Youth Work: Bid to boost jobs in communications
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
A programme to recruit more young members to the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and fast-track them to senior positions has received a boost of nearly 80,000 from the Union Modernisation Fund.
The £2.8m fund, awarded to 28 recipients in total including the CWU, was announced at the TUC conference last week by employment relations minister Pat McFadden.
The postal and telecom sectors' union developed its Youth Empowerment Strategy to ensure young people's voices were better heard, said Simon Sapper, the CWU's national youth officer. "We have about 27,000 members under 30, but we know that they are under-represented in decision-making and senior positions," he said.
The grants will be used to increase involvement of young people across union activities. This will include a tailored response to new joiners under 30 with a questionnaire aimed at matching their interests to union activities.
"If someone shows that they have the potential to become a local representative we can fast-track them and give them extra training," he said.
