Unison young members forum

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Ed's picture
Ed
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Feb 8 2009 18:37
Unison young members forum

I got a some stuff in the post the other day about the Unison young members forum and was wondering if any people on here had any experience with stuff like that (in Unison or other unions).. I was looking at it and I must say, it looks pretty shit (the newsletter is called 'The Next Generation' for crying out loud..) but then I thought that it might be good for meeting other young workers interested in organising.

Anyway, there's a national thing in Manchester (which I'm not bothering to apply to) but there are also Greater London forums and I was thinking of applying to go to those.. I dunno though, coz the information they give is pretty sparse on detail..

Anyone got any thoughts...

BB
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Joined: 12-08-04
Feb 10 2009 12:21

You ain't no yoof no more...

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Anarchia
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Feb 10 2009 12:43

Hah. Youth Union Movement (YUM) over here, which is the youth branch of the Council of Trade Unions (the only trade union federation) is 35 and under. It's a sad indictment on the state of unions that they have to make the youth bracket that big, I guess.

Mike Harman
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Feb 10 2009 13:39

I used to get these through the post (I'm no longer in Unison or under 26 though) and they looked like complete shite to me. I don't see much in the way of workplace issues which affect people under 26 more than any other group (certainly a 26-year-old might well have more in common with a 40 year-old than someone who's 17 or whatever), so the only reason I could think of for it existing is a desperate attempt to get younger people involved in the union as such.

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Steven.
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Feb 10 2009 18:15

Yes catch, I think that's a fair assessment. The ones I've met from it are pretty terrible, a lot of new labour wannabe career bureaucrat types. Still, could be interesting to look into it to see how the bureaucracy functions.

vanilla.ice.baby
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Feb 14 2009 19:07

My girtlfriend was an active member of unison young members forum until this year(we´re in south america so it would be a bit difficult) and she reckons it helped her build her conference as a trade unionist without a political background or experience, going to young members meetings and making presentations and stuff to people nearer her own age and stuff, was a bit less scary than addressing meetings packed with hardened expereinced older types.

I don´t think its a despereate attempt to get "young people" involved though, but a genuine attempt to provide a space for younger members, anymore than AYN was a desperate attempt to get people involved in anarchism