Young Members in Eastern Region
Hi and welcome to our UNISON Eastern Region Young Members webpages. On our pages you will find information about what we are up to, relevant news, events, campaigns and our UNISON Young Members Conference/Weekend - we hope you find these pages useful.
Any suggestions about these pages? The please do get in contact with us - it really would be good to hear from you!
Young members in UNISON Eastern Region have a special network -this is so our voice is heard and so that we can have a real influence over policy. We arrange to meet all of our Branch young members' representatives three or four times a year. We have a national e-news, 'Next Generation' newsletter and members in the Region get together using social networks.
We help keep the union relevant to our age group- and we know how hard it is! Many of us are studying as well as working and you will be pleased to know that if you become a member and union representative, your training can help you build up credits to allow you to access degree and diploma courses.
Every UNISON branch can have a male and female young members' representative. In our rules you count as a young member if you are under 27 [amd no, that isn't a typo - honestly!] for the year in which you want to stand!
Issues like the Minimum Wage can come as a surprise. Many of our us were not aware that the minimum wage was set by legislation after a major campaign led by UNISON. The 10th Anniversary celebrations were a timely reminder. Download advice on your wages and your rights.
As Young Members we are very active in getting involved in campaigns and making our voice heard on issues such as Climate Change.
Young people are very vulnerable at work - especially if training is poor and health and safety is not properly managed. Many of our members work along side trainees and apprentices , but very often they do not know what a union is. We are calling all UNISON members to tell them about the benefits of being in a union so they are encouraged to join and look after their rights. Apprentices can join us for just £10 a year.
Student Nurses join the union in their hundreds in the Eastern Region every year through UNISON attending induction events and Freshers Fairs. Our Regional Health Committee will be organising some events for them in the coming year.Student nurses can also join for just £10 a year while they study.
Young members in UNISON have helped build the union in many ways - including running stalls at major festivals in the Eastern Region. In the past couple of years we have been at:
- V-Festival
- Cambridge Folk Festival- we ran a stall about Climate Change and Carbon Footprints.
- Cambridge Strawberry Fair
- Pride festivals: Cambridge Pink Festival, Suffolk and Norfolk Pride festivals.
- Burston Strike School
- Ipswich Mayday Festival
Please also check out our national site for more information about being a Young Member in UNISON
Seth Lakeman gave the thumbs up to UNISON's Fair Pay in Local Government campaign at the Cambridge Folk Festival when he played there in 2008. Look out for him in 2010 !
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Related Documents
- Next Generation 2009 (PDF, 1.24Mb)
- Next Generation Spring 2010 (PDF, 2.70Mb)