Eastern & London Regions Host a Joint Education Event

3 April 2009

The weekend started Friday evening - the course had twelve delegates and additional guests from other regions. The course started with a brief introduction and the tutor discussed the agenda for the weekend.

The first task was to look at the union's structure and where the Youth Officers fit in. Three groups worked together to map out how they saw the current structure and how it should be in their opinion. All agreed that the members should always be the most important part of the union.

The next task was to look at why workers join or don't join unions. The delegates at the course came from the whole spectrum of the union from the large employers to the smallest, this was useful as you got to see the challenges and obstacles that the union faced as a whole.

The following task looked at how we could encourage more potential members to join the CWU, this included offering cheaper membership to those workers on very low part-time contracts - it was suggested maybe free membership to workers who earn below a certain wage, the subs would then go up when a member was earning more - it was felt once a member joined they would stay.

Membership recruitment packages were designed by all the groups. These included flyers, websites and posters. The groups were made aware of copyright and liable laws.
One of the focus points of the weekend was to write a speech and then perform it on the Sunday morning. The course provided examples of good and bad speeches; these were showed to the students.

Subjects were chosen by the students. Examples of speech subjects included postal privatisation, student unions, Israel and Palestine, YAC elections, Defend council housing, No2ID.

The speeches were performed on the Sunday morning. These were filmed, many students were apprehensive and did think they would not be able to meet the three minute minimum length - this proved not to be the case every speech - was three minutes plus. Some were very factual and others more passionate. The feedback from on the speeches was positive.

The weekend ended with summing up and discussion on what needed to happen next. All those present at the weekend agreed that the course had been a resounding success. This was echoed by the tutors and Trish Lavelle.

At the weekend the Eastern and London region had decided that we would work together to try and get members of our committees onto the YAC, as the weekend had given the students confidence they did not have before the weekend. Two students put themselves forward. We set out a plan to work together with other regions to compile a slate for the YAC elections which would represent the whole of the country. The plan worked as we were successful in getting our candidates elected.

Many Branch Youth Officers spoke of their intention of going back into their workplaces to recruit new members and to encourage existing members to become more active.

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