Report on Young Workers Month, November 2014

Held in November every year, the main purpose of TUC Young Workers Month is to promote trade unions to young workers and to highlight the issues faced by young workers.

Young Workers Month is an opportunity for union reps, activists and campaigners to reach out and inform young workers about trade unions and ensure that there are sufficient opportunities for young people to get involved and play an active role in shaping the movement. It’s also a chance for unions to demonstrate to young people that we are campaigning on the issues they care about most and that we are relevant to their lives both in the workplace and beyond.

Unions far surpassed the number of events from the last Young Workers Month, many doubling the number of events and young member specific activity. The TUC regions also organised joint union activity across the UK. Midlands TUC visited Chesterfield College and had an event and information stall informing students about the benefits of joining a union. Yorkshire and Humberside organised a talk on Politics, Pay and Pressure and then took to the streets of Sheffield campaigning for Fast Food Rights. SERTUC Young members invited all young workers in the region to a networking evening –followed by pizza and a showing of Made in Dagenham and The South West TUC re-launched its young members network by organising a training weekend in Exeter.

The TUC Big Youth Debate took place at Congress House on 15 November . The event discussed issues affecting young workers relating to: Pay, Jobs and Homes, speakers included young activists from CWU, BFAWU, BECTU and UNISON as well as Alex Hilton, Generation Rent, Guardian journalist Zoe Williams, Tom Copley, Labour Assembly member, Michelle Stanistreet of the NUJ and many more. The panels inspired much debate and will help inform the work of the TUC Young Workers Forum for the year ahead. The issues raised will continue to be a focal point of TUC campaigning. The office also ran a Young Leaders Training Weekend in Oxford. 16 delegates representing 7 unions heard from union organisers and academics on organising and strategic campaigning. Participants then put theory into practice and put together campaign plans which will feed into discussions on the TUC’s Young Workers Organising Strategy. 

The TUC conducted a Housing Survey looking at the situation for young people in accessing: decent, affordable housing. The results of the survey, released for Young Workers Month, found that young people are being priced out of the housing market and struggling with excessive rental costs. The TUC issued a Press Release reporting  that young workers are paying beyond their means to keep a roof over their heads. The evidence gathered from the survey has featured in UNISONS report ‘A new deal for housing benefit for young people’ and was discussed at a roundtable in Parliament on the subject.

As part of the priority campaign on Political Education the TUC Young Workers Forum are taking action to increase the number of young people registered to vote and have worked with Bite the Ballot to produce a pack for reps aimed at signing up young people in the workplace. To coincide with the release the TUC issued a Press release which highlighted the shocking fact that the number of ‘missing votes’ from young people needed to match the voting rate for those over 35 is more than four million. The analysis – launched during the TUC’s Young Workers’ Month – found that in the 2010 election just 33 per cent of 18-34 year olds voted, compared to 64 per cent of those aged 35 years and older.

Going forward, the TUC will be supporting National Voter Registration Day (NVRD) on the 5^th February 2015 and is working in partnership with community organisations to take this initiative forward.

Young Workers Month, November 2014 highlighted both the urgent need for unions to organise young workers but also their issues most important to them, such as:  low pay, zero hour contracts, affordable housing and having a voice in society.