Received from: TUC Young Workers' Conference
Congress welcomes the work of the TUC Young Workers Forum and affiliated unions to raise the profile of young workers and young trade unionists through recruitment, organising and campaigning work, and the work that takes place during young workers month.
Congress notes, however, that
i. in 2016, only around 6.2 million UK workers were in trade unions, a fall of 4.2 per cent over the previous year
ii. while workers under the age of 25 make up 14 per cent of the workforce, only 4.7 per cent are members of trade unions.
Congress agrees that there is an urgent need to bring young workers into the trade union movement to help maintain and improve bargaining power and to ensure the building of sustainable union organisation.
Congress believes this requires a step-change to deliver an intensive young-worker focused, year-long programme of properly resourced recruitment, organising, and campaigning activity.
Congress calls on the General Council to:
a. designate 2019 the Year of Young Workers, and call for the TUC to adopt 2019 as the Year of Young Workers
b. devote a meeting of the TUC Young Workers Forum to planning support for the Year of Young Workers, including encouraging affiliates to participate
c. encourage all delegates to Congress to raise this issue with their union, with the aim of securing a commitment to full support, including appropriate resources
d. report back to the Young Workers Conference and Congress 2020, with an assessment of the impact of the Year of Young Workers.
TUC Young Workers Conference