Youth Conference 2010

30 January 2010

Last Saturday, the 30^th of January saw the fifth CWU Youth Conference and the second to be held on a branch-based basis at the offices of the Birmingham District Amal branch. It was a well supported conference with nearly 80 delegates covering 36 different branches.

The start of the conference saw YAC Chair Ralph Ferrett (Plymouth and East Cornwall) welcome delegates and make an impassioned call to those in charge of the union to make the difficult changes and choices that will safeguard its future.

General Secretary Billy Hayes made a keynote address in which he spoke of the challenges facing the CWU and he expressed pleasure that the youth section of the union were trying to address this through their document CWU Future. Further Billy went on to make the case for why it is important for us to develop future leaders for the trade union movement in general and the CWU in particular.

During the conference there were a number of speakers many of whom were speaking at a conference for the first time. The Youth Conference adopted policies that included fighting the far right, campaigning to end the age disparity in the minimum wage, changing the rules regarding the YAC and youth movement, developing a pack to help new members understand the CWU, campaigning to move to a form of Proportional Representation for General Elections, and several others.

After the official conference finished delegates had an opportunity to debate the YAC document CWU Future and many interesting and important points were made.

National Officer Simon Sapper then summed up the conference, talking about the importance of some of the motions carried. But mainly he implored members of the youth movement to become more active, and to get more involved.

Gallery