- Conference
- 2009 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 13 February 2009
- Decision
- Carried
This Conference believes that UNISON has in many ways led the way within the trade union movement on organising young workers, and UNISON’s Young Members show the key roles that young people can play. However there is still a great deal more work to do to ensure young people have their rightful place in society.
In our workplaces we need more young people to get active, representing members, and organising workers. We need to support more young stewards through their training and into action. We also need to use other opportunities for getting young workers active in their workplaces such as learning reps, health and safety reps and environmental reps.
In our union we need to bring on more young activists and ensure that they are brought within mainstream activity at branch, regional and national level. Branch young members officers are vitally important in engaging young members locally, and we need to support branches so every branch has one. Regional Young Members Forums are also key in bringing young members together, with many getting involved with regional groups before getting involved in their branches, and regions must direct their resources to ensure every region has an active forum.
But as well as opportunities within the young members organisation, it is essential that young acitivists are encouraged within the union to become active within and to lead their branches, regions and the national union. Both young members structures and branches must place a high priority on bringing young activists into mainstream branch activity to help them stay active beyond 27.
In our society young people also need a greater voice. Young people continue to be seen as apathetic and not interested, but many are passionate about the issues they care about and express it in different ways.
Turnout amongst younger voters is increasingly worrying, damaging young people’s political influence and aiding the likes of the British National Party. Young people are also under-represented in local councils, devloved administrations, Westminster and in Europe.
Conference calls on the National Executive Council to:
1) Work with the National Young Members Forum (NYMF) to identify ways of improving young member participation at every level of the union’s structure;
2)Call on all regions to work with their branches to run workplace young members’ and young workers’ open days, based on consultation with young members, as has been successfully undertaken in our Scottish region;
3) Work with the General Political Fund committee and with the National Young Members Forum to look at possible ways to improve voter turn out amongst young people;
4)Call on Labour Link to work with the National Young Members Forum in order to encourage and support more young members to get selected as candidates and get elected.
5)Work with the Labour Link to press the Labour party to put the current party policy to reduce the voting age to 16 into its manifesto and to deliver it into law; and to consult with young people in work, in education, and those outside of the system, on how their interests might best be represented in the political process;
6)Call for government to organise open regional summits of local councillors, MPs, and MEPs, and young people ensuring the widest possible representation of young people including those experiencing discrimination on grounds other than age, the purpose of such summits being to help identify how best young people can be encouraged to participate in the political process.