TUC Young Workers Conference 2019: The Year of Young Workers
The TUC (Trade Union Congress) brings together 48 member unions, and collectively represents more than 5.5 million workers around the UK. The Equality conferences offer unions such as Accord the opportunity to put forward items of business (we call them motions), which if adopted, become TUC policy. This article is a report back from our delegation at the Young Workers Conference in March 2019.
In December 2018 and coinciding with my blog article, we wrote to our young workplace representatives and asked them to let us know what topics they thought should be taken to the conference. Following the feedback, we submitted two motions; one on improving financial education as part of the National Curriculum and one on improving retirement planning for young workers.
Accord Rep, Gemma Francis (TSB Oxford, Chilterns and North London area) says:
The conference gave many unions the platform to raise motions that mattered to them. It was a very powerful conference and I was lucky to have the ability to attend. It was a great opportunity. I’m very happy that we were able to share ideas and to meet members of Accord and other unions!
Accord’s Motions:
Both of Accord’s motions were supported by conference delegates, with a number of other unions getting up to speak on the topics — all saying how important these motions were for young people entering employment. We were proud of our delegation for the way that they developed speeches and the challenges thrown at them.
What follows, is a summary of the motions that Accord submitted and a list of the key demands.
Motion 1:
In recent times, it’s become more apparent that there’s a lack of financial knowledge among young people, and our members are seeing the result of this on a daily basis. This is especially obvious when it comes to fraud — often young people are being coerced into giving personal information and finding themselves being involved in fraudulent activities, sometimes being bribed with financial incentives for doing so.
The motion calls on the TUC to:
- Lobby the government to review the effectiveness of the financial education currently on offer through the National Curriculum and address any gaps.
- Work with finance and education unions, along with other organisations, to create a campaign.
Motion 2:
Our second motion, ‘retirement planning for young workers’, acknowledged the general concern over the future retirement prospects of young workers. The impact of insufficient knowledge, retirement planning, and financial guidance all contribute to a general lack of awareness of pension provisions.
While auto-enrolment has seen an increase in the number of young workers contributing to pension schemes, this is often on the minimum rates and more needs to be done to inform young workers about decisions that effect their future retirement. We believe that employers and government have a responsibility to guide workers.
The motion calls on the TUC to:
- Encourage unions to develop policies with employers, promoting financial and retirement planning advice for all members at the point of entry and throughout their careers.
- Lobby the government to review the minimum pension contribution rates and ensure that financial and retirement planning advice is becomes mandatory for all workplace pension schemes.
- Guarantee the stability of the state pension so that young workers entering the workplace today can be confident that there is a provision for them in the future.
So, what else happened? Below is a brief summary of some of the topics that were covered and some of the important points you should know about.
Harassment & Bullying:
In January 2019, we reported on new research that was conducted by the TUC on harassment at work, and conference was given an update on the campaign. There was also an opportunity for delegates to take part in some direct action by taking some cards into retail stores along Oxford Street and talking to staff — abuse is never ok. Raising awareness of workers’ rights when it comes to harassment and bullying remains one of the young workers forum’s key priorities.
Equal Pay:
There were some interesting debates on equal pay with some delegates highlighting the unfair treatment they receive when it comes to their wages — such as minimum wage where you need to be over 25 to qualify for the full amount… yet food prices are still the same, as are utility costs.
Mental Health:
There were a number of motions that were debated relating to the mental health and wellbeing of young workers. This is unsurprising when you look at the figures; 1 in 7 young men aged between 16 and 24 experience depression or anxiety each year — and right now 1 in 6 workers are dealing with mental health problems at work. I wrote a blog post about this and what can be done in April 2019.
A couple of points were raised that Accord needs to take forward, including:
- organise training to support reps who in turn are supporting members with mental health conditions
- encourage our members’ employer to ensure workplaces are supportive environments by training employees in mental health first aid, offering flexible working and implementing inclusive employment & recruitment policies
Keynote Speech from Frances O’Grady (TUC General Secretary):
The political landscape remains stuck in crisis as a result of the paralysis caused by Brexit. Frances argues that the UK needs a deal that meets the TUC Tests as laid out in the September 2018 General Council statement:
- Maintaining workers’ existing rights and establishing a level playing field so that British workers’ rights do not fall behind those of other European workers
- Preserving tariff-free, barrier-free, frictionless trade with the rest of Europe to protect jobs
- Ensuring that trade and livelihoods in Gibraltar and Ireland are protected — including avoiding a hard border, and protecting the Good Friday Agreement
Frances also called for an end to the disgrace of unpaid internships, to continue the pressure on the government to ban zero-hour contracts, and to create a new deal for working people - bringing an end to austerity and creating a well funded education system. Too many young workers have low expectations of works, and little hope of being able to change anything, and the union movement needs to be guided by what young workers want.
Interested in knowing more? Read the full agenda including all the motions. If there’s something you think Accord should be doing or you want to tell us what’s happened to you, please do get in touch.
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues that we’ve discussed here and you want to talk to us confidentially, or if you want to give us any feedback on what’s been happening in your workplace: contact us at equality@accordhq.org
