From 26 to 28 June 2017 an international seminar took place in Gdańsk. The topic of the seminar was “Young people in the labour market – Social dialogue as a way to build conditions for good employment”. The seminar was organized by KK NSZZ "Solidarność" (Komisja Krajowa NSZZ "Solidarność"), with the support of EZA and of the European Union. It was attended by representatives of workers’ organizations from Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and United Kingdom.
The meeting started with welcome speeches of: Tadeusz Majchrowicz, Deputy Chairman of the National Commission of NSZZ "Solidarność", Józef Mozolewski, Vice-President of the EZA and President of the Podlaskie Region NSZZ “Solidarność”, and Marcin Gallo, Chairman of the National Youth Section of the NSZZ “Solidarność”. Everyone emphasized that despite the passage of time and a number of initiatives, the situation of young people is still difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to continue the debate on how to improve youth policies.
The first day of the seminar was devoted to assess the current situation on the labor market and education systems in individual countries. The introductory lecture by Maria Petrova from Bulgaria has become a contribution to the further exchange of experiences and discussion in the framework of group work. Participants were asked to diagnose the labor market in each country and to identify differences and similarities between them. In the next section, the same groups were asked to identify what the labor market and education system should be to ease a transition process from education to work and to stay on the market without falling into precarious conditions.
The second day of the seminar started with a panel discussion, which was attended by Andrzej Stępnikowski from the Polish Craft Association, Sebastian Antczak from NSZZ "Solidarność" Volkswagen Polska in Poznan and Kestutis Mikolajunas from LTU Solidarumas. The discussion was moderated by Marcin Gallo from the National Youth Section of NSZZ "Solidarność". The panelists presented their views on vocational training, which in their opinion is most conducive to entering the labor market and most effectively responds to the problem of skills mismatch on the labor market. Participants discussed experiences of the Polish Craft Association, which has a leading role in vocational training in Poland. Volkswagen Polska in Poznan, where close cooperation between the company and nearby technical and vocational schools was introduced, and the solutions used in Lithuania. It has been noted that lifelong learning is currently of particular importance.
In the next thematic session, Viktoria Nagy, Vice-President of the ETUC Youth Committee (SZEF - Hungarian trade union) presented the Framework of Actions on Youth Employment. In her speech, she depicted to the participants not only about the document itself but also about the negotiation process, based on her own experience. She emphasized the participation of young people in the work of the social partners. Afterwards, the state of implementation of this document in Spain, Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland was presented.
The following panel discusses the existing and planned European programs for the employment of young people. The review and preliminary assessment was made by Mateusz Szymański from NSZZ "Solidarność". His presentation was complemented by a discussion with Dr Jan Czarzasty from the Warsaw School of Economics, Viktoria Nagy from the ETUC Youth Committee, Tamas Varnai, Representative of the European Commission, and Jakub Gontarek from the Lewiatan Confederation. The discussion has shown that work on youth needs to be continued in order to solve still remaining problems. It seems, however, that any initiative should focus more on those young who are excluded. During the discussion a lot of space was devoted to the European Solidarity Corps, a new initiative for youth of the European Commission.
At the end of the second day, Łukasz Kopeć, the trade union organizer of the NSZZ "Solidarność", talked about his experiences in gaining new members to the Union in sectors such as trade and services. He focused in particular on the Amazon campaign, which is organized by NSZZ “Solidarność” in collaboration with UNI. Then examples of campaigns promoting trade unions and social dialogue in Spain and Poland were presented.
On the third day, participants discussed about the future of work and the future of young people in the labor market. Introductory lecture was presented by Dr. Thomas Prosser from Cardiff University. He pointed out that political choices are no longer linked to economic status but age, which is of great importance for the future of employment relations. Afterwards Agnieszka Lenartowicz-Łysik, Social Adviser of the President of Poland (off the record), Radosław Mechliński from the Regional Board of Dolny Śląsk NSZZ "Solidarność", Jakub Gontarek from the Lewiatan Confederation and Keistutis Mikolajunas from LTU Solidarumas from Lithuania, and Patryk Trząsalski from the Regional Board of Wielkopolska Region NSZZ "Solidarność"as a moderator took part in the discussion panel. They considered attitude to change: should young people adapt to new trends or try to shape them actively? What are the effects of automation and robotic? These are just some of the questions.
Following the panel on the future of work, participants discussed the recommendations for shaping policies for young people using social dialogue. Their content is as follows:
1) We cannot allow the young generation of Europeans to become "lost generations". Losing talent and potential of excluded youth is unacceptable. It is therefore necessary to continue work for young people, such as the "Youth Guarantee". However, their full implementation, effectiveness and further development should be ensured.
2) Work for youth needs to take into account the involvement of the social partners and young people. Social dialogue and cooperation guarantee the effectiveness of the undertaken activities and promote sustainable economic growth.
3) It is necessary to create comprehensive youth policies that take into account the different aspects of young people's lives. Experience shows that in countries where such policies are present, the situation of young people is better.
4) It is important to strengthen organizations involved in the social dialogue. Appropriate legislative, educational and promotional actions will foster the involvement of young people in social activity. This requires cooperation from all parties of the social dialogue.
5) Social dialogue should take into account new challenges facing the modern economy. Today, the debate on the future of employment, education, labor market, lifelong learning, occupational mobility, automation, digitization and other new processes and phenomena, as well as their impact on the labor market and social policy, should be taken up.