Glastonbury Festival - Music Fans Mix Work and Play

Music Fans Mix Work and Play

from News - 26 Jun 2004

There’s more than one way to be at the Glastonbury Festival each year:

With over 2 million people estimated to have been chasing Glastonbury’s 100,000 or so tickets made available for this years event, you had to be either very quick or incredibly lucky to get hold of a pair. Sharp eyed John Henson, a 26 year old fork lift-truck-driver from Pontypool in South Wales was reading his union magazine during a lunch break, where he spotted the opportunity to work behind the Amicus Bar at the festival site.

A few phone calls later, John and his fiancee, Rebecca Philpot, were booked for daily six-hour shifts at the Leftfield Bar.

It’s John’s third visit to Glastonbury but Rebecca’s first, and both are very excited about being at the festival. John said: ‘We’re big music fans and the six-hour shifts behind the bar leave plenty of time to watch the bands. I’m really looking forward to seeing James Brown.’

With 1.2million members, Amicus is the UK’s second largest union, and it wants to update the slightly fuddy-duddy image that the movement has been labelled with. - From now on its going to be a bit less strident men in suits and a bit more lifestyle.

The union has got bars at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds festivals and will be doing a bit of evangelising in between pouring the pints.

Amicus is canvassing young people’s opinions using Big Brother-style diary booths, which you can visit at various locations on the Glastonbury festival site.

The goal is to find out what young people think the most important work-related issues are by choosing from a pre-selected list of ten.

The results will be flashed up on a giant screen and the issue which ends up top will become part of the union’s campaign programme for 2005.

(The idea did get off to a bit of a wobbly start when the Amicus General Secretary intended to hire a helicopter at union expense to get in and out of the showground – he’d obviously heard about the toilets!)

Festival-goers can see Amicus officials joining in on a debate on internationalism with left-wing die hards such as Billy Bragg, Tony Benn and Naomi Klein.

Anna Burton, who is co-ordinating Amicus’ festival roadshow said: ‘Young workers face serious issues, from poor pay to long working hours, but don’t realise that being a member of a union can help provide practical advice on day-to-day issues.

’Our presence at the festivals this year is all about giving young people a voice and helping their ideas become reality.’

Article content provided by Ashley Nield, SW Argus Business. Glastonbury content supplied by: Culture Magazine

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