At the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), organizing and mobilizing young workers is a priority. The CLC demonstrates this priority by having numerous positions that add a support system and allow the youth movement to grow in Canada.
These positions include: a youth representative on staff to give youth perspective in all the work at the Congress as well as offer affiliate support on youth initiatives; an elected Youth Vice-President and alternate Youth Vice-President who gives perspective on the CLC’s Executive Council; and an active CLC Young Workers Working Group that holds meetings four times a year to discuss ongoing projects, and work together to alleviate obstacles young workers are facing across Canada.
Currently the CLC Young Workers Working Group contains 17 youth from across Canada (under the age of 30) from 9 different affiliate bodies. (These affiliate bodies include: the British Columbia Nurses Union, Canadian Auto Workers Union, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Office Professionals Employees Union, Telecommunications Workers Union Canada, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Canada, and the United Steel Workers of Canada.) For more information on the Canadian Labour Congress please visit: www.canadianlabour.ca
The Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) has encouraged young members to establish local union youth committees, of which there are now 18 throughout the country. Additionally, young members have established a national youth network enabling them to facilitate communication and share information over email. What started as a group of 17 members in February 2007 has now ballooned to over 175 today.
In 2007, the union organized its third National Youth Conference drawing over 100 participants from across the country. This was followed by a Youth Conference organized by French-speaking CAW members in Quebec in November 2008.
The CAW has produced young worker organizing ads that have been used in various labour publications, has started a series of "How-To" fact sheets targeting young members to encourage activism and has established a national youth newsletter (the Echo), which highlights the work of young CAW members across the country. For more information on the youth portion of the CAW please visit: http://www.caw.ca/en/services-departments-youth.htm
The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union in Canada host youth events that are relevant to young people and their culture (i.e., hip-hop shows featuring local artists and music relevant to youth and their realities; activists have the opportunity at these events to be inspired by local community emcees rapping about their experiences and how they can affect change in their community).
UFCW is passionate about dealing with issues that specifically effect young workers, and by engaging them directly in campaigns around issues like the students facing discrimination in Canada by receiving a lower minimum wage. Organizers run various organizing/social workshops; pizza dinners; and youth nights at rec centres all based in the community!
The key to UFCW’s organizing strategy is “being where young people are”. They have fellow young workers as their organizers who hand out flyers, organize basketball tournaments at the local basketball courts, and teach a course in the school system entitled “why unions” – all for the purpose of recruiting young members and activists into their union and so they can forward their work in the community and in the school system. For more information on UFCW Canada youth projects please visit: http://www.ufcw.ca/Default.aspx?SectionID=28d508a2-9482-4eb5-bd07-c0e34aca72de&LanguageId=1
