Last night, Open Generation (a project developed by Migrants Rights Network in partnership with UNISON, NUS, Huffington Post and Be Inspired) hosted its first event -
‘The immigration generation gap’.
The event (which facilitated opportunity to explore young people’s attitudes, concerns and opinions on immigration and free movement) was chaired by Owen Jones and heard from a variety of speakers of different backgrounds and perspectives (one of which was UNISON’s NEC young members’ representative Dan Goodwin). The night also featured four short commissioned films by young filmmakers and saw performances from spoken word artists.
#tuc12 Unions must ensure that young people hear about the heritage of what organised labour has delivered, and why it’s so important to defend it, UNISON’s Graham Smith told the TUC yesterday.
..Congress backed a Young Members' call for a programme of political education for young workers that explicitly addresses how trade union activity has delivered essential workers rights and has benefited society and demonstrates the positive and practical workplace benefits of union membership for young people. It also called for a positive media campaign about the value of trade union membership and participation.
An excellent short campaigning video - giving 5 reasons why Con Dem proposals to introduce regional pay for public service workers are a bad idea - has been produced by young member activists in UNISON's Northern region:
http://www.shakewellbeforeopening.org.uk/home/?p=1390
UNISON Northern Region Young Members have launched an e-petition to raise the minimum wage for under 21 year olds, which the government unfairly froze at £4.98 in the recent budget, whilst at the same time giving tax cuts to those earning over £150,000. Please sign and circulate it to everyone you know! The target is 100,000 signatures so that the demand will be debated in parliament...
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33865
UNISON’s Young Members clearly set the tone at this year’s TUC Young Members Conference, making interventions on a wide range of motions, from fair representation for women in our movement, to the scourge of homeless that is affecting more and more young people.
Over 1,000 STUC demonstrators against youth unemployment kettled Tory delegates attending Scottish Conference in Troon as they tried to leave for lunch today. Speaking at the demo, Mike Kirby, UNISON Scotland Secretary and STUC President, condemned this week's budget as "tax cuts for the rich few while a whole generation is consigned to mass unemployment because of crazy austerity economics".
UNISON last month sent four delegates on a Young Trade Unionists’ May Day Brigade to Cuba. On the Cuba Solidarity Campaign blog, UNISON brigadista Lisa Scott reports on her visit:
http://cubasolidaritycampaign.blogspot.com/
In Cardiff last weekend, about a hundred young members came together for UNISON's national young members weekend. In a change to the normal workshop format, delegates this year had the chance to put theory into practice there and then - out in the streets!
This weekend saw nearly 100 UNISON young members on the streets of Cardiff spreading the word about the union's Million Voices campaign, and getting members of the public to sign up in support.
This year’s TUC Young Members Conference came together to send a clear message to the ConDem government – that we will not accept your ideological cuts to our services!
