REPORT:NYEE 2013NATIONAL YOUTH EDUCATION EVENT BLACKPOOL8–10TH NOVEMBER 2013

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

TIMETABLE 6

REPORT 7

WORKSHOPS 11

INDUSTRIALROUNDTABLES 15

WORKSHOPSESSIONS 20

THEMOCKCONFERENCE 22

FEEDBACK 25

PARTICIPANTS 31

his year’s National Youth Education Event was our twelfth and was held in the North West in Blackpool continuing our pledge to rotate the event around the country.

Overall, 48 young activists attended from 37 branches. 25 of these were “first timers”. Total attendance was 74. Numbers were slightly down on the previous year owing to the threat of industrial action and thus leave being withheld for potential delegates to attend.

The syllabus demonstrated the range of interests and activities of CWU Youth, and the Feedback Forms show that the NYEE continues to offer a great and formative experience for newer activists.

No less importantly, I am pleased to report that the event was delivered on budget, partly due to the generous financial support from branches and affiliates – a full list of contributors is on page 5 of this report.

Again we thought it important to make a permanent record of the sessions that took place over the weekend and enlisted the assistance of a journalist. It was also thought that the event would be a perfect opportunity to capture on film and create a short film that could be used as a future recruitment and organising tool. A film crew was hired to film the event and it is expected that this film will be premiered at General Conference 2014.

Also for the first time a ‘Memory Box’ was installed to capture the thoughts of delegates throughout the weekend. A small touch-screen facility allowed delegates to answer questions specifically on sessions they had just attended or their overall view of the event. The mini ‘vox pops’ will be used on the Youth website and other future promotional projects.

Finally, my thanks to the delegates, visitors, workshop hosts, Youth Committee, General Secretary, Senior Deputy General Secretary, plus Carl Webb, North West Regional Secretary, the North West Regional Youth Committee and above all, Jo Thair for enabling the event to take place.

Simon SapperAssistant Secretary

INTRODUCTION

T

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Acknowledgements&thanksforfinancial

contributions:

Birmingham District Amal Branch

Capital Branch

Central Counties & Thames Valley Branch

Greater London Combined Branch

East Midlands Branch

North West Region

Scotland No.1 Branch

South East No.5 Branch

South Midlands Postal Branch

UIA

West Yorkshire Branch

Western Counties Branch

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TIMETABLE

FRIDAY8THNOVEMBER17:45 Registration18:00 Welcome –Youth Chair Chris Hand, Regional Secretary Carl Webb, National Vice-President Beryl Shepherd, 18:15 Keynote address – Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary18:45 Icebreaker session – Getting to know each other19:30 Dinner

SATURDAY9THNOVEMBER09:00 Introduction to the day09:05 Sophie Lancaster Foundation Presentation with Q&A session 10:00 Group Sessions – all participants to select one from the following: • Anti-Fracking • Why Politics Matters • Going Viral11:20 Tea/coffee break12:00 Keynote address – Billy Hayes, CWU General Secretary12:30 Lunch 13:15 Industrial Roundtable Discussions: Postal – Carl Maden (NEC & PEC) Telecoms and Financial Services – Beryl Shepherd (Vice President)15:15 Tea/coffee break15:30 Guest Speaker – Graham Wilson, North West Retired Members

Committee Secretary15:45 Group sessions – consideration of motions for Sunday’s Mock

Conference, including tips on writing motions and public speaking17:45 End of formal sessions of the day19:30 Dinner & Social

SUNDAY10THNOVEMBER09:30 Conference procedures and motions10:00 Report backs from workshops10:30 Mock Conference including Guest Speaker Lee Fishwick

(UNI Europa Youth)12:45 Review of Event13:00 Close & Lunch

This year, the Youth Committee decided to invest in hiring a journalist to attend the NYEEon a residential basis. The aim was to ensure someone would be able to interview participants, review workshops and plenary sessions and generally provide copy that could be used to better promote the work of the committee and raise the profile of the NYEE over the months following the event. This was a task that the committee had tried to fulfil by themselves in previous years but had been increasingly unable to do so.

As part of this arrangement, the report for the weekend is not presented in its usual worth but somewhat dry style. Instead, we have used the reporting of Paul Donovan to tell the story of the weekend in a hopefully more lively way.

CWUVicepresidentcallsforresistancetoattemptsto“pigeonhole”youthNational Vice President of the CWU Beryl Shepherd told CWU youth members not to let others “pigeon hole” them as “the youth people.”

She argued that there is so much more that young people have to offer. “The CWU has so much to gain from your being here (at the youth event),” said Beryl. “We need new activists, new ideas and new perspectives.”

