Welcome to YUN online, the homepage of the Victorian Young Unionists’ Network.
Are you young and working, or looking for work? Ever thought that things could be better or that young workers should really get a better deal that what’s on offer? So do we! That’s why we’re uniting with young workers who are union members or interested in knowing more about the trade union movement to fight for our rights at work and organise for change.
YUN was established to bring together young unionists from different industries to organise collectively to fight for our rights. The network is under the auspice of the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) and is funded by unions who are affiliates of the VTHC. Click here to find out more about who we are and what we do.
At YUN, we recognise that young people are predominantly employed in casual and other precarious forms of employment where we are all to easily exploited and taken advantage of by unscrupulous bosses. We’d like young people to be empowered with as much information as possible out our legal rights at work and better yet, empowered to take action! Now more than ever, rights which unions have fought hard for are being stripped away and replaced with dodgy individual contracts that take away things like penalty rates, shift allowances, public holiday loading and in some cases, even rest and meal breaks.
We say it’s time to stand up and fight back!
The 2008 National Young Workers Conference: Maintain the Rage! A Huge success for young workers!
If you missed the conference, stay tuned for details of the 3rd annual National Young Workers Conference which will be hosted by young workers in The ACT
Maintain The Rage: An inspiring 2 days!
The Young Unionists’ Network hosted the 2008 national young workers conference on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th September. We invited young workers, activists, students, organisers and those interested in issues for young people to join us for discussions, actions, workshops and celebrations under the theme ‘Maintain the Rage’. Last year’s conference in Adelaide, themed ‘Fight for the Future’ encouraged young people to take a stand against industrial relations reforms under John Howard. ‘Maintain the Rage’ reminded people that the fight for the future has not yet been won. Workchoices is largely still intact and we must maintain national efforts to win fair rights for all workers.
The conference ran , covering topics such as:
- legal rights
- access and equity
- financial freedom
- staying safe at work
- unions and the environment
- queer rights at work
- young people’ issues in the blue collar sector
- community organising
- …and much more—as well as offering ‘open spaces’ for people to introduce their own topics.
Finally, we had an after-party in Bella Union Bar at Trades Hall on the evening of Saturday 13th with Melbourne bands Pataphysics and Pablo Discobar!
The Young Unionists’ Network thanks our 2008 conference sponsors:
The Young Unionists’ Network gratefully acknowledges the support of The Victorian Trades Hall Council and our sponsors for Maintain The Rage: The National Young Workers Conferenece 2008:
Virtual Communities, Union Shopper, Discount New Cars, Members Equity Bank, Members Equity Investment Fund, Member Connect, Host Plus, Australian Super, Industry Funds Financial Planning (joint sponsorship with MEIF), Virtual Communities, Union Shopper, Discount New Cars, and our conference partner and funding organisation of The Young Unionists’ Network, the Victorian Trades Hall Council.
