Young people need quality jobs!
The start of the academy comes at the right moment. On 15 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, announced in her ‘State of the European Union’ speech that 2022 will be the year of European youth. IndustriAll Europe welcomes this initiative. We now count on the Commission to follow up this announcement with concrete measures that improve the situation of young people on the labour market.
The kick-off webinar of the Digital Youth Academy concluded with a clear message: young people need quality jobs and therefore, quality employment must be at the heart of any Commission initiative for young people. This message was a key point for participants as they discussed the growing issue of youth in non-standard employment. Non-standard forms of employment are characterised by insecure arrangements such as temporary contracts, part-time or agency work. Young people form the largest constituency in these arrangements where wages are low, access to social security is limited and training opportunities are often absent. For most young people, this is not by choice. Rather, it is often the only available option for them on the labour market as good quality jobs are decreasing.
The priority of industriAll Europe’s young members is to prevent non-standard work becoming the norm and to offer solutions to those already affected by it. Several participants held that the law must change in many countries to end the abuse of non-standard employment. They also saw collective bargaining as key to ensuring equal treatment and the removal of double standards for workers doing the same job.
The conclusions of the academy will serve as the basis for the ‘Bargaining for Youth’ agenda that industriAll Europe will develop in the next months. This programme is meant to empower young trade unionists to participate actively in the labour movement and to fight for the rights of young workers.
The academy will take place over the next two months. Among its topics are: digitalisation, a green just transition, and the future of trade unions. Late registrations are still possible for the next webinar that will take place on September 28 and will focus on involving young people in trade unions.
IndustriAll Europe carries out the Digital Youth Academy in partnership with the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation. The EU-funded project aims to strengthen the voices of young workers and unionists in European industry.