UNI Commerce Youth Camp, Berlin. Germany

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The UNI Commerce Youth Camp was held on the 11^th to 15^th of September 2016 in Berlin, Germany. This event was organized by UNI Global Union, based in Nyon. 30 participants from different countries namely Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, United States and Uruguay attended this camp. Malaysia was represented by Sis Hannah Samuel from UNI MLC.

The opening speech was done by Sis Alke Boessiger, the UNI Commerce Head of Department who will become the Head of Department for ICTS starting 1st October 2016.

On the first day of the camp, the participants had a discussion about working conditions in their countries, and also the professional environment where topics like employer-employee relations, main issues in the CBA, major issues in the commerce sector, comparisons between local companies and multinational companies, career prospects and gender equality were discussed.

Participants were to discuss in small groups and then present their findings to the whole group.

On the second day, participants got the chance to learn more about trade unions and organizing. Issues such as unionization in the workplace, youth representation in the union, membership development, main challenges in organizing in the commerce sector, union busting and so on were discussed and a lot of ideas were exchanged between the participants.

Bro Mathias Bolton, the new UNI Commerce Head of Department gave us a brief introduction on what UNI Global Union is all about.

The participants then proceeded to a high ropes course in Heiligensee, Germany as part of the team building activity.

On the third day, the participants were divided into two groups; multi-channel and e-commerce based on the example of IKEA, and how sustainability can be ensured along the entire supply chain. Both groups had fruitful discussions and then proceeded to present the results of the discussions to the whole group.

On the fourth day, Bro Erkan Ersoy, Director of Organizing (Europe) gave us a talk on “Organizing the Youth to Build a Better Future”. We were then divided into small groups to apply what we learnt during Bro Erkan’s session.

The participants then were taken on a field visit to Ver.di national headquarters where Bro Simon Habermas gave us a brief introduction to Ver.di Youth.

On the last day, the group continued to have discussions about the strategies that could ensure a stronger role for youth in the unions and the camp ended with a farewell party for all the participants.