The EU-funded project ‘Young Social Dialogue Champions’ Academy’ aimed to equip young trade union members with the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to tackle the biggest challenges that young workers and apprentices have been facing in the transforming world of work.

The two-year project was carried out in cooperation with the Programme for Workers’ Activities of the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation (ACTRAV ITCILO), based in Turin, Italy. Participation was open to all industriAll Europe members below 35 years of age.

The new project was based on an innovative learning method which combined regional meetings with online masterclass modules and empowered young participants to actively contribute towards making trade unions and social dialogue youth-inclusive.

The project focused on:
•    Ensuring quality jobs for young people in the European industry
•    Developing a well-informed foresight for a successful trade union and youth strategy
•    Strengthening campaigning and advocacy skills for advancing youth rights at the workplace in the industries
•    Reaching a youth-inclusive social dialogue and collective bargaining, particularly in view of the twin green and digital transition
•    Building sustainable trade unions with meaningful youth involvement.

Link to the kick-off webinar: https://news.industriall-europe.eu/Article/1094


The workshops:

Sarajevo workshop:

35 young trade unionists from Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine participated in the first workshop of the Young Social Dialogue Champions Academy in Sarajevo in September 2024.

Participants learned how to use the latest available digital communication and artificial intelligence (AI) tools to develop digital strategies and ensure decent work and good quality jobs for young industrial workers.

Good industrial jobs for young workers and apprentices depend on good collective agreements negotiated by strong trade unions in a constructive social dialogue with employers. Unfortunately, social dialogue and collective bargaining have been under attack over the past decades from both governments (with legislation weakening bargaining structures) and employers (walking away from the bargaining table). Two ILO experts, Niall O’Higgins and Konstantinos Papadakis, explained that today’s young generation is the first generation to be worse off than their parents, due to an increase in insecure and precarious jobs leading to mental health and housing crises that particularly affect young people.

The workshop included training sessions dedicated to improving trade unions’ online presence: the key to attracting more young people to the movement through new communication means that speak to this audience.

With the expertise of Stiofán Ó Nualláin from Trademark Belfast and Danny Scott from Jarrow Insights, young participants improved their understanding of today’s digital landscape, focusing on the rise of the internet and social media, and its influence on the creation and spread of ideas, values, and beliefs. The participants left the training with new digital and AI tools to develop the digital strategies of their own union to better push for quality jobs and increase their youth membership.

Link to webnews
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  • Turin workshop:

    25 young unionists from Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Serbia and Romania joined the second workshop of the ‘Young Social Dialogue Champions Academy’ in Turin in November 2024.

    Participants engaged in a foresight exercise that enabled them to envisage the effects of the twin green and digital transition on the ground in their countries, sectors and companies. Participants developed scenarios that highlight how the future of work in their sectors will look like in 2040. The outcomes varied from digitalised and green industrial workplaces, where workers enjoy quality jobs as a result of a good trade union representation, to grimmer outlooks of left behind places with weak union presence. Engaging in foresight is essential to develop preparedness and resilience, as it encourages out-of-the box thinking in an exercise of timely anticipation of change.

    The foresight exercise not only focused on the future of work in the twin transition, but also on the future of trade unions. Young unionists are not only the future of the labour movement, but they are also the present. They are the ones who will experience the full green and digital transformation that has already started and is rapidly changing our industries. It is therefore essential that trade unions involve young members in the development of strategies to anticipate and manage the changes that our workplaces are going through as a result of this transition. Youth involvement is key to drafting an inclusive strategy for a Just Transition and fair digitalisation, because it allows unions to reflect on the needs of young generations.

    Link to webnews
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    Bucharest workshop:

    From 11-13 February, industriAll Europe, together with ITCILO ACTRAV, held the last workshop of the Young Social Dialogue Champions’ academy project.

    Over 30 young unionists from Romania, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Türkiye, came together in Bucharest to discuss different models of collective bargaining across Europe and exchange best-practices and tools and techniques for building power to set them up.

    The workshop provided participants with a comprehensive overview of the different collective bargaining models across Europe and gave young trade unionists the communications tools and strategies to campaign and negotiate effectively for better wages and working conditions.

    During the first session, participants learned how to develop communication strategies, how to build their own campaign pitches, and how to ensure successful negotiation outcomes. Participants shared insights into the situation of young unionists in different European countries and the extent of their involvement in collective bargaining rounds.

    The Friedrich Ebert Stiftung’s Romania Office and South-East Europe Regional Office presented the results of their latest study on the opinions, fears, and aspirations of the new generations from over 12 countries. The results show that young people’s main concerns are socio-economic, as many are in precarious work with limited contracts, and almost half of them fear becoming unemployed. There is a lot of work for unions to do to address these concerns and to develop demands that speak to young people.

    Link to webnews
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    Final Conference in Turin:

    27 young trade unionists from across Europe met in Turin for the Young Social Dialogue Champions Academy to boost their skills, exchange experience and discuss the challenges facing young workers in a transforming world of work.

    From 17–19 November, young members from Romania, Cyprus, France, Italy, Türkiye, Poland, Finland, North Macedonia, Germany and Bulgaria took part in a three-day programme at the International Training Centre of the ILO (ITCILO) in Turin.

    Over three days, participants took part in interactive workshops, presentations and peer-to-peer exchanges on organising, communication, campaigning, and the situation of young people in the labour and housing market.

    The discussions in Turin send a clear political message: involving young workers is essential to building a fair and sustainable labour market. Housing insecurity, rising living costs, precarious contracts and shrinking collective bargaining coverage continue to affect young people disproportionately. Ensuring good quality jobs must therefore remain at the core of Europe’s political and social agenda.

    Link to webnews


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    Resources:

  • European Youth Strategy DE EN FR + webnews: https://news.industriall-europe.eu/Article/1400 

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