UNISON Young Members Promote Trade Union Awareness Amongst Young People

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Conference
2024 National Young Members' Conference
Date
1 August 2024
Decision
Carried

Conference notes that the trade union movement faces huge challenges in

respect of membership and activism. The Trade Union Congress noted in

2020 that only 14.1% of young workers aged 20-29 are trade union

members.

Successive anti-union legislation has made it increasingly difficult to recruit

and campaign and therefore reduced the profile of trade unions amongst

young workers.

A key barrier in recruiting young workers into trade unions is a lack of

awareness, education and previous exposure to trade unions prior to

entering the workforce.

Conference notes the work of the Unite in Schools programme which

“brings experienced activists into schools, colleges and universities to

inspire the next generation of the union movement.” This programme

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features educational sessions and a suite of online resources in order to

engage with young people about trade unions.

Conference believes that young people should be made aware of the trade

union movement from an earlier age. The lack of knowledge about the

benefits and history of trade unions hinders young people’s participation

and engagement in union activities and wider politics.

By educating young people about trade unions, we can empower them to

advocate for their rights and strengthen the union movement. Some

members of the East Midlands Young Members’ Forum have already

undertaken outreach initiatives by coordinating activities with local

Students’ Unions and schools. We believe this is the way forward in

educating young people about trade unions and that this should be

promoted to the whole of the UK.

Conference believes that young members in UNISON are well-placed to

promote trade union awareness in schools, universities and colleges as

they are closer in age to students in these institutions and therefore better

able to relate to them.

Conference calls upon the National Young Members’ Forum to:

1. Encourage regional young members’ forums to engage with local

schools, colleges, universities and students’ unions to offer outreach

activities to young people to educate and promote the trade union

movement.

2. Support the creation of a bank of resources to facilitate these outreach

activities.

3. Work with the National Labour Link Forum to advocate for the inclusion

of the history of the British trade union movement in the History curriculum

and practical information about trade unions and employment law as part

of the Citizenship curriculum for Key Stage 4.

4. Consider sending a motion to the Higher Education Service Group

conference highlighting the role that young members can play in promoting

trade union awareness in universities.