National Youth Education Event 2010 - Jury's Inn, Newcastle Upon Tyne

15 October 2010

The 9^th National Youth Education Event has taken place in Newcastle upon Tyne, to great acclaim from all those who attended - young activists, senior union officials and the wide variety of guest speakers.

Over 60 activists aged 30 and under, representing all 10 of the CWU's regions and 35 branches, spent the weekend of 15-17 October considering their own role in the union, political and industrial issues affecting them and their members and drawing strength from each other's experiences.

Assistant Secretary responsible for Youth, Simon Sapper said: "This weekend showed that despite the horrific set of economic circumstances, we have reasons for optimism. Our young activists really got stuck in to a challenging agenda and emerged enthused and empowered."

The event started at teatime on Friday with a welcome to the North East from Youth Chair Kye Dudd, Regional Youth Secretary Joanne Lawton and Regional Secretary Paul Clays.

Senior Deputy General Secretary Tony Kearns then gave an overview of the union's role in challenging the current, disingenuous, political ideology of savagely sweeping cuts, vilification of the public sector and ridiculed the notion that we should "all be in this together". This was followed by a question-and-answer session in which delegates showed their mettle early on. "How do we respond to "slash, burn, cut and freeze policies?" and "How do we best put our own house in order?"

A noisy and frenetic variation on bingo then allowed delegates to break the ice with each other before moving onto dinner.

Saturday opened with a presentation from CWU activist Theresa McDonald about her experience as part of the flotilla to the Gaza Strip earlier this year. She was aboard boats that were intercepted with bloody consequences - by the Israeli Defence forces. Theresa managed to walk a fine political line in this debate, focussing on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza rather than the claims and counter claims of the protagonists. You could hear a pin drop as she recounted the events of the flotilla being boarded, and what happened in the aftermath.

Delegates then split into four workshops:

SHOW RACISM THE RED CARD

Laura Pidcock & Lizz Bennett led a discussion on this iconic and fantastically effective campaign to the NYEE. This workshop considered the reasons for that success, the continuing importance of the issue and why there is much work to do.

DRUGS - REGULATION OR PROHIBITION?

Levent Akbulut and Graham Aitken (Students for Sensible Drug Policy) lead a discussion that was mandated by this year's Youth Conference. There has been an unprecedented debate about whether regulation or prohibition of currently banned drugs is the best way forward. This workshop tried - and succeeded - to demystify the issue and concentrated on facts rather than hyperbole.

FREE GAZA

Following her address to the NYEE as a whole, Theresa lead this workshop which looked in more detail at the humanitarian issues surrounding the plight of those living on the Gaza Strip and what is being done about it.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

CWU Divisional representative Bob McGuire & former youth chair (and "Lunchtime Legend" (http://www.lunchtimelegend.co.uk/) blogger Ralph Ferrett lead this workshop on social networking, which is supposed to make things so much easier, but at times seems like a hopeless mess?

Blog? Tweet? Digg? Buzz? Share? Like? Dislike? Retweet? Facebook? IPhone? Android? The workshop looked at how we can use these things to get our message across with maximum impact.

RT HON ED BALLS MP

Following the workshops, participants reassembled for a plenary session lead by an address from the Rt. Hon. Ed Balls MP (http://www.edballs.co.uk/). The room was packed with youth activists, national officials and members of the press to hear Ed give a wide-ranging, pointed and often humorous address on why we have reasons for optimism in the labour and trade union movement. Sharing a platform with Young London Labour Chair Christine Quigley and CWU DGS (TFS) Andy Kerr, Ed then took questions from the floor on a wide range of subjects - unions and the Labour Party, Media Ownership in the UK, Universal Benefits, Northern Ireland, Drug Policy and the relationship between the Party leaderships and grass roots.

General Secretary Billy Hayes was marooned by combined air traffic and rail strikes, and so Simon Sapper delivered his planned address, which can be viewed on Billy's weblog at http://www.billyhayes.co.uk/

INDUSTRIAL ROUNDTABLES

After lunch, delegates split into two groups, each lead by the Deputy General Secretary - the most senior negotiators for the union's members in Postal and Telecoms.

As usual, young activists took full advantage of having direct and unfettered access to such senior figures.

Andy Kerr has previewed his contribution on the CWUYouth website and Dave Ward was immediately "kidnapped" to participate in a podcast which will be available shortly to download.

REBUILDING THE UNION

Participants then had a hands-on session to generate a range of recruitment and organising material, and to gain confidence and experience in aspects of communication necessary for their roles - including speaking in public.

After a frenetic hour, the stock of activists' profiles, blogs and podcasts had increased significantly. This will be published and uploaded on a phased basis over coming weeks.

CONFERENCE

The morning workshops were tasked with recording their conclusions about the subject they were considering as motions to be submitted to a mock conference. So participants had a short briefing session on Conference Procedures, supported by the YAC's "Guide to Conference" pamphlet.

The workshops then reassembled to consider all the motions from all the workshops - a bit like four separate branch committees. They worked on whether they were for or against the propositions, and who would speak.

At the end of a very busy day, the conference room was transformed into a Hawaiian themed dinner - well, in terms of shirts anyway.

The main business of Sunday morning was the Mock Conference itself. 13 motions were on the agenda - some serious, some not so. A total of 58 contributions were made, from 38 different speakers. Many participants made their maiden speeches - although you wouldn't know from the fine quality.

FINISHING OFF

That just left time for a review of the weekend. YAC Chair Kye Dudd thanked, on behalf of everyone, the Youth Committee, Officer Simon Sapper and above all PA Jo Thair.

Simon then left the audience with a rallying call ahead of the public spending review on Wednesday: "We believe that by working together we can achieve more than we could by standing alone. We believe that by acting together we are stronger than we would be by standing alone. We believe in the power and value of people who use money as a means to a more civilised end, rather than the power of money and property that uses people for directly the opposite.

It's all part of showing that there is a better way than cuts, slash, burn and freeze. There is an alternative and you are part of it."

NEXT

A full report of the weekend is being prepared, containing details of contributors, reports from workshops, motions debated at the mock conference and a full set of resources. It will be sent direct to participants and advertised on all of the CWU's media.

WANT TO KNOW MORE

Contact youth@cwu.org.

THANKS TO.....

All our visitors and guests, including but not limited to Billy Hayes, Tony Kearns, Dave Ward and Andy Kerr, Theresa McDermott, our Workshop Hosts, Ed Balls MP (and his office), Christine Quigley, Paul clays, Joanne Lawton, John Woodhouse, Catherine Ertsaas from our sister union in Norway, Pavel Krajca, Kevin Leetion, and sponsors UIA Insurance, Simpson Millar solicitors and the CCTV Branch, Newcastle Amal branch - and above all , the young activists who participated.

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