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6 September, 2022Young unionists from Asia Pacific met on 2 September to discuss IndustriALL’s youth resolution. The young workers will prioritize eliminating gender-based violence and ensuring youth involvement in all negotiations concerning their future.
IndustriALL’s 3rd congress in 2021 adopted the 14-point youth resolution. The landmark document calls on IndustriALL affiliates to include youth in decision-making processes, build young workers’ capacity through training, organize campaigns, share experiences etc.
90 young unionists from IndustriALL affiliates in 13 countries in South Asia, South East Asia and East Asia met online to identify priorities and required strategic actions. Participants proposed to tackle gender-based violence issues by including strong provisions in collective agreements, to set up monitoring mechanisms, to organize seminars and education programmes to create awareness among young workers.
“We must give space and allocate resources for young workers to grow because they are our future. Leaders must adapt to the way young workers are communicating and recruit young workers into unions,”
said Christine Olivier, IndustriALL assistant general secretary.
The participants shared ideas on the objectives of the proposed Asia Pacific youth platform, starting the process of coordinating young workers’ action in the region. The youth platform, which has strong support from the region’s vice president and co-chair Akira Takakura, will allow youth leaders to attend regional meetings to gain more experience.
“We have to work out a concrete plan to integrate youth in our structure, so that their voices are reflected in our activities in order to deal with youth issues effectively. Unless we have a well-functioning structure integrating youth, we cannot expect a bright future,”
said Akira Takakura.
The discussion on the Asia Pacific youth platform will continue in November.