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Our union, our future

22 April 2008

As our first elected national young members' committee gets underway we spoke to chair Mark Chisman about his aims and priorities.

Mark Chisman’s campaign to be elected chair of our first national young members’ committee focused on the need to fight low pay.

Seen as the main issue young workers face, this will be the central feature of the year ahead for our young members’ network.

Mark, who works for HMRC in Leeds, relishes the opportunity to help shape things for the future, both for young members and the wider union.

“I feel we are taken seriously by the union,” he said. “Everyone has been very positive and we’re getting good support from our national organiser Tracy Edwards.

“When we show the contribution we can make, we build respect. Hopefully we’re seen as a vital part of our union and a good way of getting people interested in campaigns.

“It is also important for us to link up with other unions and use things like regional TUC youth forums to develop campaigns on common issues.”

The committee met for the first time last month and set the agenda for the year ahead.

“We talked about the sort of social issues we should campaign on, such as housing which goes hand in hand with low pay. We want to get a good feel for what our young members want us to do and we’re planning to include a survey in the next edition of the young members’ newsletter.”

We can make a difference

One barrier to getting young workers involved in our union can be that they often don’t have the confidence to speak up at work.

“We haven’t got a situation where unions are bedded into society,” Mark said. “We need to make the point that things like low pay are not foregone conclusions, we can campaign against them.

“In the coming months, I’d like to think young members will be able to make a massive contribution to the pay disputes.

“We’ll also be looking at performance appraisal results from bargaining units to see whether young members are being treated equally and progressing as they should. This is a big problem in some groups like the Department for Work and Pensions.”

By the end of the year, as well as increased membership of the young members’ network, Mark wants to see more people standing for positions on the national committee.

“I want us to have a real debate and battle of ideas, with people challenging us and putting forward suggestions for how we progress.

“Ultimately, we want to get more young members active. All activists can help with this by identifying potential new activists in workplaces and branches. As well as our convenors making contact with branch secretaries to see how we can work together, we want branches to be proactive and contact us.”

Committee contacts

Regional convenors

For more about the young members’ network contact:

Tracy Edwards, young members’ organiser

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