PSI South Asia Sub-regional Office conducted youth mentoring programme from 6 to 9 December 2008 in Faridabad, Haryana, India. Nine young members from all countries in this sub-region actively engaged in the program which was held at PSI South Asia Sub-regional office.

The youth mentoring programme objectives were to provide continuous follow up for the young people and to strengthen their network. This is the first time the activity was held in the sub region and another one will be held  in 2010 for the second batch. The recommendations are to establish a database, create national and union structure for youth, conduct regular activities and make them active in the Asia Pacific Youth Network (APYN).

The NCCs of the countries are provided with the report so that they can discuss the structure and activities in their meetings and come out with appropriate activities for the young people. In 2010 they plan a conference for the young people in South Asia.They have also developed a tool kit for campaigning, India youth network will follow the youth charter developed by them. India NCC will hold a review of the youth activities in January 2009.

The participants  visited INTUC (Indian Trade Union Congress) National Headquarters at New Delhi where they met and shared their experiences and made acquaintance with  the President, DR. G. Sanjeeva Reddy, MP (RS), and other office bearers. This meeting was  facilitated by Adil Shariff, PSI South Asia Young Workers Coordinator.They also met Raman Pandey the youth co-ordinator of INTUC.The participants also visited the Food corporation of India Union office in Mumbai and the Municipal hospital in Borivali in Mumbai facilitated by the respective unions.

For more information and report, please contact Adil Shariff, PSI South Asia Young Workers Coordinator: adilshariff_2003@yahoo.com or Sister V. Lakshmi, PSI South Asia Sub-regional Secretary:   psisouthasia@airtelmail.in

Philippines Government Employees Association Youth Council (PYC) conducted a seminar - workshop on leadership and capacity building on 28-29 November 2008 at Makiling Highlands Resort, Laguna, Philippines.

 The objective of the seminar-workshop was to develop young leaders in the public sector

• To develop skills and capabilities of the young public sector workers:
• To enable more youth to become agents of change and enlightenment.
• To make young public workers aware of their rights, responsibilities and their vital role in promoting right values and good governance as next leaders of the bureaucracy.
• To introduce the concept of spirituality in unionism and leadership.
• To establish a core group of young leaders from different agency associations and unions.
• To identify and discuss issues/problems confronting young workers.
• To come up with an action plan that will systematically help and enable the   young public workers to advocate and make recommendations to deliver quality public services.

On the last day of seminar-workshop, PYC had their election; Eross Ocampo (he is also a coordinator for the PSI South East Asia Young Worker) was chosen to be the National Youth Adviser of the Council

The PYC had their Oath Taking Ceremony administered by Hon. Richard Alvin Nalupta (Chairman and CEO of National Youth Commission) on December 5, 2008 at Mabini Hall, Malacanang Palace during the National Convention of Government Employees. More information and a report, please contact Eross Ocampo: eross_pgea@yahoo.com

The report, “Unions and Upward Mobility for Young Workers,” found that young unionized workers - those age 18 to 29 - earned, on average, 12.4 percent more than their non-union peers. In addition, young workers in unions were much more likely to have health insurance benefits and a pension plan.

“Unions make a big difference for younger workers,” said John Schmitt, a Senior Economist at CEPR and the author of the study. “There is no economic theory that says young people have to be poorly paid or go without benefits.”

According to the study, unionization also strongly benefited young workers in typically low-wage occupations. Among young workers in the 15 lowest-paying occupations, union members earned 10.2 percent more than those workers who were not in unions. In the same low-wage occupations, unionized young people were 27 percentage points more likely to have employer-provided health insurance and 26 percentage points more likely to have a pension plan than their non-union counterparts.

The full report can be found here.