Playworkers urged to join union to raise status and pay

12 February 2003

Playworkers are being urged to join the Community and Youth Workers' Union (CYWU) to strengthen their position in negotiations over pay and conditions.

Union (CYWU) to strengthen their position in negotiations over pay and conditions.

Chris Martin, chair of the Association of Playworkers, told a meeting organised by the CYWU in London last week that joining the union would help playworkers to campaign for fair pay.

He explained that the Association had explored the possibility of becoming a union itself so as to take forward the issue of playworkers' salaries, but decided that this would be too burdensome. He pointed out that unions are the only bodies that are able to negotiate on pay and conditions. The Association had made contact with a number of other unions and felt that the CYWU had the best understanding of what playworkers actually did.

Mr Martin said, 'We started conversations with the CYWU, which were very exploratory in the beginning, and came to the conclusion that the best way to carry forward the work of our Association, which was primarily to better pay, was by joining with the CYWU.'

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