by James Parks, Jun 14, 2010
The more than 400 participants in the Next Up conference, the AFL-CIO’s first-ever Young Workers Summit, developed a game plan for the future that focuses on making sure young union leaders and activists are taken seriously and their ideas are heard at all levels of the union movement.
Following three days in workshops and breakouts, student activists, community allies, a couple of political comedians and professional athletes and young workers generated several key ideas on the best ways to reach younger workers and build the movement.
In reports to the conference’s closing session yesterday (see video), the breakout groups recommended and called for increased mentoring programs to help young union members grow into leadership roles and establishing a national youth mobilization effort as an AFL-CIO priority.
