I ’m 21 and I’m a committed trade unionist

You know that feeling, when you look around and see you’re the only one still left at the party… I’m 21 and I’m a committed trade union activist. With just 4% of union members aged 16 to 24, I’m in a minority. But something is happening. More young members are joining UNISON – we’re one of our fastest growing demographics. Dare I say it, are trade unions becoming cool? A few of UNISON’s young members Maybe. But it’s also probably got a lot to do with the fact young workers face pretty awful working conditions – and they’ve got worse over the last ten years. Like most young people I’ve had loads of different jobs, to support myself while I’ve been studying. Recent UNISON research showed student nurses work on average 90 hours a week. As a student nurse I can confirm this. The situation is ludicrous. At uni with my friend Keith But it’s no wonder we’re working all the hours god sends, when you see how little young people are paid. Apparently one in three young workers are on low pay and we’re paid £2.81 less per hour than our older colleagues. Plus people under 25 get a lower minimum wage. But what has struck me is that so many young people don’t even seem to know they’re being underpaid. And the ones that do know don’t raise it because they’re scared they’ll get fired. So often we just put up with it. I’ve worked on zero hours contracts and I noticed how the ‘newbie’ is always called to cover shifts other people don’...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article year of young worker young members Source Type: news