Next gen report final

NEXT GENERATION FESTIVAL REPORT 2014

#nextgenfest14 www.gftu.org.uk

FRIDAY Friday afternoon got off to a relaxing start with people arriving and joining the growing circle of delegates in the gardens of Quorn Grange Hotel, chatting and getting to know each other before the festival started. Marie Taylor (Unite / CYWU)) and Ian Richards (Quorn Grange Hotel) also got delegates to take part in icebreakers.

The festival was formally started

by Doug Nicholls (GFTU General Secretary) and the message for the weekend was “have fun and learn but follow the rules”. Doug then introduced John Harris (reportdigital) who talked through some of his most iconic photos throughout landmarks in history like the miners’ strike, John’s passion really shone through and delegates enjoyed learning about the trade union history.

An exhibition of photos of the miners’ strike was displayed in the oak panel room over the weekend to mark the thirty year anniversary of the miners’ strike this year. John talked about the post war period, the Pentonville five and left delegates with the questions ‘what is our vision of what a decent society would be like? The planet and society?’ and ‘how do we organise to get there?’

Dinner was then served before an extremely thought provoking performance by Anthony Anaxagorou who performed five of his poems which covered issues from racial bullying to love. Delegates really enjoyed the performance and were really moved with most purchasing a CD or Book.

Finally for the Friday night, Phillip Girling and Javed Mistry from Banner Theatre then performed some songs while the delegates chatted and bonded with one another.

SATURDAY Saturday morning kicked off with Enrico Tortolano (PCS) who spoke to the festival about neo-liberalism hidden in history. He made some brilliant and accurate points including the fact political education has been lost over time in education but more importantly in trade union

education and it needs reintroducing into our agenda especially as we are engaging more with young trade unionists that may have little or no knowledge of the political system.

He showed us examples of Latin America twenty to thirty years ago and Chile in 1973 which was subjected to the neo liberal experiment that pushed inflation up by 375%, created mass unemployment and starvation and completely failed! However this then led to people becoming organised and now Latin America with Venezuela at the head are leading the way in reversing privatisation and neo liberal economics.

Venezuela has made privatisation illegal and has the highest minimum wage in Latin America. Bolivia struggled against privatisation and eventually had a trade unionist as a President and Argentina overthrew a government. In three weeks 5 presidents came and went before they would settle with one!

ver as ne it has h e p “Ho own up”. — led d trick s sprung y alwa Turkel s d u t S

Enrico really engaged with the delegates and encouraged us not to accept what we have and to fight for change; it can be done as other countries have done it by Organising, Recruiting and Resisting.

• Delegates then split off into workshops

• Economics debunked led by Doug Nicholls

• Economics alternatives led

by Enrico Tortolano Young people’s employment rights led

by NiKki Sharp Sarah Woolley (BFAWU) attended the young people’s employment rights briefing with NiKki Sharp from Thompsons solicitors and gives her account of the session.

“I looked through some employment rights that are specifically for young people 14-18 and children under 14 and found that the law is very poor for young people as its wide open to interpretation and usually means the employer can get away with exploitation. Nikki encouraged us to look at our own local authority laws on children’s

work rights as they can differ slightly in different area which we found surprising.

Then we split into two groups to work on campaign ideas we could take back to our own unions. We both looked at a video campaign and using social media and ‘youtube’ to reduce costs but hit larger amounts of people, handbooks specifically for young people including the differences in employment rights and advertising young reps getting their faces out there. We looked at a virtual person ‘Ask Doris’ where members and potential members could ask questions and seek advice which would be especially useful in workplaces with no recognition, predominately shop based and therefore spread out or in unions such as Musicians Union where they have a large number of freelancers who may not know their local rep or full time officer. We talked about reaching out to schools, local groups and Constituency Labour Party’s to give all workers and young people knowledge on issues such as health and safety, equality rights etc. and we mentioned monthly themes which would then hopefully encourage people to seek union membership. Giving out freebies which could just include a membership pack (including all available benefits of being a member) and a free pen, this wouldn’t be a massive cost to the union but would attract attention as everyone loves a freebie pack” The workshops were then repeated giving delegates the chance to attend a different sessions This time Sarah Woolley attended economics debunked with Doug Nicholls and gives her take on the workshop: “We built a theoretical factory on paper from scratch thinking about things like who we buy the land from and who do we turn to for money, and where do they get their money from (banks and people). Doug explained surplus value and asked the question who’s more exploited; unskilled workers such as part time staff in McDonalds or a skilled worker such as a factory operative in Warburton’s. This sparked a debate which then moved onto alienation of labour and nationalisation of the banks. We spoke about how up to 1985 banks could not export capital then Thatcher made it so banks had to capitalise on the international market which pretty much initiated

the catastrophe we have experienced in the banking system. Politics, economics and philosophy have been lost over the years and we need to bring back their importance and focus on them in union education.

