013-10-17). "University pay gap yawns: Top staff paid up to 19 times more than junior staff". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  11. ↑ "Get Organised!". Young Greens of England and Wales. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  12. ↑ NUS Website
  13. ↑ http://www.officeronline.co.uk/about/nusandyou/executiveelections/275240.aspx
  14. ↑ "Elections 2014". TheyWorkForStudents. 2014-04-14. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
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