Young workers

The TUC is exploring the idea of a “gateway” service to make it easier for young people who work where there is no union organisation to join one. The idea would be to offer advice and support for young people at work as a way to “bring some of the UK’s most exploited and vulnerable workers into the trade union family”.

TUC national organiser Carl Roper pointed out that only one in 12 workers aged under 24 is a union member, compared with one in four workers overall.

Roper said that most young people work in sectors where union organisation is weakest, citing the fact that, for example, over half a million young people currently work in the accommodation and food services sector where union density is just 3%.

And in retail, he said, where almost one million young people work, union density is 12%, less than half the 26% national figure.

He said the movement must “make it easier for the vast majority of young people who work where there is no union organisation to join”.

Last month saw the TUC’s first ever “Young Workers Month” — designed to both celebrate the work done by unions with and for young people and to address the problem of young workers’ under-unionisation.

http://strongerunions.org/2014/03/02/tuc-young-workers-month

www.tuc.org.uk/about-tuc/young-workers/young-workers-month