Usdaw adopts a blueprint for recruiting and organising young workers

Addressing conference delegates in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, Dave McCrossen – Usdaw deputy general secretary said: “Over the years, young workers have been at the heart of some of our key campaigning achievements. We've negotiated the abolition of youth rates across many of our agreements, we've secured a commitment from Government to remove discriminatory age bands, 
and we've worked to tackle insecure work through the new Employment Rights Bill, winning various new legal protections to benefit young workers.

“Usdaw has always been one of the more successful unions in recruiting young workers. Our membership base is a lot younger than other unions and we have a strong track record in engaging, recruiting and organising young workers. Yet our membership still doesn't reflect the number of young workers across our sectors. 

“Young workers are crucial to our future, but equally young workers need their union. The case for young workers to join a union is quite obvious. Young people find themselves stuck in a cycle of low pay and insecure work, often more likely to face violence and abuse from customers and often struggling with their mental health. 

“Of course, many of the issues affecting young workers affect older workers, but there are some issues which are specific to young workers. Nine in ten young workers have experienced negative treatment in the workplace because of their age. Young workers are unfairly judged and criticised and subject to harmful stereotypes: that they don't care about their jobs; that they don't need their jobs, and that they simply don't work hard enough. 

“Despite these negative experiences, young workers are still less likely to join a union than many other workers, they are less likely to know what unions are and how we can support them and they are less likely to know about their right to join a trade union. We cannot simply expect young workers to come to us, to seek us out. It is up to us to do the hard work, to both recruit and organise and to get the message out there, that Usdaw is the Union for young workers.”