The Nation’s economic crisis, lack of jobs and the inability to pay for higher education are key issues for today’s young workers - and Unions must focus on reaching out to them, said panelists who took part in the National AFL-CIO’s Young Workers: Taking Charge of Our Future event.

Moderated by National AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, the panel at Netroots Nation included three grassroots activists who discussed their experiences in creating successful models for empowering young workers.

Shuler opened the panel by noting the AFL-CIO has made outreach to young people a top priority.   “Young workers are the future of our Nation and their economic strength is the Nation’s future.  Yet even though young people need Unions, they don’t know much about Unions and they are less likely than in previous generations to have a family member or neighbor who talks to them about what being in a Union means,” she said.

Shuler told the more than 60 people who took part in the panel about the AFL-CIO’s listening tour with young workers in cities across the country earlier this year where Labor Leaders and Representatives heard their concerns about jobs, the economy and their perceptions of the Labor Movement.  Building on that, the AFL-CIO subsequently held its first-ever Young Workers Summit in Washington, D.C., with 400 young workers taking part.  Shuler noted a report on the summit is set for release by August, and in the meantime, “We’re encouraging young workers to join our Facebook page, aflcionextup.”

On another front, Schuler outlined key findings of an AFL-CIO report we published last Fall, entitled: Young Workers: A Lost Decade, which based on a survey of young workers ages 35 and younger.  “The survey came 10 years after a similar survey was conducted and showed a massive decline in the economic situation of young workers in that period,” she said.

The survey found: 31% of young workers report being uninsured, up from 24% without health insurance coverage 10 years ago; One-third of young workers cannot pay their bills; Only 58% received paid sick days and only 41% are offered paid family leave; and One of young workers’ top-rated priorities is spending time with family, but many are worried this won’t be possible because time away from work often means not getting paid.

Panelist Sara Flocks has experienced first-hand economic hardship and turned her experience into positive action for other young workers.  Now with the California Labor Federation where she works on state policy and legislative issues, Flocks co-founded Young Workers United, a worker center based out of UNITEHERE Local 2. While there, she helped organize young workers in the restaurant and retail sectors as well as at community colleges.  She also helped collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages for workers through direct action and won a two-year campaign at the Cheesecake Factory restaurant.

In Baltimore, panelist Cory McCray, a member of the Electrical Workers, helped launch the Young Trade Unionists organization, which works to empower and unite members and non-members to participate in the Union Movement.  McCray said Unions reaching out to young workers need to make sure they know about the good Union wages, benefits, but also need to:

“Keep it interesting, keep it fun.”

Panelist Maria Escobar has been working with the Student Labor Action Project, which is part of Jobs with Justice and the United States Student Association (USSA), and has helped students nationwide develop social and economic justice campaigns on their campuses and trained students in grassroots organizing for the USSA.  Escobar’s work connected students with workers’ issues and offers a nationwide model for reaching young people through social justice and broader community issues.