Welcome to YUN online, the homepage of the Victorian Young Unionists’ Network.

Are you young and working, or looking for work? Ever thought that things could be better or that young workers should really get a better deal that what’s on offer? So do we! That’s why we’re uniting with young workers who are union members or interested in knowing more about the trade union movement to fight for our rights at work and organise for change.

YUN was established to bring together young unionists from different industries to organise collectively to fight for our rights. The network is under the auspice of the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) and is funded by unions who are affiliates of the VTHC. Click here to find out more about who we are and what we do.

At YUN, we recognise that young people are predominantly employed in casual and other precarious forms of employment where we are all to easily exploited and taken advantage of by unscrupulous bosses. We’d like young people to be empowered with as much information as possible out our legal rights at work and better yet, empowered to take action! Now more than ever, rights which unions have fought hard for are being stripped away and replaced with dodgy individual contracts that take away things like penalty rates, shift allowances, public holiday loading and in some cases, even rest and meal breaks.

We say it’s time to stand up and fight back!

Join us as we host the 2008 National Young Workers Conference: Maintain the Rage!

Maintain the Rage

Registration for Maintain The Rage is now open.
Registration is FREE.

The Young Unionists’ Network is hosting the 2008 national young workers conference. We invite young workers, activists, students, organisers and those interested in issues for young people to join us this September for discussions, actions, workshops and celebrations under the theme ‘Maintain the Rage’. Last year’s conference in Adelaide, themed ‘Fight for the Future’ encouraged young people to take a stand against industrial relations reforms under John Howard. ‘Maintain the Rage’ reminds people that the fight for the future has not yet been won. Workchoices is largely still intact and we must maintain national efforts to win fair rights for all workers.

The conference will run over two days with day one being set aside specifically for high school students and new workers, covering topics such as:

legal rights
access and equity
financial freedom
staying safe at work
…and more.

On day two we hope to cover topics such as:

unions and the environment
new technologies as an activist’s tool
queer rights at work
young people’ issues in the blue collar sector
community organising
…and much more—as well as offering ‘open spaces’ for people to introduce their own topics.

Finally, just because it’s great to get together for a celebration rather than a confrontation, there will be an after-party in Bella Union Bar at Trades Hall on the evening of Saturday 13th (bands to be announced). FREE for conference attendees and volunteers, $5 for others.

For more check the latest news page.

The Young Unionists’ Network is pleased to announce our conference sponsors:

The Young Unionists’ Network gratefully acknowledges the support of The Victorian Trades Hall Council and our sponsors for Maintain The Rage: The National Young Workers Conferenece 2008: