Youth Committee Update
CWU Youth Committee is now in full swing! Union and their role within the CWU as members and activists. We discussed the main aim of the Youth Committee, which is to unite young members, to identify common issues and concerns, to develop focused plans of action, and to address these issues within the democratic framework of the CWU. We also explained that the Union would provide all necessary training to encourage young members to actively participate locally and nationally within the CWU and its affiliates. Since then the Youth Committee, with the full backing of Head Office and all the Branches, has gone from strength to strength, with several meetings having taken place and more recently our very successful two-day training course on public speaking and grievance & disciplinary procedures. I expect great things from the renewed Youth Committee and hopefully we can succeed in giving a voice to our young members and encourage them to become more involved in their Union. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have gotten involved in the Youth Committee and also the CWU Officers and its Education Committee for their support over the years. I would also like to thank the Head Office staff, Fionnuala and Ciara, who have been a tremendous help with the everyday running and organising of the Youth Committee. From myself and all the Youth Committee I would like to thank you for taking the time to read these articles and wish and your family a happy Christmas and a peaceful new year.
The CWU Youth Committee, formally known as the CWU Youth Action Group, has been rejuvenated once again. Yes, you heard it right, it’s now in full swing! So any young members wishing to get involved please get contact Head Office. Unfortunately, in 2010 many of the original members emigrated due to pressures from the recession; the group of ten went to one of only two, with the Chair (Caroline Corcoran) and Vice Chair (Eric Partridge) left to fly the flag. Undeterred, we got together with Fionnuala Ní Bhrógáin and Ciara Melinn of Head Office to come up with a way to kick-start the Youth Committee and it was decided that we would hold a Youth Open Day in May of this year. To get the message out to all our different Branches we attended Spring Seminar in Castlebar to highlight the need for a Youth Committee and to talk with all the representatives from our different Branches within the CWU. We expressed our views and opinions as to why there is a major need to have a Youth Committee which gives a voice to our young members and raise issues of importance for them. After talking with all the different representatives they committed to nominate young members in their Branches who might be interested in getting involved with the Committee and attend the Youth Open Day. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all representatives who gave up their time to come and talk to myself and Caroline at the Youth Committee stand. On the 22nd of May this year we held our Youth Open Day which was a very successful event. We had a great mix of young members from around the country who turned up with the full support from their Branches and great enthusiasm themselves. On the day we explained the structure of the Union, the role of the
Slán go foil Eric Partridge Vice-Chair, Youth Committee
Youth Committee Training Event: An Irish Perspective Did you know that the second biggest phobia in the world is gloss phobia, otherwise known as the fear of public speaking? And that’s only second to the fear of dying! So it was a pretty daunting task that faced the twenty Youth Committee members on the 4th October when we arrived at our Presentation Skills Training. We started with our trainer, Marie Lord, asking about our experience with presentation and public speaking. Except for a small few of the members present, we were all novices; so as you can imagine, nerves were pretty high. Luckily we were shown a variety of exercises to deal with nervousness, like developing a pre-presentation ritual, breathing control and a few other relaxation techniques. Then, after a bit of a group discussion, the time came for us to put our training to the test. We divided into groups of four and each group gave a five minute presentation on various topics. The training obviously worked, as all the members present overcame their nerves to give confident, assured presentations. The second day’s training was with CWU officials Pat Kenny and Fionnuala Ní Bhrógáin, discussing the many ways union
representatives deal with grievance and disciplinary processes. There was huge enthusiasm among the members present and a lot of questions were asked during the training. It gave great insight to us all, as we learned the proper procedures and approaches to be taken when dealing with the variety of problems which may arise in the workplace. We discussed the grievance and disciplinary measures given by companies with employment contracts and we also role played a meeting between an employee, their union official and a HR manager. All in all it was an invaluable two days training and the Youth Committee would like to thank all involved for organising it. As it stands, there is a great number of young members in the CWU and with training like this, and future training events planned, we can only go from strength to strength. We are the future of the Union, and the future is bright! Barry Gorman A member of the Youth Committee and the Portlaoise Postal Branch 4