Published: 17 Jul 2014
MUA Youth Committee member Nick Pedler has written a blog for ITF Youth about the active young members in the MUA
The Maritime Union of Australia has a robust, active and organised youth membership underpinning the future of this great Union. The youth of today are well versed in the history, struggles and triumphs of their veteran comrades, the youth hold the utmost respect for the blood, sweat and tears that have gone in to the development of social justice and fair working conditions for all Australian workers, and also our friends in the ITF.
The National Youth Committee has adopted the creed, “Know the past, own the future”, to help express the intent of the youth movement to show respect to what others have fought for in the past, but also to realise that it is up to the youth of today to keep the struggle going, to never back down, to own the future through their actions and decisions.
Effective organisation requires a base structure that has the ability to keep the movement on the same page, on the right direction, and motivated to carry on when times are tough. The MUA has implemented very successful base structures to ensure this work is achieved, there is a National Youth Committee, comprising of representatives from each State and the Northern Territory, these reps hold monthly phone meetings, and face-to-face conferences when possible to share ideas, campaigns and report back to the national office what each state has been working on.
Each state has their own branch youth committees that feeds in to the National Committee, I’ve been proud to be working with a great bunch of youth activists and the state branch officials here in South Australia over the last few months to set up the youth committee and movement. Each committee has the responsibility to identify campaigns and tasks within the union that they can adopt and focus on. For example, in South Australia, the youth committee are assisting with branch clothing apparel design, fundraising ideas for charity, and youth career development training just to name a few.
I urge all youth members of the ITF to band together, support local youth committees within your union, and take a leading role in the future of our industry. The world will always need transport workers, and the workers will always need to be united in their push to improve working and living conditions for all.
If you’re a South Australian MUA youth member reading this, I look forward to seeing you at our next monthly meeting, on the last tuesday of each month at the Union Rooms, remember to buy your raffle tickets!!
Find more on the ITF Youth here: http://www.itfglobal.org/youngworkersblog/
The MUA will be attending the ITF Congress in Sofia in August. 20% of their delegation will be less then 35 years old !