SDGScallsonyouthtoleadthefightagainstausteritySenior Deputy General Secretary Tony Kearns attacked the austerity agenda that has dumped the cost of paying for the banking crisis on working people and especially the young.

Tony declared that the generation of under 30s will be the first in the last 250 years that will be poorer than those who went before. “The biggest group paying the cost

of austerity are the young people. There is 21% youth unemployment, one in five young people without a job,” said Tony, who pointed out that things are even worse in other countries, with Spain having an unemployment rate of 50% amongst young people and 40% in Italy.

Tony chose to look at austerity as a long term problem, rather than something likely to go away in a few years or with the election of a Labour Government. He suggested that there will not be a time when suddenly things like the Education Maintenance Allowance and full Housing Benefit are simply restored.

REPORT

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Tony stressed the need to recognise the severity of the situation and organise accordingly. “What do we want to do about a government that attacks the lives of working class people. The present approach is to serve an elite,” said Tony. “I think we need to say this is your (youth) union, what is your agenda?”

Tony suggested that the union as a whole needs to stand behind the youth members in doing what they want to do, not side by side.

On the subject of union structure, Tony suggested if a union for the postal and tele- communications sectors were being put together today it would not look like the CWU does. “Change has to come from the bottom,” said Tony.

HatecrimecostslivesThe mother of a murdered young woman told how a campaign against hate crime has grown out of the tragedy. Sylvia Lancaster told how her daughter Sophie had been a fun loving girl who had just moved in with partner Rob. “She had a lot of facial piercings, a big head of hair,” said Sylvia, who described Rob as 6ft 1inch with makeup.

The nightmare began one day in 2007, when Sylvia returned home to find a phone message telling her to get in touch with Burnley police station. There were also many missed messages from her son. He told her to come to the hospital immediately.

“When you walk into a hospital room and don’t recognise your own daughter due to damage done by other people,” recalled Sylvia, who described how Sophie’s ears were black with yellow puss running out of them. Her face was swollen. Rob was in a similar state and also on life support.

This devastating situation all came about after an ordinary Friday night out having a drink in Burnley. The couple were lured to a park, where suddenly five lads appeared and started beating Rob up. They jumped on Rob’s head. It was in trying to protect Rob that Sophie ended up receiving similar injuries.

After 13 days it was decided to turn off the life support system keeping Sophie alive. Rob survived. The two young people had been attacked simply because other people did not like what they looked like.

Sylvia decided she wanted to do something to address this appalling intolerance in society that leads to such hate crimes. She founded the charity Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere (SOPHIE).

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There was huge support from different groups who had also been the subject of violent attacks. “Whitby Goths got involved,” recalled Sylvia. The charity sent a 7,000 strong petition to Downing Street about the problem of this type of hate crime in society. SOPHIE spent £500 on producing some wrist bands to highlight the issue.Now, millions have been sold.

Entrepreneur Julian Kingston proved a huge support for SOPHIE.

The charity has three aims: to provide a legacy for Sophie, change the law on hate crime and educate people so that they do not go out attacking others simply because they look different.

The legislative change being sought is to add “alternative subcultures” or “lifestyle and dress code” to the reportable hate crime strands which are: race, religion, disability, homophobia and transgender. SOPHIE undertakes a lot of work with schools, which includes running training days for staff and pupils.

The charity has made huge strides in the past five years, with help flooding in from across society. Julie Hesmondhalgh (who plays Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street) gave £7,500. She also starred in a play about Sophie’s life. Other high profile supporters include Courtney Love, Brian Cox and JLS. The charity has a big Facebook following.

Sylvia regards the biggest success this year as being getting Greater Manchester Police to monitor these types of hate crime. “There is no place for the face of hate in our society,” said Sylvia.

Delegates were left stunned and in some cases moved to tears by the session. Everyone felt that they could identify with Sophie and Rob or (in the case of older participants) Sylvia. This was reflected in the motion submitted to the Mock Conference, which in turn has been submitted to General Conference.

(For more informationon workshops see page 20)

Anti-FrackingThe topical subject of fracking, which has seen minor earth tremors in the Blackpool area in the past, drew much interest. Speakers from Friends of the Earth (FOE) and Ribble Estuary Against Fracking (REAF) described the dangerous and destructive process that is fracking.

Eve McNamara from REAF told how the fracking process involved an intensive use of water being forced into rock to get the gas out. “There is a risk of air pollution and the flow back of water has radiation which needs to be taken out,” said Eve. Eve and Helen warned of the site of multiple wells across the landscape with a network of roads providing a transport infrastructure for them to operate. There will also need to be pipelines and access to take backwater away. Some 5 to 10 % of methane leaks out from the wells.

Helen Rimmer from FOE, North West, explained the role of Lord Brown at the heart of government, ensuring that the fracking interests are represented at the highest level across departments.

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WORKSHOPS

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Helen explained how planning rules were being relaxed to make fracking easier. There have also been the examples of pre-emptive drilling where the fracking company goes down in one place then across and under someone elses land without permission. A website called wrongmove.org has been established forpeople faced with this threat.

There is to be some regulation by government of the industry but once established the companies are apparently to be self regulating.

The consensus was that renewable not fracking is the way forward. Helen told how more than 50% of the renewable sector in Germany and Denmark was community owned. This means that there is not the type of protests that materialise in this country against wind turbines and the like.

There was support for the TUC’s one million green jobs campaign.

GoingViral

There were a plethora of inventive ideas as to how social media can be used to get people involved in the union. The idea of a union book (equivalent to Facebook), the use of podcasts and different media all featured.

There was mention of a successful campaign that went viral in Liverpool to turn the city blue. Organised by Everton football supporters fed up with the redness of Christmas and subsequent association with their rivals Liverpool. The campaign used twitter,

Facebook and other direct means that resulted in a viral campaign which did turn much of the city blue.

It was pointed out that although Facebook and Twitter tend to be viewed as social media used by youth, the average ages of users were 49 and 41 respectively.

WhyPoliticsMatters

The Politics Matters workshop looked at the different forums of decision making in the country and how to influence those processes.

The output from the workshops was recorded on flipcharts and was given as a report back.

PoliticalcornerAfter the workshop sessions, the event was addressed by two eminent visitors:

First, local Labour MP for Blackpool South, Gordon Marsden stressed how important it is to get young people involved in politics.

Gordon admitted the people feel disconnected from politics. “Trade unions are good at bringing things together,” said Gordon.

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Then CWUHA founder Carl Webb told how the charity has developed over 18 years from its founding on the road to Bosnia.

CWUHA started with one convoy taking aid into the war torn country but now there have been 35 to 40 trips. Both Royal Mail and BT have become involved providing support.

The charity has stretched beyond Bosnia to Africa where most recently CWUHA raised funds helped build a school. “CWUHA is a wonderful thing, we want to get more people involved,” said Karl.

GeneralSecretary’saddressGeneral Secretary Billy Hayes backed the HS2 rail project as a progressive project for the future. Despite some criticism about the effect the project would have on local communities up and down the land, Billy called for “imagination and vision.”

“As a progressive movement we want a better future,” said Billy, who admitted there are problems with the HS2 proposals but that the leaders in Manchester and Liverpool are supportive. He suggested that much of the opposition was from those with a London centric agenda.

Billy regretted the loss of the fight to stop Royal Mail being privatised. He pointed out that the union had been battling against it for 21 years, seeing off 10 secretaries of state in the process. He paid tribute to some in the Labour Party like Nick Brown, the chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party, for what they had done to help resist privatisation.

The GS stressed the importance of bringing new blood into the union. “The union needs new blood, new life,” said Billy, who recalled how the NEC did not want to create the youth division of the union. “We don’t always get things right as a leadership,” said Billy who recognised that many people wanted to make the world a better place, the challenge being how you do that. “When you do things collectively you get better decisions,” said Billy who questioned a world where a man can be put on the moon but millions starve. “A child dies every seven seconds from starvation on this planet,” said Billy.

Billy questioned the government’s promotion of the idea that all is now well, with the country out of recession. “It doesn’t feel to the majority of people like the country is out of recession,” said Billy, who decried the fact that five million people live on less than the living wage of £7.45 an hour (£8.91 in London).

Challenged over the relationship between the Labour Party and the trade unions Billy accepted there maybe calls for disaffiliation after the spring conference on Ed Miliband’s proposals. He questioned though how people would feel if they woke up on 8 May 2015 to find the Tories had won a landslide victory at the general election. “If Labour get in or maybe a coalition then there is a bit of space,” said Billy.

Telecoms&FinancialServicesVice president Beryl Shepherd outlined a difficult terrain with the telecoms companies.

The climate is hostile to the union. Responding to questions about Openreach, Beryl said you may not trust the company but if that position is taken then there may never be another deal, so where does that leave the union. “I’ve never known this union break an agreement with an employer but employers do it all the time,” said Beryl. On performance management, Beryl suggested that members understand it and are even prepared to accept it but just not the way it is used by employers.

Beryl lamented that members sometimes think that the union is not having any impact on what the companies are doing. “If they saw the original proposals coming from the company, they would know how much we’ve done to change them,” said Beryl, who stressed the worst outcome would be to go to a ballot of members on an issue and lose. A common midway position is that members are not happy with a proposal but at the same time they won’t vote no.

Beryl also suggested a fresh look at some of the communication done by the union. She told of things just put up on the website. “A lot of members don’t go near the website, we cannot just put things up there,” said Beryl.

PostalNEC and Postal executive member Carl Maden confirmed that the union would not sign up to a “no strike” deal. Carl pointed out that strikes were a way to find agreement. “If we can get there without going on strike we will,” he said.

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INDUSTRIAL ROUND TABLES

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Carl told how irritating it is to hear how higher than market wages have to be offered to get senior managers, yet when it came to the front line workers it was all about getting down to the lowest levels of pay.

There were concerns over lack of release for youth officers. “I don’t think the business is likely to give much ground on release at the moment,” said Carl. He told of the efforts that had been made to get the Labour Party to commit to saying they would impose the universal service obligation on Royal Mail for the next 20 years. They didn’t and there was concern about the vacillation of the Labour front bench on the question of renationalisation. A motion calling for renationalisation was passed at the Labour Party conference.

GuestSpeaker:GrahamWilson,NWRetiredMembersCall for generations to unite against austerity onslaughtGraham Wilson, Secretary of the North West Retired Members Committee, attacked the government for slashing welfare benefits and worker’s rights.

Graham claimed that the government has a divide and rule strategy which involves pitting the poorly paid against the unemployed, the private sector worker against the public sector worker, migrant workers against local workers and the young against the elderly.

While there is a lack of employment for the young, older people are being forced to work longer or retire and take means tested benefits. “There should be a basic state pension set at a level that lifts people out of poverty so they can live comfortable existences,” said Graham, who pointed out that such a move would take pressure off other services.

The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) has called for a £178 a week pension to keep pensioners out of poverty. The present rate is £110 rising to £144 under the government’s one-tier proposals.

Among the ways suggested to finance the increase were using the £35 billion surplus in the National Insurance Fund and removing the upper earnings limit on national insurance. “We need a universal pension and a retirement age of 65,” said Graham, who highlighted the general shift of the burden for pensions from the employer to the employee. This has seen schemes like final salary pensions phased out and the switch in indexing for pension rises from the Retail Price Index to the Consumer Price Index.Graham also called for three million new homes to be built and the bedroom tax to be scrapped.

highlighted the attack on things like the winter fuel allowance, free TV licences and free bus travel, quoting statistics showing five million pensioners claiming TV is there main contact with the community.

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Some 2 million pensioners endure fuel poverty, meaning they spent more than 10% of income on heating. “The general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention Dot Gibson claims 25,000 die each year due to the cold,” said Graham.

He pointed out that the elderly contribute £400 billion in terms of unpaid care provision and voluntary work. “Many families would lose a wage if granny or grandpa was not looking after the kids,” said Graham.

Graham complimented Labour Health spokesman Andy Burnham for his idea of a focus on the whole person. The need to bring the NHS and local authorities closer together.

GuestSpeaker:LeeFishwick,UNIEuropaYouthCommitteeThe path from CWU youth conference to president of UNI

Lee Fishwick, president of UNI Europa Youth, told of the challenges of youth organising across Europe.

UNI runs summer and winter schools, the latter being in Brussels in February. There is a youth conference bi-annually, with the steering group meeting four times a year.

Lee recalled a visit he made to Manila to see the work of a charity that UNI supports with children scavenging on the rubbish heaps. “They are atrocious places,” said Lee. The charity aims to provide the children with one meal a day.

Lee mentioned the growing levels of youth unemployment across the European Union. “We need to come together. Business has gone global, we need to organise globally,” said Lee, who paid tribute to the CWU youth structure, recalling he had been starting out a decade ago at a similar conference. He was nervous about speaking but got the encouragement to go on, so that now he is able to serve with UNI.

MockConference(For more details and text of motions, see page 22)Lively debate ensued with the start of the mock conference. Scottish independence, organising and the need to hold youth events in warmer climes dominated the agenda.

One suggestion to help establish Scottish independence was to rebuild Hadrian’s Wall. Supporters argued the task would provide work for English and Scottish workers. Apprenticeships in stone masonry would be forthcoming.

Another view from Anthony McMullen was that the wall would be stealing English land, breaking up communities and making it more difficult for him to get to the Post Office.The motion was lost to the cry from Scots amongst the gathering that “you can take our oil but you can’t take our people.”

Chris Hand, chair of the youth committee, successfully argued in favour of the union supporting the Sophie charity and acting on hate crime.

Motions calling for four statutory meetings of the Youth Committee to be held overseas and for the National Youth Education Event to be held in a country where the temperature was not less than 20 degrees centigrade were soundly defeated. Danielle Areola on behalf of the youth committee argued that more desirable locations would encourage people to take part, while Lee Fishwick from UNI argued that it can be cheaper to hold conferences abroad.

Chris Hand, chair of the youth committee, was defeated with his attempt to get the CWU death benefit abolished.

Gary Daw from Plymouth and East Cornwall argued that doing away with the death duty would amount to “abandoning families in their time of need.”

There was support for a motion calling for a workshop from CWUHA at the NYEE next year.

There was also support for a motion calling for a mini-series to be made looking at how famous movies would have ended if a main protagonist had been supported by a union.

Sadie Fulton for Going Viral branch saw a case for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination in Les Miserables. The idea received support from guest delegate Sam Smith of BECTU. “It’s a fantastic idea and would go viral,” said Sam.

There was a call for trade union organising to be more focused toward the needs of part time workers.

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Each participant was invited to express preferences for the workshop they would like to attend. Everyone’s first or second preferences were met.

On Saturday morning, the delegates were asked to pick their first and second preferences from a choice of three workshops which then run in parallel. Everyone was allocated their first or second choice. We are very grateful to our workshop hosts. The options this year were as a follows:

Anti-FrackingHost:EveMcNamara,REAF(RibbleEstuaryAgainstFracking)Fracking – cheap plentiful energy that will keep the lights on for years, or a green light for unprecedented corporate greed with earthquakes, polluted water and despoiled countryside as a result?

This workshop will be hosted by REAF (Ribble Estuary Against Fracking). REAF is a local pressure group that is opposed to the commercial development of Shale Gas Fracking in Lancashire.

The workshop will encourage collaboration and debate on this important issue and will explore the pros and cons of fracking.

Website:www.reaf.org.uk

GoingViralHost:NicolaPeate&AndrewBinns,RippleffectLove or loathe Twitter, Facebook and all things internet, they are key to how we share and use information. But must we be passive recipients or can we use this medium for our own ends?

This workshop will explore the use of new and social media as a medium for recruitment and organising. It will be a hands-on creative workshop – you will be encouraged to come up with concepts and ideas for a campaign to use on platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook and then to see how they can be put into practice.

Website:www.rippleffect.com

WORKSHOP SESSIONS

WhyPoliticsMattersHost:RyanCaseDo you feel like a subversive? Some national newspapers may think you are just because you are here! So none of us can escape politics.

But many people feel politics is a strange and hostile world that we can’t – and wouldn’t want to – influence. This workshop will explore how politics affects our everyday lives and especially as trade unionists and activists. It will encourage participants to identify different levels of politics within the UK, who can include politics and what role do charities and trade unions have in politics. (PS, the workshop is nothing to do with party politics).

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The workshop groups from Saturday morning concluded their discussions by drawing up at least two motions to be submitted to a Mock Conference. The syndicate groups became “branches” for the purpose of this exercise. The Youth Committee also submitted motions to the conference exactly as the Executive Committee would for main CWU Conferences.

The aim of the exercise is partly to provide a way of reporting back from, and debating issues arising from the workshop sessions, and partly to give delegates an experience of how a conference is run, including speaking from a lectern in front of an audience. Not all the motions should be taken at face value, not all contributions represent how the speaker really feels, and not all decisions reflect the merits of the motion!

At the conference 13 motions were moved, seconded and debated. There were 50 contributions to debate, from 25 different speakers, many of whom had not previously spoken at a CWU conference. Due to the large amount of debate sadly not all the motions were heard, but this is good reflection that the weekend sessions and debates had given delegates the confidence and desire to stand up and speak.

No. MOTION

1 Conference notes the presentation given by the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and agrees that consideration of hate crime must include crimes directed against people from alternative sub-cultures. Conference aggresses to urge the union nationally to affiliate to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation.CWU Youth Committee CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY

2 We call on the Youth Committee to launch a new recruitment/marketing campaign. The aim of this to get contact info of potential new members.This would involve using social media and create a QR code as part of the campaign to encourage involvement and get local youth members going to meetings.Going Viral CARRIED

3 This conference agrees that CWU Youth will campaign with the industrial executives and wider trade union movement to educate and actively promote charities that help and support alternative subcultures /lifestyles.Politics Matters CARRIED

THE MOCK CONFERENCE

No. MOTION

4 Conference believes that the NYEE proves motion-based conferences do not necessarily produce the best policies. Conference therefore instructs the Youth Committee to campaign for a change in the structure of the CWU’s Annual General Conference so that there are timetabled sessions run on a workshop basis.CWU Youth Women LOST

5 Conference agrees that the four statutory meetings of the Youth Committee will be held overseas, and that to off-set the cost of this, the NYEE for the next three years will take place in Mapplethorpe, Lincs, in November.CWU Youth Committee LOST

