CALLING YOUNG WORKERS

THE rise in precarious work — of casualised, low-paid, short- term contracts — disproportionately hurts young workers. There are many vulnerable young workers in the transport industry, such as the station catering staff locked in kiosks by their managers with no immediate access to toilets, or the young ferry workers facing aggressive and violent passengers without help or security. Young people working for agencies on short-term contracts are more likely to face bullying and harassment and work in unsafe conditions. Successful struggles such as that of the Tyne and Wear Metro cleaners employed on agency contracts demonstrate that an organised, determined workforce can win. RMT young members organise an annual conference for themselves. This year’s event took place in Manchester at the Mechanics’ Institute, where the TUC was founded in 1868. We ran workshops developing our skills as union activists, heard from speakers and debated motions to be sent to the union’s AGM. We bonded together during a football match and social. We learnt about Manchester’s radical and trade union history by visiting the site of the Peterloo Massacre and Chetham’s library, where Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto. Education is vital to building up youth activism within the union, and our Bob Crow education centre is an invaluable resource. We have an education course that runs parallel to the union’s AGM. This explains the union’s democratic process and provides delegates with the experience of moving a motion on the AGM floor. We also run young members’ educational courses at labour movement events such as the Burston Strike School rally in Norfolk, the Jim Connell event in Ireland and the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ festival in Dorset. History is important and by looking at the struggles of our forebears we can learn for the fight today. RMT’s ancestors formed the first large industrial trade union and we submitted the motion to the TUC to found the Labour Party. Our heritage is important. My great-great-grandfather was president of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants from 1898-1901. CALLING YOUNG WORKERS RMT Young Members committee president George Waterhouse outlines vital work to protect vulnerable youths from employers RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2015 :: RMTnews 14