The highlight of this workshop was seeing everyone’s light bulb moment pointed out by Charlotte Bence from Equity who said she was surprised at how much she actually knew about economics. To which Doug replied “economics is made out to be complicated and sophisticated but it is actually straight forward.” We need to reinforce this especially in up and coming young trade unionists who may be put off by the sheer thought of economics.”

After a delicious buffet lunch we moved on to the creative campaigning session.

Peter Davis from GMB talked us through the campaign for a living wage to be paid in Sheffield. He explained the living wage is an average wage for the average person and when it started it was £7.20 an hour and is updated twice a year. Sheffield’s living wage campaign is updated monthly so members of the public can see which employers have joined up and it puts pressure then on those that haven’t.

People working on less than the living wage are being subsidised by benefits, families and friends etc...which means people aren’t surviving on the wages they are being paid they are merely existing with help, for example did you know most people who work in Walmart can’t afford to shop in Walmart!!

The good thing about the living wage campaigns are that they are engaging young members who are at the heart of keeping them fresh, vibrant and forward moving.

We were then introduced to Dr Fransisco Dominguez who is originally from Chile. He talked us through hour by hour the atrocities that occurred on the 11th September 1973 when after three years of their economy being blocked by the USA, traders were hoarding goods, violence was encouraged, buildings were blown up and on that day the government who had been democratically elected was over thrown! He explained that in that one day the country massively changed not for the better and by ways of extreme massacre and violence. Everything was privatised; education, health, water and they would have done air if only they could! It pushed prices up by 400% and to stop people

collecting their own water (i.e. from the rain) they made it illegal.

Fransisco made the comparison – it took Thatcher one whole year to defeat the miners it took one day in Chile.

Fransisco moved on to tell us that now pretty much all of Latin America is going in the right direction; In 2004 the level of poverty was 44% - 227 million people!

In 2013 the level of poverty was 28% - 100 million less They are beginning to renationalise everything in Chile, The oil and copper has been renationalised so Chile own it. In Bolivia, USA has no influence at all and in the whole of Latin America the world bank and LMF has no influence, meaning very low debt 20% (Japan 200%, USA 110% and Chile 16%) he told us an inspirational story of Operation Miracle – where poor people are taken from where they are, flown to Cuba, operated on to remove cataracts, left to recover in hospital for two to three days then flown back home all for free! They have performed over two million operations since 2003 including the man who killed Che Guevara.

Fransisco left us with the question how can we change what’s happening here?

Believe it can be done – if Bolivia can do it we can do it We have to win over the masses We need a political vehicle that can carry it.

The next speaker on creative campaigning was Walton Pantland from Union Solidarity International, who uses social media and the internet to connect trade unionists throughout the world.

He spoke a little on the fast food rights campaign; the day of action on the 15th May had 36 countries involved.

That evening a delicious BBQ was laid on for dinner and a performace from Banner Theatre’s First of May band who played a range of songs.

After their performace, delegates did some impromptu performances as the sun went down.

SUNDAY Sunday morning kicked off with Deanne Ferguson and David BraniffHerbert (GMB) leading a session on organising, encouraging us to find out why, what was our story, our reason for helping people that would encourage people to join our unions so we can help them .

We then broke up into the last workshops of the conference • 10 point plan led by Marie Taylor

• Campaigning led by Dami Benbow Organising and unions led by Deanne Ferguson and David BraniffHerbert

Ten Point Plan: 1.

Develop a Youth Strategy

• Have a clear plan in your union to recruit and engage young members •

Make sure it is embedded at all levels of your union

•

Identify what resources you will allocate and when – it is a false economy not to invest in young workers as they are the future membership for the whole of their working life if you get it right

2.

Establish a Youth Section or Forum

•

Young people will value the opportunity to discuss issues affecting them and a safe environment to learn new skills and explore issues of the movement

•

The world of work is changing and the age profile of new

workers after gaining qualifications in some professions is ‘older’ whilst the wider use of apprenticeship schemes employing young people means the age profile of new workers has a greater spread. The Youth forum needs to meet the needs of all new workers, young people (16 to 18 year olds) and slightly older (up to 30 years old).

•

Slightly older and more experienced youth Forum members could play a mentoring role for younger new members.

•

Ensure there are transitional support arrangements for young workers between youth and wider member forums.

3.

