1. At the beginning of the new millennium, the trade union movement has to be strong in order to respond to a globalised world where labour markets are flexible, deregulated and rapidly changing. A threat which undermines the strength and future of trade unions is that far too few young people join unions, which is one of the main reasons for a decline in membership rates. And still, millions of young people desperately need trade unions. Alarming figures show that increasing numbers of young people are unemployed, end up in precarious jobs and have no access to schools, universities or any other form of education. They are standing on the sidelines, which may cause them to turn to violence, crime and prostitution.

2. Young people will join unions when trade unions wake up, rethink their strategies and work hand-in-hand with their young members to organise young people into unions and to develop an effective response to the tremendous dilemma young people are facing now. Building solidarity between generations will be for the benefit of the young and for the benefit of the trade union movement as a whole.

3. The ILO estimates that 60 million young people between 15 and 24 years are unemployed, but this estimate is probably much higher. In OECD countries, the average youth unemployment of the 15 to 24 age group stood at 13% for 1998, and is in double-digits in most countries. Twenty per cent of young people between 20 and 24 in, for example, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, are neither in employment nor in education. In developing countries, existing data suggests that the gap between youth and adult unemployment rates is even wider than in industrialised countries. Young women, young migrant people and young disabled people are most affected by unemployment.

4. The main cause of youth unemployment is insufficient levels of world economic growth to match the growth of the labour force. Other factors have been identified as well. Young job seekers are heavily affected by a freeze in new hires, which is often the first reaction of firms to a recession. The ‘last in, first out’ principle makes them cheaper and easier to fire. High overall unemployment particularly affects young people, regardless of education levels, according to the OECD. So, even in affluent societies, education is no guarantee of meaningful employment anymore. There is a serious mismatch between school and work: education is too theoretically oriented because school curricula do not reflect the requirements of young people when they enter the labour market.

5. Low pay, part-time and temporary jobs with very little social protection are the prospects for millions of the world’s youth aged between 15 and-24 years. These atypical forms of work reserved for the young are multiplying. They respond to the increasing demand for flexibility, but usually means a poor wage and insecurity for the young worker. Aside from the agricultural sector, the private service sector is where the majority of young workers, either from developing or industrialised countries, find employment today. Unionisation is generally low in these areas, and as a result, young people employed in such jobs are often denied industrial protection, protection from hazardous work and the benefits of collective bargaining. At the same time, children continue to be exploited as workers. An estimated 250 million children are believed to be working. Providing these children with education and replacing them with young job seekers will help break the vicious circle of poverty and will decrease unemployment among young job seekers.

6. Young people without proper education and training face the greatest risk of being locked into low paid work or of losing their jobs as skill demands rise. The ultimate consequence is poverty and exclusion . Education is an ever inaccessible privilege for many workers in the developing countries. Without the money to pay school fees or buy school supplies, or even to pay the cost of the journey to go to school, more and more young people in Latin America, Africa and Asia are dropping out. In developed countries like Canada, education, particularly post-secondary education is increasingly inaccessible. A quarter of the 96 million pupils world-wide who entered school for the first time in 1995 are likely to abandon their schooling before Grade 5. Exclusion from school is a predominantly female phenomenon. Two thirds of the world's children who never go to school or who drop out before completion are girls. They are victims of the prejudices that give priority to their brothers.

7. It is not difficult to understand what young people want: work, a decent wage, education and training. To ensure that the millions of young people are not standing outside but are inside the trade unions requires changes in union attitudes and approaches towards young people. Youth issues are usually relegated to the bottom of the list of demands and are given too little consideration in negotiations with employers and political authorities. The trade union movement can not simply stand by and watch while the alarming situation among young people continues to deteriorate. A deep commitment and concerted action within all levels of the trade union movement is required to develop a comprehensive policy and action program on youth employment .

8. Trade unions have to change (especially their image, conduct and forms of action). Young people now perceive unions as too traditional, bureaucratic and hierarchical. Unions need to start to work hand-in-hand with young trade unionists to make the unions an attractive and an open place for the young:

• by giving their full support to young trade unionists for setting up youth structures, developing policies and activities and to ensure that they receive adequate training and are well represented at various levels in the trade union movement.

• by organising effective information and membership campaigns at school, in the new jobs and at places where young people who are unemployed and/or are in the transition of school to work can be found.

• through innovative organising to address the unionisation needs of the informal sector where youth predominate.

9. It is not a matter of why trade unions should do this, it is a matter of survival. The gap between young people and unions is expanding. At the same time, the trade union movement is growing old. It means a great risk of losing the valuable experiences and know how of the older generation. Only together, with the young and the older generation, will the trade union movement be strong enough to organise young people into unions and to win the fight for jobs, proper education, training and good working conditions. Trade unions will become stronger and its future become brighter. That future is not a far-away-option. When we put words into deeds, that future starts today.

Action by the ICFTU

10. In order to increase the membership rates of young people and to ensure that young people can fully participate within the trade union movement, the 17^th World Congress of the ICFTU calls for the following action by the ICFTU and its affiliates and regional organisations, on the basis of the Youth Action Plan ‘Our Future Starts with integrating young people today’’ adopted by the 1^st meeting of the ICFTU Youth Committee:

• to organise and recruit young people into unions;

• to ensure that young people are properly represented and to increase their participation rates at all levels of the trade union movement;

• To allocate sufficient resources for trade union youth programmes and personnel.

11. In order to mobilise international action to tackle youth unemployment, to provide young people with quality training and education and to improve the working conditions of young people, the 17^th World Congress of the ICFTU calls for the following action by governments, and where appropriate, employers and international agencies, on the basis of the Youth Action Plan ‘Starting Now with more and better jobs for young people’ adopted by the 1^st meeting of the ICFTU Youth Committee:

• to provide free and compulsory education and training to young people;

• to create a more effective labour market information system, which helps young people to make informed choices concerning their education and working lives

• to ensure that school curricula provide a broad-based education which reflects the requirements of young people when they enter the labour market and provides young people with information on young workers’ rights and the role of trade unions to involve the social partners in the design and implementation of employment policies, focused on job creation, providing training facilities and improving the working conditions of young people.

• to ensure that young people benefit from sustainable development programmes and that such programmes should not have a reverse effect: cuts in allocations for education and training programmes for young people and an increase in youth unemployment.

Congress requests the Youth Committee of the ICFTU to give priority: