Kyrgyzstan trade union youth school
The Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan in cooperation with the ILO Decent Work Team and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia organized a five-day youth summer school on July 16-20. The summer school brought together some thirty young people from different regions and sectors of Kyrgyzstan, student and workplace organisations leaders.
20 July 2012
The summer school combined different methodologies, from formal lectures and presentations to group work and brainstorming sessions. Participants discussed what is trade union movement and what are the goals and the tasks of trade unions, what are the weak and the strong points the Kyrgyz trade union movement has, what are the issues young people are concerned.
Mariko Ouchi, ILO Moscow Senior Social Security Specialist, informed participants about ILO mechanisms that concern young workers, first of all about Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention,1981 (No.156), Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No.183) and Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No.102). Participants discussed potential proposals for the national level collective bargaining that would improve protection of young workers and young families and that the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan could use in tripartite negotiations.
Sergeyus Glovackas, ILO Moscow Senior Specialist in Workers’ Activities, presented ILO activities in the region, ILO conventions and Decent Work Country Programmes as well as different experiences of trade union youth organizations existing in the region. He also focused on human and trade union rights as defined by the ILO Conventions and existing mechanisms of their protection.
Anton Leppik , the Pan-European Regional Council of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-PERC), informed about ITUC structures and objectives, concentrating in particular on the role of youth committee, its campaigns and activities, as well as on mechanisms for promoting participation of young people in trade union decision making processes.
Irakli Petriashvili, president of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation, informed about reforms the Georgian government had implemented, in particular, about the reform of labour legislation.
Yulia Surina, ILO Moscow programmes assistant, briefed on youth employment situation in the world, ILO activities and youth employment discussions. She presented ILO analysis on the implications of the global economic crisis on employment situation and the work of the Committee on Youth Employment at the International Labour Conference.
During panel discussion and question and answers sessions international experts and young unionists exchanged views on student trade unions and their work, differences between soviet type and modern unions, about mechanisms of trade union carrier development, about educational systems in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, about ITUC Play Fair campaign and young unionists networking, new movements and trade union relations with them.