Ahead of the next general election where the country will be voting for a party to take over government we’ve been speaking to young people in Glasgow on the reality of their living and working situation.
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00:00 Horrific? No, it's pretty bad. I don't know if it's just because I've gotten older in the scene
00:06 and I've worked in the creative industries in Glasgow for a long time, but I sometimes feel
00:12 that the cost of being a creative in general, like the purchase of things and everything,
00:18 has obviously went up with inflation, but the payment that creatives are getting hasn't went
00:23 up to match it. Every creative I know, more or less, even people who've got high jobs in creative
00:29 industries are still working in bars or still nurses or something like that, so yeah, it's not
00:35 very fun. The hospitality industry is like a really confusing one because it's predominantly
00:42 young people, so I feel like people just feel like they can take advantage because I feel like
00:48 nine times out of ten we're a bit more accepting of being treated badly at work and it's really
00:56 difficult because there's also the kind of class thing that comes into it because a lot of people
01:06 don't really realise that unions are there or that they're an option and that can be quite difficult
01:10 to try and be like, "Oh, you can pay this amount a month to join a union," and then some people
01:16 don't have the money to even join a union, which is again, it's quite complicated, but it's mad
01:23 that you've got people as young as 18, 19 having to join a union to look after themselves in a
01:29 place of work in a city that is meant to be as thriving as Glasgow. That is insane to think
01:35 about. It's 2024 and really young people are joining unions still to cover their own backs,
01:42 which is just so insane to think about. I'm not from here, I'm from Falkirk and I've got friends
01:48 who still stay back in Falkirk and you hear about their rent in comparison to what I'm paying to
01:53 live in Glasgow. I don't mind saying what I pay for rent. I pay £550 a month in rent alone and
01:59 that's just fully covered by me and working and stuff, which is mad. I live with two other people
02:10 in a flat who both pay the same and it's a really nice flat and we're really lucky in that sense,
02:14 but then you compare it to other towns. You feel like you have to be here if you want to be a
02:21 creative or if you want to have a career of any regard. It also gets to the point in Glasgow where
02:28 people are like, "Oh, you need to move to London now. You've reached a point." And then you're
02:31 like, "I just made it in Glasgow. Why do I have to move down to London?" And then it gets even
02:36 more expensive and you're just in this never-ending cycle of chasing what everyone's telling you.
02:40 But yeah, everything just seems to be going up. I feel like even in doing photography,
02:48 even in film, it's absolutely insane. I'm paying £20 for a roll of film and then £10 to get it
02:56 developed and then a band is hiring me to photograph their gig and then I've got my
03:02 hire fee and the cost of film and development and then they're not getting paid enough to cover just
03:08 me for the night, which is insane. It's not fun. It's quite disheartening because you like to think
03:14 that as time goes on, things develop and get better. But it feels like with this, it's one
03:19 step forward, 10 steps back. And then when you're first coming to Creative Industries, it's like,
03:24 "Oh, you have to do work for exposure. You have to do work for free." And you're like,
03:27 "But that makes no sense. Why should I be working for free?" And people do it because
03:34 that's just what you're meant to do apparently, which makes absolutely zero sense.