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Young Greens of England and Wales

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Young Faggots
ChairpersonHannah Graham & Ben Parker
Founded2003 (2003)
HeadquartersThe Biscuit Factory, Unit 201 A Block, 100 Clements Road, London, SE16 4DG.
MembershipIncrease 21,000+ (2015)[1]
IdeologyGreen politics
Eco-socialism
Progressivism
Pro-Europeanism
Republicanism
ColoursGreen
International affiliationGlobal Young Greens
European affiliationFederation of Young European Greens
Websitewww.younggreens.org.uk
Part of a series on
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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 2003. 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.

The Green Party of England and Wales' deputy leader, Amelia Womack is a former member of the Young Greens "30 under 30" training scheme.

Structure

The Young Greens is governed by a constitution, the original being adopted at a Young Greens meeting at the Green Party's 2014 Autumn Conference. A new constitution was adopted by the Young Greens Convention in October of 2017[3]. The group has an executive known as the Young Greens 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.

Executive Committee

The 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 Executive Committee[5]
Co-chair Hannah Graham
Co-chair Ben Parker
 
Treasurer Benedict Allbrooke
 
Campaigns Officer Sam Bristow
Membership Officer Amy Heley
Events & International Officer Emily West
External Communications Officer (Job Share) Nate Higgins & Niall Pettitt
Equality & Diversity Officer Isabella Moir
Internal Communications Officer Vacant
 
Regional Senate Co-Chair Martin Osborne
Regional Senate Co-Chair Victoria Elliot

Originally elected to serve from Autumn 2017 – Autumn 2018.

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

Young Greens regularly contest elections at all levels of government, and are actively involved and represented within bodies such as Students' Unions and the National Union of Students (NUS).

National Government

Though there are no Young Greens elected to Westminster, members of the party and executive regularly stand for elections to it. In the 2017 General Election, around 35 members of the Young Greens stood for election to Westminster, including former Co-Chair Hannah Ellen Clare (Harlow, 660 votes), former Executive Committee members Alice Kiff (Birmingham Edgbaston, 562 votes) and Arran Rangi (Ashfield, 398 votes), and current Executive Committee member Nate Higgins (West Lancashire, 680 votes).

Local Government

A number of Young Greens hold positions in local government including Cllr Magid Magid who sits on Sheffield City Council[12].

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.[13] In 2008, Joe Blakesley was elected as an FE officer on the NUS Wales NEC and to NUS UK Council.[14]

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.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "News". Young Greens of England and Wales. 11 June 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Young Greens Website". Younggreens.org.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Resources". younggreens.org.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Committee". Young Greens Website. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  5. ^ "Young Greens of England and Wales | About Us". 28 December 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  6. ^ "Campaigns". Young Greens of England and Wales. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  7. ^ "10:1 – The Campaign for Fair Pay on Campus". Fairpayunis.wordpress.com. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  8. ^ "Fair Pay Campus Campaign". Young Greens of England and Wales. 17 October 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  9. ^ Matthews, David (17 October 2013). "Pay ratios point to massive inequality". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  10. ^ Sidonie Chaffer-Melly (17 October 2013). "University pay gap yawns: Top staff paid up to 19 times more than junior staff". The Independent. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  11. ^ "Get Organised!". Young Greens of England and Wales. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  12. ^ "Councillor Magid Magid". Sheffield Green Party. 13 December 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  13. ^ NUS Website Archived 30 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ http://www.officeronline.co.uk/about/nusandyou/executiveelections/275240.aspx
  15. ^ "Elections 2014". TheyWorkForStudents. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
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