6 Conference agrees that the NYEE would benefit from taking place in a warmer environment. As changing the date to the summer would be more expensive, the Youth Committee is instructed to find suitable three star accommodation close to an international airport, in an EU member state where the average November temperature is not less than 20 degrees centigrade.CWU Youth Committee LOST

7 Conference instructs the CWU Youth Committee, in conjunction with the training department to develop a course on environmental issues with a view to supporting TUC campaign “Greening the Workplace” and the creation of environmental Reps.Anti-Fracking CARRIED

8 Conference believes that the notion of Death Benefit is outdated and not the best use of resources. We should be spending money on recruiting new members rather than on these that have died. Conference agrees to campaign for a change in the CWU’s rules to reflect this.CWU Youth Committee LOST

9 Conference notes that the continuing use and set up of fracking is damaging communities and the environment across the country.Conference therefore instructs the CWU Youth Committee, with the support from the union nationally, to work with anti-fracking organisations to further promote the One Million Jobs campaign.Anti-Fracking CARRIED

10 Conference notes the good work of CWU Humanitarian Aid and agrees they should be invited to host a workshop at next year’s NYEE.CWU Youth Committee CARRIED

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No. MOTION

11 Conference resolves to create a mini-series depicting how famous movies would have ended if the protagonist had involved the support of a relevant union.Going Viral CARRIED

12 Conference notes the significant increase in members and potential members working on part-time contracts with attendance spans into the evening and weekends. However, conference also believes that most people see a CWU representative’s role as only being able to be filled by someone working a “normal” 9-5 contract. This excludes many people from being considered suitable for these roles. Conference believes that to exclude people in this way is counter-productive and possibly discriminatory too. Conference therefore instructs the Youth Committee to campaign for better education amongst membership and activists on the extent of part time working and the need for this section of our membership to become more active.CWU Youth Women CARRIED

13 This conference agrees that the industrial executives will lobby other trade unions and the TUC with the aim of setting up a trade union political party.Politics Matters NOT REACHED

14 Conference agrees that we will affiliate to the George Formby appreciation society as a permanent memento of NYEE 2013.CWU Youth Committee NOT REACHED

15 To make the necessary representations to reach formal agreements with companies we have recognition to ensure adequate time to recruit young members and new joiners at the earliest opportunity (i.e. 30 minutes at induction).South Wales NOT REACHED

16 Conference believes the subject of pensions is often misunderstood as being the concern of older members only. However, we all face sharply reduced living standards in our own retirement unless the current under-provision of pensions for today’s young workers is addressed. Conference agrees to support the National Pension Convention’s lobby of Parliament on 27 November and to convene a briefing session on pensions for young members to take place by the time of NYEE 14 at the latest.CWU Youth Committee NOT REACHED

17 Conference recognises the desire from some to achieve independence for Scotland. To speed this separation Hadrian’s Wall should be rebuilt using labour and resources from England.Politics Matters LOST

PreEventCommunicationFeedback from the delegates reassured us that all lines of communication prior to the event were utilised fully and effectively. Encouragingly most delegates heard about the event via their branches and everyone had received plenty of information during the run-up to the event and received a reassuring phone call from a member of the Youth Committee.

KeynoteSpeech–TonyKearns(Friday evening) Welcoming and informative. Helped me to understand the objectives of the weekend His speech was very nice and informative A bit in-depth regarding party politics. I felt I didn’t understand It was good that there was time for a Q&A session

IcebreakerSession–Bingo(Friday evening) Got to know everyone Enabled people to mingle Great way to get everyone involved and speaking to each other brilliant idea Always works well with new delegates Really responsive in getting people speaking

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Too similar to BT Communities Events First time at the event – much easier to meet people this way People bingo is always a great icebreaker Great icebreaker – really encouraged you to engage with everyone Worked both years I have been – gets everyone involved

SophieLancasterFoundationPresentationwithQ&ASession Shocked, but loved the talk Should be invited to General Conference Very moving and great awareness. Should be at General Conference Fantastic speaker, should be invited again This was great to show our youth that if you want to make something happen you can Opened my eyes to real issues and what is being done Very moving. Absolutely amazing talk Great presentation Very reflective keynote speech It was nice to see Sylvia Lancaster turn a bad event into something so positive Should be at General Conference Maybe could have done some of the educational sessions to get more than just the amazing Very interesting Very moving and a very important message. I believe we should invite SophieLancaster Foundation to General Conference as this is a very important subject to which many different strands of the union could relate

