Report on TUC Young Workers Month 2015

#YWM15

The month kicked off amid targeted action by trade unions against the Government’s Trade Union Bill. Young workers had their say in the campaign expressing their support for the right to strike. A Stronger Unions blog set out the challenges young people face in the workplace and why the right to strike is so important to young workers.

“Protect Young Workers’ Right to Strike” campaign materials were produced by the TUC and shared via social media and there was a special poster exhibition at Congress House featuring young workers from FBU, BECTU, Unite and CWU.

Blogs

To get a clearer economic picture of where young workers stand in the labour market, TUC intern Florence Bates wrote a series of blogs covering all the key issues from pay, unemployment, housing, welfare and insecure contracts

Videos

As well as the video of union General Secretaries wishing young members a successful YWM15, the TUC produced a short video to round up some of the campaign activity the forum has taken part in. Watch forum members in action during Fair Pay Fortnight, Decent Jobs Week and on our Voter Registration campaign. We also filmed a new recruitment video “What have the unions ever done for us?” – coming soon!

New Website

With so many great blogs and new resources like the Mental Health guide and the Housing Charter we needed a place to put them all. So as part of Young Workers Month we launched our brand new TUC Young Workers website   The website www.youngworker.org.uk is the best place to find all the latest information on the TUC young workers forum and our priority campaigns

Regions

TUC regions ran several events – SERTUC young members held a special screening of the spectacular film Pride. Midlands TUC and Birmingham University ran an event which asked- “do young workers need trade unions?” Northern region engaged with local youth organisation Youth Focus North East to join up campaign activity on our priority issues including support for our Housing Charter

Priority issue mental health was the subject of TUC Yorkshire & Humber regions’ event which looked at the effect of austerity on young workers mental health. Richard Burgon MP was one of the guest speakers along with Shelly Asquith of NUS, listen to Shelly’s interview here

Unions

Unions laid on some fantastic events and activities throughout the month:

Equity, NUJ, MU & Writers’ Guild, young members attended some training workshops organised through the Federation of Entertainment Unions (FEU) especially for #YWM15. Workshops included “Getting fit for Freelancing” and “Pitch for Work” which covered important topics like how to negotiate fair rates of pay- you can watch our video of young members at the event telling us why they joined a union. 

Bectu invited members to an activism training day that included speakers from Ritzy campaign and Walton Pantland (Union Solidarity International) on Social Media activism.

CWU held their annual Youth Education Event where delegates confronted a range of workplace-related, economic, political, international and social issues through a mix of debates, speeches and workshops, including a debate on the EU referendum led by MPs Emma Reynolds and Kate Hoey. The event culminated in a mock conference.

CWU activity also included:

·     Launching a new recruitment drive for young  reps in Scotland

·     Convening a regional youth event in Northern Ireland

·     Securing NEC agreement for greater youth involvement in national delegations

PCS were also very busy, running regional training events for young members. One of the signature events was organised by HMRC Young Members Advisory Committee on the subject of Mental Health at Benton Park View in Newcastle which brought together young members from HMRC, DWP and MOJ who attended from all around the country.

PCS activity also included:

·     The launch of a new Youth Charter 

·     New leaflets and posters produced on young workers and housing

·     Training for the young members committee

·     An online sign up page for young members to join the youth network

NUT

·     Ran a Young Officers Course from at their national training centre SRH in Lincolnshire.

·     #NUTChat – a web based discussion and support group run by members, was hosted by a young teachers’ officer looking at young teacher issues.

Unison

·     Held a number of regional YWM events

·     Ran a national competition for members to make a short film about being a union member.

·     Sent a purple ribbon to all young activists to wear throughout November

·     Promoted young workers issues including pay, housing and mental health throughout the month in campaigns and on UNISON’s social media accounts.

Unite

·     Organised a national training day for all delegates to their National Youth Committee

·     Young members political weekend in the North West