From the AP:

“Lack of confidence…led employers to shed a more-than-expected 85,000 jobs in December… The unemployment rate held at 10 percent. The rate would have been higher if more people had been looking for work instead of leaving the labor force because they can’t find jobs.

The sharp drop in the work force – 661,000 fewer people – showed that more of the jobless are giving up on their search for work. Once people stop looking for jobs, they are no longer counted among the unemployed.”

For reasons unknown to me, media outlets are writing about something relevant and covering one of the biggest issues affecting the nation – the lack of jobs. Not only are they covering jobs, they’re writing about the impact of the crisis on young workers!

The Wall Street Journal writes about “best and worst jobs in 2010”, Huffington Post states 1 in 5 Working-Age American Men Don’t Have A Job, and the Washington Post is talking about job satisfaction being at an all time low (particularly for workers under 25)

But perhaps outdoing them all, UPI decided to compare youth employment trends for not only U.S. workers, but over a dozen countries from Europe. They find:

Unemployment among those ages 15-24 is now averaging 20 percent across Europe, with an extraordinary peak of 43 percent in Spain.

Youth unemployment in the United States is more than 19 percent and is expected to top 20 percent this year. But it is much higher among ethnic minorities, and levels of incarceration are traditionally very much higher in the United States than in Europe. (OUCH! Talk about keeping it real…)

Unfortunately, most of the coverage would have you believe there’s no solution to the problem. The UPI piece is saying ours could be a “lost generation”, the WSJ is basically saying hard-working people who know a trade are on their way out (construction, ironworker, roofers), and the Star Tribune says:

“Hang on. Improve your skills. Your prospects are bound to improve — not immediately, perhaps, but soon.”

Leave it to the media to never really go out there looking for a good story. There are many examples of young people fighting (and winning) improvements in their lives and at work.

In NYC, retail workers are fighting to win a living wage at the Queens Center Mall. Across the country, networks of young workers and trade unionists like these are gaining traction. Large organizations like the AFL-CIO are out agitating and engaging young members. Students and workers in California took on their Governor in the streets over education, and in other countries efforts like this one to organize young workers are proving very successful.

Although unions are a way to improve work for young people, they alone aren’t the solution. We have to remember that over the past few decades the country has been bleeding jobs. Neoliberal policy decisions, life NAFTA, have ensured that globalization led to a “race to the bottom” in terms of wages and working conditions. (Meaning: why pay someone in the U.S. to do something when we could hire someone else to do it cheaper)

Young people have a decision to make. Do we accept the current self-serving and profit-driven system that is found in politics and business, or do we go search for an alternative that brings people together and has improving America, and the planet, for all as its focus.

The truth is that young people have seen this and figured it out before. Didn’t we go through a “great depression” last century? Back then, we fought to create a program called the Civilian Conservation Corps, here’s what it did:

“3 million… young CCC men (and 10,000 women) dug roads, planted trees and built bridges. They battled soil erosion, cleaned up polluted rivers and stocked the now-clear rivers with fish.”

That sounds really good right now, on a whole lot of levels. Clean up the environment, check! Put young people to work, check! Make sure that nearby bridge doesn’t collapse, check!

The reason I bring this up is that there really exists a need for us to get it together and do something about this already. Last year, Congress introduced legislation like the “Put America to Work Act” which would create jobs for a million people.  Maybe it’s not ambitious enough, but it’s a good start. I’d be willing to bet not enough young people looking for work know about it, and certainly not the people that would benefit from it.

As we begin a new year, young people are facing a truly historical crisis. The challenge before us demands that we begin to imagine how to build new ways to connect, both online and in real life. It requires that we take a moment to imagine a better future, and find vehicles like unions or movements in support of legislation to create jobs to get us closer to that goal. It will require us to get our hands dirty, sometimes in new situations if one has never gotten involved in causes before, to make decision makers and those that are “too big to fail” uncomfortable with the crisis they’ve created.

This summer thousands of young people will be in Detroit, ground-zero of the economic crisis in many ways, for the second US Social Forum. Spaces like these will be crucial to advancing dialogue and creating new powerful formations that could serve as a vehicle to creating the change we need.

Lets start spreading the word. See you in Detroit.

Artist - Meek

If you have ideas/suggestions, let us know.

thanks!

