The young workers committees with their blue-shirt draw the attention of the 45th CUPE Saskachewan Annual Convention which was held in Saskatoon from 9th to 12th March 2010. “We Won’t Wait! The Campaign that has just launched to help the young workers find their place in their union, the term young worker means a worker under 30 years of age. At this year’s convention, they submitted a resolution that to ensure the sustainability support and commitment as part of its larger strategy of this union to the CUPE Saskachewan Young Worker’s Committee in order to improve the participation of young workers into trade union movement. As part of the campaign, the committee has also launched a short documentary video about the importance of unions to young workers. Click here for the video

With the objective of reaching out to more youths and strengthening the East Asia family, the very first East Asia Youth Network was convened on 2 March 2010 in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia. At the meeting, subregional secretary of East Asia, Mr Koichi Ito, introduced the PSI youth policy and resolution 20 which had been adopted by the Executive Board on succession planning and on its main purpose and also on how the East Asia region will be  supporting PSI activities and goals for the benefit of the young workers.

Ms. V. Lakshmi, our newly appointed Regional Secretary also spoke to the young workers representatives in support of the PSI youth policy, its main aims, campaigns and activities. She said “by strengthening solidarity with other sub-regions and regions, we will be able to preserve, as well as nurture, the next generation by sharing experiences and knowledge.”

Ms. Tan Sze Wei, APYN coordinator then followed up with a presentation on the Asia Pacific Youth Network and its activities and goals. She shared what the Network had done, explained how the APYN began and described the impact the Network has had up till today. Without a doubt, the APYN had a formidable outreach and the participants were certainly impressed and all pledged to build it up further. None of us doubted that we as young workers have a very relevant and important role to play for the future of the labour movement.

Many new friendships were forged as young worker representatives from the East Asian affiliates: Japan, Mongolia,  South Korea and Taiwan shared issues relating to young workers from their countries and mingled among themselves freely. They sincerely hope that the meeting will continue to be held annually.

The new Network elected their new coordinators: Ms. Hong Soo Jung from KNEW, Korea and Ms. Tomohiro Hasegawa from JPSU, Japan. They will work together with other coordinators in this region. This above report was prepared by Tan Sze Wei participating on behalf of APYN. For more information, please contact Mr. Koichi Ito, EA Sub-regional Secretary: itok@psi-jc.jp

HK (National Union of Commercial and Clerical Employees), Denmark’s largest trade union with more than 320.000 members. About 95,000 members are under the aged of 26. In fact, between 30,000 - 40,000 their members are trainee:  Apprentices and vocational trainees in commerce and offices, Students in part-time employment in shops and offices, Students at business colleges, computer schools, technical colleges and  business schools. Giving to this special attention, the union strongly committed to young people to become part of the union movement.

Free membership during education: when young people embark upon an education within the commercial and clerical  field, HK makes them an offer they cannot refuse: A free membership for the  duration of their study period. This means that about 80% of all the young  people who attend a business college in Denmark are members of HK.

Youth Voices and representation: HK Ungdom is the voice of young members in the union, and Mathias Askholm is the Youth Secretary from March 2008.  More and more support given to the young people, the union to have one representative of the HK Ungdom at the General Board. The General Board is HK’s highest authority and consists of 47 members.

The union belief that working with young people is important to ensuring them to get  better chances in the labour market. It  is fundamental to improving employability toward decent work decent life for young workers that they should be able to enjoy and exercise rights at work in particular their fundamental rights. For more information, click here or contact HK Ungdom Spokeperson: Johnny Chiang Kejs (jochke@jochke.dk)

By Pebbles B. Sanchez, Youth Committee of the Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU)

Growing in a family of public servants, I had the privilege to witness various undertakings of and within the government whenever I went to visit the offices of my parents. Through years and years of observing a typical day of a bureaucrat and having indulged myself in the study of public administration, I have concluded that working in and for the Philippine government is not as simple as it appears to be.

Distrust has clouded the image of a bureaucrat. The culture of red tape and inefficiency has been attached not only with the systems followed by the government but also with the work force that runs its engine. People have come to think that government employees lack the enthusiasm to serve and the competence to deliver outputs. However, there is something more to this picture. There are several reasons why government employees appear to be laidback and tend to be lenient. 

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The European trade union movement launched last March a campaign to fight the social and economic crisis. ETUC is on the offensive for a New Social Deal in Europe, calling for: an extended recovery programme; stronger welfare states; an end to the recent decisions of the European Court of Justice favouring market freedoms over workers’ fundamental rights and collective agreements; an effective regulation of financial markets and a fair distribution of wealth.

This wide-ranging campaign ‘Fight the crisis: put the people first’ places citizens at the heart of the campaign and will serve to make the governments assume their responsibility of providing European responses to the crisis, rather than simply taking case-by-case measures. Read more, click here

Young UNISON workers called for pounds not pennies at the weekend, after the union’s recent rejection of an offer of just 3p an hour by local government employers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Members held up three giant 1p coins as they condemned the 0.5% cent pay offer that has been rejected by the local government unions.

And they urged employers to give them a fair deal.

Young members officer for Wirral local government branch Lara Rowlands said: “An extra 3p an hour is nothing. We deserve a decent offer to help us survive during these difficult times. Read more, click here