Over 30 participants came together to hear from experts, union leaders and industriAll Europe about organising and engaging with young people, as well to establish a network.

The event was hosted by FOSIL, CITUB Union and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation (FES) and provided the young participants with the tools to organise and address young workers using unique social media strategies.

The Friedrich-Ebert Foundation’s Bulgarian Office presented the results of its latest youth study, which can be accessed here. On the basis of this study, the discussions between the participants revealed that the main concerns of young people in Bulgaria relate to workforce departure, unemployment, corruption, and the weakening of democracy, as well as decreasing trust in institutions.

It is crucial to equip young workers with the specific tools to tackle problems like youth unemployment, low payment with a youth pay gap far less than the average wage, precarious working conditions, short-term contracts, and frequent job and sectoral changes.

The participants learned that social media has not only changed the way we perceive the world, but also how social media has transformed the way we communicate, organise and advocate. It also offers the opportunity to strengthen the trade union movement.

Isabelle Barthès, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe said: “Social media is part of the strategy to build networks and communities, and to attract people towards trade unions. It should be part of any campaign strategy to fight for decent working conditions and raise awareness about unions.
“Social media holds the key to reach political leaders, trade union allies, and most importantly, other young workers, who need to know they are not alone facing bad working conditions. We don’t only need to fight for better policies, we must also make sure that the voices of the young workers in Europe are heard loudly and clearly.

We congratulate our members from Bulgaria for organising this important youth event! Youth involvement and empowerment continues to be a priority also for industriAll Europe”, concluded Isabelle Barthès.