Employ a Youth Worker to look after recruitment and retention • A professional youth worker should be JNC qualified and paid on JNC rates of pay 4. Use effective targeted communication with young workers • There is a need to communicate effectively with the appropriate use of language that is young people friendly and inclusive

•

So much information is shared through technology such as email, twitter and Facebook and other social networking sites

5.

Establish an inclusive culture in the movement at all levels that

respects and values young people and the contributions they make •

This is probably the hardest to achieve but the most important.

So often, experienced activists have played a role so long they complain no one will take over. This may have been true for a while but then they cannot relinquish the reins. Young people may not succeed in every instance for a whole range of reasons but that is no reason not to let them try.

6.

Listen to the issues of young workers and take them seriously

•

None of us will really understand the issues facing this generation of young workers. Often the issues will be similar as to what ours once were but they will also have specific issues affecting their generation and situation we should take notice of these and support them.

• The whole union should develop campaigns on common issues

being particularly inclusive of young people such as a campaign

around Wages calling for not a Minimum wage nor a Living wage

but campaigning with TUC for a fair wage for all including young people.

•

Champion issues raised by Young members. Young people have specific challenges and these should not be dismissed by older members

•

Integrate youth agenda items into main union agenda. Young workers are part of the whole union. Youth Delegates and motions from youth forums and conferences should be included on Union conference agendas as integral business

7.

Be prepared to give up power and try new ideas in a new time

•

Young people in current times are not happy to sit on the sidelines and wait for buggins turn. Trade unions at every level need to change to ensure young people are really engaged and included throughout the movement

8.

Encourage young workers into leadership roles

• Like recruits like. Young people fully engaged, listened to and

taken seriously will attract the involvement of other young people.

9.

Commit meaningful time and resources to recruit, retain and support young workers in our movement

•

At a time when the movement and workers are under severe attack from all directions and fighting for jobs, terms and conditions, services, pay, facilities and employment rights , our future also depends on developing a real commitment to change the movement for and with young people to benefit us all. We ignore this at our peril.

10.

Young people can do it ! Trust them.

Ten Point Plan originally developed

by Marie Taylor revised and updated

by Next generation Festival 2014 #Nextgenfest14 After a short tea break delegates then took part in an electronic vote that stimulated discussion.

At the beginning of the festival delegates were asked to put their names forward if they wished to attend a number of different events throughout Europe and the results where as follows: 1. Delegate to Milan Italy 5/6 June 2014, conference with lots of unions from Europe discussing international union co-operation: Charlotte Appleyard - Community 2. Delegate to Nicosa, Cyprus 16/17 June for seminar with other European unions on stress at work issues: Sam Higginbottom - Unite 3. Delegation to Global Labour Institute Summer School to be held at Northern College Barnsley England, 7-11th July 2014, amazing opportunity to learn with trade unionists from around the world about trade unions all over the globe: Megan Edwards - Community Elliot Dean - GMB Sadie Fulton - SUE 4. Delegation to Brussels 27-28th October 2014 to be part of GFTU’s ongoing work with other international trade unions on supporting workers with caring responsibilities: Laura Blunt - Community 5. Delegation to Palestine, dates to be confirmed, be part of GFTU’s delegation to study the conditions of life in Palestine and Israel and meet trade unionists from those countries.

Sadie Fulton - SUE Eleonore Perrin - Unite Finally, Deanne passed around postcards for everyone to write three targets down of which they would intend to achieve. They will then be sent out in the near future as a reminder.

Feedback from Evaluation forms: • One of the best youth events I have participated in • Employment law workshop excellent, I felt this was an excellent event the programme was varied and I would like to offer my thanks to all involved in organising and to thank them for the opportunity, food was excellent.

• Not really much time for debate for example on the

EU Scottish independence etc. debate before voting would be interesting.

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Travel buddy programme for people from the same area- good for young/nervous members

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Food was amazing

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Would have been nice to have some time to build relationships with fellow union reps ahead of political debate/ setting the scene

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As an MU member there wasn’t as much information for young entrepreneurs as I would have liked - every workshop and talk was focused on being part of a workplace, and being on your own, self-employed/freelancing is full of problems that we need the support of unions for

•

This is a great conference for young trade unionists and the Quorn Grange Hotel is a fantastic and valuable resource

for the education and development of the trade union movement.

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Perhaps younger speakers/same generation as the audience

Special thanks to Sarah Woolley (BFAWU) for helping with the #nextgenfest12 report

www.gftu.org.uk

All photos by: John Harris @Report_Digital

Published by the General Federation of Trade Unions Educational Trust Headland House 308-312 Gray’s Inn Road London WC1X 8DP T: 0207 520 8340 E: gftueducation@gftu.org.uk