This should be shared with General Conference. Amazing, touching speech by them

GoingViral Learned some stuff – I like it Felt the team presented well and

gave new methods of communicat-ing – very useful

Really engaging – very good de-bate and interactive exercises

Good ideas flowing and raised a good amount of conversation

Presentation was a bit wordy, but once we got into it, it was ok and got some good ideas out of it

I gained experience of how to prepare and get involved for the mock conference

Interesting and made aware what to consider before posting

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WhyPoliticsMatters Very informative” Great to encourage people to gainan understanding of politics

Enjoyed it Really pleased – wasn’t just party politics

Anti-Fracking I didn’t know anything about this so just wanted to widen my knowledge

It was a subject that not much was known about. Speakers only gave a one-sided speech which impeded discussion a bit

Very one-sided initially until Brendan played devil’s advocate to show some of the other side. The whole subject is very conjectural

KeynoteSpeaker–BillyHayes,GeneralSecretary

Always love hearing this man talk! Humorous and serious. Relaxed Very funny An entertaining speaker Great to have contact with the top table Really interesting stats and very good speech

It was good to hear the speech from Billy and to also hear his views on the Youth event

He is the real man Very similar to all his speeches Informative, light-hearted and understand-able

Nice metaphors Dodged a few questions Really great speech – always lovelyto see our General Secretary

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IndustrialRoundtableThis year the roundtable discussions were lead by NEC members and supported by members of the Youth Committee. This discussion was very well received by those who attended and scored it a rating of predominately excellent or good.

Postal Very informative and feel I have a better under-standing of what’s going on in Royal Mail

Good discussion Informative This was a brilliant experience for meto find out what is happening within the postal industry and being able to get my views across

Discussion was very nice. Carl answered our questions very well. Thanks to him and the Youth Committee

Best part of the weekend prior to conference. Can’t speak any higher of Carl and how honest he was

Good Q&A and info on multiple sections of the postal constituency (even smaller sections that had no members in the room) making sure we all knew about the current disputes

Telecoms&FinancialServices Enabled people to speak about issuesaffecting their workplaces

Very relevant Very sceptical as the majority of people were from BT and Royal Mail

One of the best parts of the weekend– maybe increase these

Good to know the issues we raisein the field are understood

Great discussion had. Covered a lot ofsubject matters and some things that need following up

GroupSessions–ConsiderationofMotions Really structured Great discussions with a chanceto share ideas

Allowed time to understand motions Lot of experienced speakers in group so public speaking advice sheet wasno problem. Good discussions on the motions

Really helped to structure a motion and understand how to consider both sides Carl Webb gave great advice – really got everyone motivated

SaturdayNightSocial Great laugh Great sense of humour – very enjoyable Very funny Good laugh, brought everyone together Hilarious Should have done more to make the event more social (hire a DJ) A fantastic night getting to know people a little better Very, very joyful – enjoyed a lot. Keep it up Allowed us to get to know each other on a more personal level and unwind Great food, great atmosphere, great people Onsies – fun, enjoyable time

WorkshopReportBacks Great to see first time speakers Learnt more about each subject Great report-backs and new speakers Great job by all Good overview on what was discussed by others Good speakers from the groups I’m not great at public speaking, but getting up and trying more boosted my confidence Gave overall view of workshops Nice overview of the workshops and gave a chance for some new delegatesto try public speaking in a safe setting

ConferenceProceduresandMotions(SundayMorning) Very good discussion Relaxed and a great environment Well explained It was great Never been to a conference – background provided was helpful to understand

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MockConference Lots of new speakers Great ethos and very enjoyable A chance to speak for the first time and gain experience Great discussions and speakers. Definitely prepares everyone for Youth Conference I really enjoyed participating in this way as it was a new experience for meand I hope to get more involved with the next Youth Conference

Enjoyed speaking this weekend Supportive and helped to understand what a real conference would be like.Really worthwhile experience

Great to see so many people getting involved and speaking at conferenceand gaining valuable experience

WeekendasaWhole Met some great people with different views Good structure, good range of speakers, good hotel and location Good mix of formal and relaxed. Encouraging to people considering gettingmore involved with the CWU. Good support from head office, region and committee members

Great time for my first event. Well organised and look forward to many more Well planned and well situated The hotel was really good, nice rooms and good bar. Didn’t think much of Blackpoolas a place, but I did have a great weekend

Great experience – I would recommend and attend many times Pleased I had the chance to attend – very enjoyable Exceeded all expectations. Really excellent Best yet – maybe try Scotland next time. Works really well as an event and also rotating the venue is essential to get more people involved. Impressed with the new Youth Committee too

I have come away from this event with new skills and experience in conferences.I hope to get more involved with the union

Really enjoyed it. Keep organising this event. It gives us knowledge and confidence. Thanks a lot to Youth Committee for inviting me to this amazing event

