Empowering young workers with tools to strengthen their leadership and promote decent work is a key priority for Public Services International (PSI). As part of the Forsa project, PSI inaugurated the National Trade Union School for Young People at Fenpruss headquarters in Santiago, Chile. For three days, participants were immersed in participatory activities aimed at promoting a youth perspective, gender equity, sustainability and inclusion, as well as advocating for decent work and quality public services.

On the first day, Gabriela Farías, President of Fenpruss; Valeria Altamirano, Fenpruss Equal Opportunities Secretary and member of the PSI Youth Committee; and Nayareth Quevedo, Subregional Secretary for the Southern Cone, welcomed the attendees. They stressed the importance of youth-focused initiatives within PSI and the actions needed to support young workers.

"Strengthening unions through youth empowerment has been going on for more than 20 years, and we have been part of that challenge," they said.

"Strengthening unions through youth empowerment has been going on for more than 20 years, and we have been part of that challenge. An Irish union, which in those years was called Impact and today is Forsa, recognized that the growth of its unions was based on strengthening its younger members and that the organizations should actively take them into account," explained Farias.

Altamirano added: "Our work is not just about getting together, but about fostering critical thinking about youth and their role. We are at a socio-political juncture where young people have been particularly affected. It is crucial that we take advantage of this space to share experiences and build a movement that responds to their needs."

"At PSI we have been working on strategic pillars for strengthening organizations, and one of them is the youth perspective. Over time, we have gone from not having a youth agenda to even modifying the bylaws to establish youth committees. These achievements, driven by training, capacity building and youth policies within PSI, are a source of pride and continue to be key objectives of this school," concluded Quevedo.

The reality of young Chilean trade unionists

"Working with young workers has a special particularity: it is where the potential lies for unions to remain relevant in the face of the productive transformations of the 21st century," commented María Fernanda Villegas, former Minister of Social Development and Director of the Center for Labor Studies (CETRA) and main speaker at the school.

Villegas delved into the country's situation in relation to the labor world, addressing the history of trade union models, the four industrial revolutions and the need to abandon the corporativism born in the dictatorship. She vindicated the non-partisan political nature of union activity and the role of workers in decision-making and public advocacy.

According to the facilitator, the national context reveals a weakened State, with higher unemployment, lower retention of young people in the workplace and new challenges arising from emerging technologies. These force workers to adapt to an unprecedented pace of automation. A World Economic Forum (WEF) study predicts that in five years, employers will be dividing work almost equally between humans and machines.

Faced with this scenario, it is urgent to incorporate a youth perspective into the discussion of these issues, confront them and seek solutions. A proactive approach to legislation is required in order to anticipate problems and guarantee decent working conditions, in line with the provisions of Convention 190 of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Effective communication and union leadership

The second day of the school began with a group dynamic in which participants identified key skills for effective union leadership. Communication, empathy, adaptability, self-management and analytical thinking were highlighted as essential competencies. They also discussed the leadership models best suited for their organizations. Although liberal, directive and democratic models worked well during the first industrial revolution and the 20th century, Villegas indicated that situational and transformational models are currently recommended because of their flexibility and focus on intrinsic incentives.

Villegas then gave a workshop on effective communication in union leadership, stressing that how a message is delivered is as important as how it is received. She emphasized the importance of non-verbal communication, clarity of message and the objective of each conversation. He provided tips for young leaders to effectively resolve conflicts, considering generational gaps and the relevance of dialogue.

From the Proletariat to the Precariat: Youth Demand Decent Work

Given that labor relations are asymmetrical, it is essential that workers master negotiation techniques and identify the different forms of labor precariousness. On the last day, these crucial issues were discussed in depth.

Villegas explained that in order for negotiation to take place, there must be a clear need and dichotomous positions towards it. Workers must understand that negotiation is a process with multiple characteristics, so they must be prepared to approach it by considering its components and contexts. To put this into practice, the participants carried out a negotiation simulation, exploring the interests at stake and the satisfaction of the parties involved.

Collective bargaining is a vital tool for combating labor precariousness and engaging political actors. Currently, workers face four dimensions of precariousness: temporal, organizational, economic and social. These are manifested in unpaid work, wage gaps, hostile work environments, contractual instability, poor safety conditions and lack of union rights. As a consequence, workers experience uncertainty, poor physical and mental health, and economic vulnerability, hindering their social integration and autonomy.

In this context, youth must lead efforts to make visible and address labor precariousness in all its forms. It is their responsibility to propose solutions and ensure that these issues are incorporated into their agendas, as they are among the most vulnerable groups. While older workers often endure these conditions because of their position in the system, young people are essential to move towards decent work.

Youth: a wealth for trade union organizations

One of the reasons PSI considers it essential to give space to youth is because of the richness they bring to trade union organizations. The diversity of young workers, both in their way of thinking and in their experiences and objectives, poses new challenges and provides valuable tools for the trade union movement.

Therefore, "it is crucial that young people represent themselves and express their own needs, since only they really know their problems," Quevedo pointed out. In addition, he said, generational change and new technologies demand adaptations both inside and outside the labor and trade union world.

Finally, the school ended with some reflections on the resistance to change, the influence of youth in their organizations. "Today they occupy management positions, participate actively and place their problems at the center of the debate. The road has been long and arduous, but the transformation processes are underway," said the PSI sub-regional secretary at the end of the meeting.