The ETF Youth Committee works on horizontal issues that affect young transport workers in all sectors. For the current mandate, 2017-2022, we are focusing on four key issues.
Transport jobs in the fight against youth unemployment
After many years of crisis, youth unemployment in Europe is still stubbornly high. Austerity measures have failed and caused a deterioration of living and working conditions, and a rise of xenophobic as well as anti-European feelings. The ETF Youth Committee aims to reverse the pessimism among young people by focusing on all trends that affect their entry to the labour market. Demographic change, migration, digitalisation and automation, are all bringing changes to the transport sector, but also have the potential to generate new job opportunities.
After a thorough analysis of the impact of the European crisis, the ETF youth committee will concentrate its efforts on new trends in the European labour market. Our aim is to increase youth employment in the European transport sector with fair working conditions and appropriate social protection.
Gender equality for transport workers young and old
The transport sector has always been a male-dominated sector, and often appears unattractive or even unsuitable for women. Violence in the workplace remains a huge problem, and there is a lack of knowledge about gender issues and the appropriate vocabulary to discuss them.
The ETF Youth Committee aims to make the transport sector more attractive for women, remove barriers for women and promote a gender-neutral adjustment of the work environment. We will do this through training about gender issues for both men and women.
We also want to address the issues faced by young women in a male-dominated transport sector and trade union movement. We will promote gender equality, in the transport sector and in the unions, and develop more gender-balanced strategies to attract more young women to both the sector and the trade unions. In these projects we work in cooperation with the ETF Women’s Committee in terms of education and training.
Reducing the impact on climate change with a fair transition to sustainable transport
Transportation represents almost a quarter of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions and is the main cause of air pollution in cities. Climate change is one of the greatest threats the planet is facing, and young workers have many decades ahead to feel the consequences The ETF Youth Committee aims to secure jobs and ensure good wages and decent working conditions for all generations to come when the shift to a more sustainable sector starts.
The ETF Youth Committee plans to raise awareness of the impact the transport sector has on the environment. Our aim is to join forces in tackling its impact on climate change, while ensuring a social and fair transition towards a more environmentally friendly and sustainable sector. Workers, including young ones, are not aware enough of the consequences of climate change, even if in many countries they suffer from its visible effects, such as floods and droughts.
Organising young workers and integrating them into trade union structures
More needs to be done to effectively organise young workers and have them integrated into trade union structures and decision making bodies. The ETF Youth Committee aims to develop an organising strategy to engage with young workers in Europe and improve their view of trade unions and the transport sector. We can attract more young workers to both the trade unions and the transport sector with an integrated strategy that focuses on training, communication, campaigning and negotiation techniques.