Learnt a lot about what youth do and what can offer. Networking and buildingrelationships and sharing best practice

Fun and engaging weekend Great weekend – really enjoyable. Fun and learned a lot. Already can’t wait for next one

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Alpesh Patel Birmingham, BC&WShane Walton Birmingham, BC&WCorita O’Leary Bootle Financial ServicesEmma Hough Bootle Financial ServicesSayyed Zuhaib Bristol & District AmalOlufemi Igbekele CapitalAdam McManus CCTVTom Hearn CCTVKate Thompson Central & West LancsAlan Bebbington Cheshire No 1Darren Brown Glasgow District AmalDavid Crombie Grampian & ShetlandRyan Hawkins Greater London CombinedChris Duckett Great WesternStewart Fitzpatrick Greater ManchesterTony Hockey Lincolnshire & S. YorksJesus Fernandes Liverpool ClericalRob McCracken London RegionRhys McDougall Manchester ClericalStewart Pickup Manchester CombinedAdam Saunders Merseyside & S W LancsJasmine Rushworth Newcastle AmalSimon Long Newcastle AmalAdam Taylor North West Central AmalJordan Bryce Northern Ireland EastSadie Fulton Northern Ireland TelecomsGary Daw Plymouth & East Cornwall AmalMichael Kennedy Plymouth & East Cornwall AmalChristopher Duff Scotland No 1

PARTICIPANTS

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Scott Hartles Scotland No 2Ian Allen Scotland No 5David Fuller South Central PostalEugene Caparros South WalesJake Fear South WalesAnthony McMullen Tyne & Wear ClericalAndrew Stuttard West YorkshireJoe Westacott Western CountiesChris Hand Youth Committee, ChairCharlotte Regan Youth Committee, Vice ChairSam Hodge Youth CommitteeDan Harris Youth CommitteeChantelle McNally Youth CommitteeColm McAuley Youth CommitteeDanielle Areola Youth CommitteeBen Abrams Youth CommitteeRyan Case Youth Committee, Ex officioCarl Maden Youth Committee, NECBrendan O’Brien Youth Committee, NECSimon Sapper National OfficerJo Thair PABilly Hayes General SecretaryTony Kearns Senior Deputy General SecretaryBeryl Shepherd National Vice PresidentCarl Webb N.W. Regional SecretaryPaul Donovan CWU JournalistKaren Bosson N W Region Women’s CommitteeGraham Wilson N W Region Retired Members CommitteeSara Barnicoat T&FS Trainee OrganiserLee Fishwick UNI Europa Youth Steering Group PresidentChris Webb North West Labour PartyMatthew Patrick Wirral Young Labour/CouncillorSamuel Smith BECTU

Simon Darvill Young LabourJoe Sutherland GuestMichael Areola GuestSylvia Lancaster Sophie Lancaster FoundationKate Conboy-Greenwood Sophie Lancaster FoundationEve McNamara REAFNicola Peate RippleffectAndrews Binns RippleffectMax Mcgechan FlawlessTom Bryan FlawlessTonya Walker Flawless

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LINKS

For more information on the subjects covered in this report, the following links may be helpful:

CWU, CWU Youth and Billy Hayeswww.cwu.org

Twitter: @CWUNewswww.cwuyouth.org

Twitter: @cwuyouthwww.cwu.org/billy-hayes

Twitter: @billyhayes_cwu

Sophie Lancaster Foundationwww.sophielancasterfoundation.com

Twitter: @sophie_charity

Anti-Frackingwww.reaf.org.uk (Ribble Estuary Against Fracking)

www.greenpeace.org.uk

Going Viral• http://strongerunions.org/2013/08/02/using-social-media-

5-practical-suggestions-for-trade-unions• http://www.ericlee.info/blog/?p=540http://www.bluestatedigital.com/news/entry/taking-

it-digital-3-things-to-consider• http://tools.bluestatedigital.com/clients

• http://www.rippleffect.com

Politics• www.rockthevote.org

• www.aboutmyvote.co.uk

Pensionswww.npcuk.org

UNI• www.uniglobalunion.org

• www.uniglobalunion.org/groups/uni-youth

Labour Party• www.unionstogether.org.uk

• www.labour.org.uk

If you are interested in attending the 2014 National Youth Education Event please visit www.cwuyouth.org or speak to your branch or email youth@cwu.org

04290 Published by the Communication Workers Union 2014T: 020 8971 7200150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX Billy Hayes General Secretary www.billyhayes.co.uk

For more information and an application form visit www.cwuyouth.orgSpeak to your branch or call Jo Thair at CWU Head Office

0208 971 7487 or email youth@cwu.org