Young Members Summit
- Beccie Ions
- Dec 4, 2017
- 2 min read
This year GMB’s Young Members Summit was held between the 24th and 26th of November, in Glasgow.
Despite the freezing weather, there was a real buzz all weekend, with many new first time delegates attending and wanting to engage with young members.
Summit started with the Young Members Organising School - an introduction to GMB@Work and training aimed to equip people with the basic skills they need to go out in to the workplace and recruit.
This included a ‘Phone a Friend’ activity where, amazingly, many young members recruited friends and family on the spot. 15 young members also ended up signing up for their Initial Support Training!
The summit also ran workshops which empowered young members, including “Building Regional Young Member Networks” and “Writing and Moving Congress Motions”.
The summit also had some fantastic and inspirational guest speakers.
Scotland GMB organiser, and former chair of young members, Hazel Nolan, spoke to summit about BiFab and McStrike workers came to speak about how they organised young people in McDonalds.
Summit was also joined by newly elected Scottish labour leader and former GMB organiser, Richard Leonard, who gave a rousing speech.
As well as reflection, we also took a look at the year ahead and discussed how members can engage with other young people to grow membership.
Motions were debated for TUC Young Workers conference and our priority campaign. Delegates decided that we will be putting forward the “Political Education” motion for TUC Young Workers Conference and our priority campaign will be “Wages Not Based On Ages”.
Other motions were passed on housing, organising students in universities, mental health and apprenticeships.
A new committee was also elected:
Chair: Ruth Pitchford (North West and Irish)
Secretary: Rachel Hookway (London)
Communications Officers: Jawad Khan (Yorkshire) & Alice Pitchford (North West and Irish)
CEC Observers: Beccie Ions (Yorkshire) & Craig Dawson (Northern)
TUC Young Workers Forum: Charlie Grey (Northern) & Hannah Ruddick (Northern)
Awards were also presented to the most inspiration young members on the Saturday evening. The following winners were announced:
Workplace Rep Award: Jonathan Biggins (Midlands and East Coast)
Regional Activist Award: Dave Toulson (Birmingham & West Mids) & Ryan Maynes (London)
Young Turner Award (National Campaigner): Ruth Pitchford (North West and Irish)
Congratulations to everyone on their awards and elections, and thanks so much to everyone for making it such a good weekend!
To find out more about GMB Young Members and how to get involved, please get in touch.
