Recruiting, organising and representing young workers: survey results of PERC Youth members PERC Youth Conference, 10 July 2009

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 2 Introduction ● De-unionisation trend: union density in EU: 25% (source: EC 2008) ● Lower unionisation among young workers; ‘generation gap’ is not new buy union membership has fallen more rapidly among the young ● Young workers less favourable attitudes towards unions? ● Believe: union should be more responsive to young workers and enhance their recruitment and organising efforts

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 3 Survey ● Aim survey: mapping and examining recruiting, organising and representing young workers ● No comprehensive picture ● Unions have different identities and objectives and operate in different national institutional contexts ● Response ● 44 responses (out of 29 countries); return rate: 53.7% covering 71.4% of overall ETUC membership ● Additional 6 responses from unions in Caucasus region, Russia and South-Eastern Europe ● = 19 responses from ‘transitional countries’

Structures for representation and participating

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 5 Forms of youth structures

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 6 Overview of staff within the youth structures

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 7 Dedicated budget of youth structure ● Staff sufficient? ● 14.3% (N=6) agrees (strongly); 61.9% disagrees (N=26) ● 51.3% (N=21) of youth structures have a budget ● No budget: 73.3% (N=11) in ‘transitional countries’ vs. 19.1% in West-Europe (N=4) ● Budget sufficient? ● 19.1% (N=4) agrees; 52.4% disagrees (N=21); ● Significant more dissatisfaction for budget in ‘transitional countries’ Dedicated budget Youth structure with staff? Total NoYes No85.7%29.6%41.2% Yes14.3%70.4%58.8% Total100.0%

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 8 Policy priorities of youth structures Policy priority1st2nd3rd4th5th Recruiting young workers Youth employment Globalisation and international solidarity Social exclusion Life-long learning Demographic challenges European Union Sustainable development Gender Other

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 9 Number of young union members within national executive committee or council

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 10 Specific representation and its status ● Specific representation: 64.6% (N=31) ● Marginal differences in status between ‘transitional’ countries and West-Europe’ Status ‘transitional’ countries West-EuropeTotal Observer status213 Right to speak4610 Right to vote71017 Total131730

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 11 How good are confederations at taking into account the interests and needs of young workers? Union functions Agreement ratio (%) Intermediate (%) Disagreement ratio (%) N Legal advice Providing education and training Providing specialist services* Collective bargaining Lobbying government* Providing union benefits Improving health & safety issues** Union recruitment campaigning *Significant difference between ‘transitional’ countries and West-Europe ** Significant difference between confederations with a specific representation in the national executive or council and those without a specific representation

What do unions do for young workers?

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 13 Arrangement of union membership ● 40.8% (N=20) have not introduced a lower subscription fee, especially in ‘transitional’ countries (N=11); ● No need? Cf. Weighted average level of young workers ● Without arrangement: 28.4% ● With arrangement: 12.3% ● 80% (N=40) provides advice regardless of union status Special membership arrangement? Advice to students regardless of union status? Total NoYes No90.0%28.2%40.8% Yes10.0%71.8%59.2% Total100.0%

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 14 Raising awareness about the unions outside the workplace Channel Effectiveness ratio (%) Intermediate (%) Ineffectiveness ratio (%) N Job information conventions Websites University campus Youth camps Music concerts Ad in youth magazine Youth television channel

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 15 Raising awareness about the unions outside the workplace ● Job information conventions ● Very positive score in ‘Ghent-countries’: 4.8 (N=8; s=0.5) ● But also in ‘non-Ghent countries’: 3.7 (N=30; s=0.8) ● Ad in youth magazine and use of youth television channel ● Less applied and considered as less useful ● Union membership is better disseminated via personal recommendations rather than through formal advertising channels ● Some channels are underused, especially in ‘transitional’ countries, cf. ‘Job information conventions’, ‘University campus’, and ‘Youth camps’ ● 42% (N=21) have no dedicated or specific website

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 16 Activities for attracting young workers Activity Effectiveness ratio (%) Intermediate (%) Ineffectiveness ratio (%) N Special services* Building informal networks** Providing further training Helping with applying for a job Providing advice on career development Magazine / Newsletter Providing help with studies *Significantly considered more effective in West-Europe **Significantly considered more effective in ‘transitional’ countries

Recruiting young workers

kvandaele©etui.org Recruiting, organising and representing young workers 18 Youth recruitment campaigns: channels for joining a union Channels1st2nd Trade union representative30.0%50.0% Colleague at work8.0%36.0% Family or friends14.0%28.0% Recruitment campaigns16.0%28.0% Organised no campaigns23.5%29.4% Organised campaigns12.1%27.3% Lessons on unions6.0%18.0% Own initiative8.0%16.0% As a student14.0%16.0%

Youth recruitment campaigns ● Not only (unsatisfied) demand for youth recruitment campaigns but also believe in those campaigns ● 66% (N=33) have organised youth recruitment campaigns, with a lower share of young workers as an incentive ● Working together with student organisations is considered as (very) effective by 62.2% (N=23) ● But a formal, more systematic and pro-active recruitment policy targeted at young workers is rather undeveloped ● Youth recruitment campaigns are considered as (very) successful on various aspects but are significantly less successful re raising union membership in ‘transitional’ countries ● Percentage of unions that have seen an increase in youth membership in last five years (weighted coefficient is used) ● Without campaigns: 37.8% (N=11) ● With campaigns: 82.2% (N=22)

Conclusion

● Structures for representation are widespread (e.g. youth committees) but dissatisfaction with budget and staff ● Limited possibilities for participation but responsiveness of confederation is perceived as positive ● But underused channels and activities for raising awareness and attracting young workers ● Modest positive trend in youth membership (but insufficient to reverse the negative trend in union density) ● A twofold unsatisfied demand? ○ (unsatisfied) demand for organising youth recruitment campaigns ○ Young people do not disagree in principle with unions (e.g. D’Art and Turner 2008)