(The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of this publication.)
The future and sustainability of trade unions reside in their ability to organise workers and maintain their interest and involvement. In safeguarding the future of trade unions and the labour movement at large, it is important that young workers are attracted into the fold of membership. The current trend suggests an ongoing decline in trade union membership and density, coupled with a contraction of the workforce.
Many young people seeking employment are unable to find secure work. There is resentment among qualified graduates from secondary schools and tertiary institutions at being drawn into unattractive, vulnerable and unsustainable jobs. Complaints are made that these jobs are often low-paying, offer poor conditions of service, provide little scope for promotion, and offer few or no incentives. The demanding nature of some of these jobs is a turn-off to many who are seeking employment.
These are setbacks that discourage young people in their aspirations to enter traditional areas of work. Employers who demand that young workers have prior work experience are doing an injustice to the recruitment process. While it is understandable that employers wish to ensure efficiency and productivity, they ought not to ignore the fact that it is through daily job experience that workers gain knowledge and develop skills. Employers should recognise that recruiting young workers is an investment, not a liability.
Employers, by their actions and indifference, can undermine their own efforts to grow and advance their businesses. The practices and attitudes they adopt are unlikely to attract the brightest and best workers, who are not prepared to suffer indignities meted out by employers. For example, some employers are prepared to engage a person as an apprentice with the expectation that they will work an eight-hour day and a forty-hour week, remain subject to all other working conditions, and, to add insult to injury, be paid a stipend that merely covers lunch and bus fare. When it is taken into account that the apprentice may be a university graduate or otherwise academically qualified or skilled, it raises the question of whether such actions represent fair and equal treatment.
These and other factors create doubts in the minds of young workers about entering the mainstream workforce. The problem does not start and end here, as young workers are also mindful of a growing tendency among employers, including government, to move away from offering security of tenure and other benefits associated with employment, such as pensions. It raises the question of whether young workers believe that trade unions are failing to preserve the benefits once associated with traditional jobs.
If this is the case, it may explain why young workers are drifting into new forms of work described as non-traditional, such as the gig economy, contract work, part-time roles, remote work, freelancing, or zero-hours employment. They are likely moving away from the rigidities associated with traditional jobs and the notion of a job for life. Young workers may be more inclined to value flexibility, to be their own boss, and to be in a position to negotiate their own pay and working conditions on a contractual basis.
More young workers are pursuing alternative employment options, at least until traditional and unionised jobs can match expectations in terms of pay, flexibility, dignity and the use of technology.
Dennis De Peiza is a Labour Relations and Employment Relations Consultant with Regional Management Services Inc.
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