The Blackburn and District Trades Union Council is hosting a meeting in Blackburn Library today (April 18) to discuss employment.

The meeting is set to address the topic of ‘decent work - what can we do locally to promote it?’.

It is scheduled to begin at 3pm and finish at 5pm, and the speakers will include

Dr Adrian Wright, associate dean of the school of management, and director of the Institute for Research into Organisations, Work and Employment (UCLAN), author of "Does ‘Good Work’ provide an answer to Lancashire’s challenges?"

Sophie Little, senior programme manager at the north west living wage foundation will also be speaking.

Mat Johnson, who is behind the Manchester University ‘Decent Work and the City’ project and joint Author of ‘Working Futures’, and Julia Mwaluke, UNISON vice-president, and part of Stand Up For Social Care, will also be in attendance.  

The Local Government Association said: "Better work means higher levels of local employment, a stronger local economy and greater economic prosperity.

"Increasing levels of 'good work' also has the potential to greatly support improved health and wellbeing among a local population and reduce pressures on associated support services". 

The Trades Union Council wants to try and provoke a discussion on the issue, exploring different views as to what this means and how it might be achieved, from campaigns for the ‘real’ living wage to the adoption of local employment charters and other possible local authority initiatives.

Refreshments should be available from 2.45pm if you want a brew before we start.

The best entrance to the library during the afternoon is the main doors on Town Hall Street.

The meeting room is on the first floor.  There are a lift and stairs in front of you to the left as you enter the building and the Hornby Lecture Theatre is in the middle of the first-floor corridor that runs the length of the building.