‘Twas the night before the unemployment reports, and all through the clearing,
Young workers slept haunted by jobs disappearing;
Having gone into debt for training and education,
Only to discover no jobs available in their vocations;
Barely scraping by to cover bills and the rent,
Of all unemployed, young workers are 48 percent ;
God forbid they are allowed to build a savings,
Work only one job, buy a house or a haven;
And the cultural implications go often unknown,
Like 1 in 3 young workers still live with parents at home;
And their parents’ situation is no less dire,
Working multiple jobs, and no hopes to retire;
Even grandparents still work to maintain their healthcare,
Too young at 63 to obtain Medicare;
And thus the labor pool is older, no room for the youth,
Unless they join the military, become yet another troop;
Joining those looking for security and a steady income,
Enough to start a family and maybe save up a sum;
So long as they aren’t killed in an unjustifiable occupation,
A lost generation of youth who only wanted paid vacation;
It was a tragedy indeed, that made young workers anxious,
Until something in the distance created a ruckus;

It was then the young workers saw some figures on the horizon,
President Trumka? Arlene Holt-Baker?  And Liz Schuler beside him?
And other young workers with them, both organized and not,
Saying, “Fret no more, young comrades, some solutions we’ve got;
To start, let’s fight for some immediate fixes,
They won’t change the root of it, but they’ll apply needed stitches;
Senator Reed of Rhode Island has a proposal for work-share ,
It would divide up our work hours, and lighten the burdens we bare;
It could help workers of all ages avoid rash lay offs,
Maybe it would even help the Mets make the play offs!
But we digress, when another solution we’re needing,
Extending unemployment benefits to help stop the bleeding;
Summer jobs, work studies, and grants for those of us in school,
Because starting our job search in debt is so cruel;
We need federal funding to stop cuts in state budgets,
We need those vital services, and students just can’t afford it;
But this is just a start, we really need more,
We need good jobs awaiting us when we’re kicked out the door;
Jobs that build infrastructure and operate public transportation,
Jobs that provide healthcare, retirement, and paid vacation;
A union job that would provide us with family leave,
A green job that would strengthen energy efficiency;
A job that’d help re-build schools, roads and trails,
A job where the will of our communities prevails;
If the private sector can’t provide them, we need public works,
With government funding and government perks;
And while we’re at it, we want the remaining TARP sums,
Re-deposited into a community investment fund;
To help keep our families out of foreclosure,
To provide needed healthcare for we under-insured;
And if the Medicare age is successfully lowered,
Our grandparents can retire, and young workers can move forward;
But sitting on our thumbs and complaining won’t win it,
We have to join the ranks of labor and others in the movement.”
So as the young workers arise with new energy, new might,
To all happy job-hunting, and fight, fight, fight, fight!

Visit this link for more information on these and more statistics regarding young workers.

This new and still evolving blog which is a venue about working people and creating positive change in America.

What’s new about that? Well we’re young workers, we’re organizing, and we’re not going to sit around and watch our country & planet go down without a fight!

This blog, at least temporarily until we find a better way, will attempt to spread a wide array of information for workers (especially younger workers) including basic information about your rights on the job, stories of workers fighting for better working conditions and ways citizen activists (like you) can help, announcements on trainings and fun events we hear about, and much more.

Of course no effort to create change will succeed without an organized base.  While we will do our best to keep this space updated with new content on a very regular basis (and trust me that might be often), our priority and focus is working in cities across the country to build a network of young workers fighting for better working conditions and social change.

More soon!

YWP

PS,

Questions, Ideas, Links, and other feedback is greatly appreciated.

Today, Representative George Miller and Senator Tom Harkin introduced the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation giving workers a fair and direct path to form unions. The Employee Free Choice Act will restore America’s promise to its workers – that if you work hard and play by the rules, you deserve a voice in the workplace.

Never heard of it?  I would usually babble on here, but some friends in Philly beat me to it and made a great video on what the Bill does…. check them out:

Three Things:

1. Give workers the option of joining a union through majority sign-up
2. Help employees secure a contract with their employer in a reasonable period of time
3. And finally, toughen penalties against employers who violate their workers’ rights

Now I know that folks are constantly hearing on TV that this is “stealing” so-called “secret ballots” from workers, and a bunch of other “good-sounding” arguments on why this is horrible, but check out this graphic and share it with friends.

Not the same election at all

And finally,  if you think that this has no implications for you as a young worker (or a worker even if you don’t identify with the young part),  remember that ultimately this is related to your wallet! Young workers in unions make more than their peers not in unions. Not to mention more likely to have health insurance and pensions, but who needs those, right?  (holds true for women, latinos, african-americans, asian-americans, and working people in general)

Now that you know, lets go get ours! Take a minute to send your congressfolks the message, don’t let them mess this one up!

Finally, because young workers say it better than no one else, here’s a link to some retail workers and other members of the UFCW on why they want Employee Free Choice!