By Lorenso Arciniega

As the delegate of the IBEW, I am pleased to be able to update you on the work of AFL-CIO Young Workers Advisory Council (YWAC).

This last weekend the AFL-CIO, under the direction of Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler, brought the members of YWAC together to discuss the strategic plan for 2012.  It was clear that the AFL-CIO has made the YWAC and the Young Worker Outreach program a priority for many reasons.  One of those reasons is the critical role young workers can play in the repositioning of the labor movement.

As we all know, our generation is the first in a very long time that will have a greater struggle to make a decent living than our parents did.  Everyone in the meeting was very aware of this and of the attacks on the middle class in America. If we as young workers and labor leaders don’t fight for it, it will disappear. We also understood that it is so important that affiliates join
forces in this battle! We need the labor movement, and the labor movement needs us.This set the tone of the weekend retreat.

Day 1:

We received a number of AFL-CIO program work presentations from the Repositioning, Campaign, Political, Organizing and International Affairs departments, along with a presentation from Working American Group.

This assisted us in determining the direction of the AFL-CIO and the future of the 2012 Young Worker Program (YWP).  We discussed our vision for the incorporation of the YWP and the State Fed/CLC.

Day 2:

This Day consisted on a SWOT Analysis and Succession planning session. Talk about hard work, but I know it had to be done. We looked at Internal/External Strengths, and Successes, Threats and Weaknesses, and lastly Opportunities both Internal and external.  If that was not enough, we continued on to the late evening with defining the 2012 goals and objectives.

Day 3:

On this day, we really took on the governance and accountability of YWAC members. This included Bylaws, Accountability,  Executive Council Meeting Prep and finalizing 2012 Objectives and action planning.

Day 4:

We took on roles with several committees this day and distributed tasks.

This weekend has provided me with a reality check. It made me realize the true need to develop young workers and really see how much Young workers in the United States have never needed the power of the labor movement more.  We have been hit hard by the economic crisis.  So many people in our generation have followed the American Rule– if you just work hard, you will have a good life.

We followed the rules: we worked hard, we went to school, and now we’re in the work force.  Apparently in the fine print it said that working hard would mean having to take on multiple jobs to stay afloat, that even if we have a job, we might still have to pay extremely high out of pocket amounts for our health care , and even worse, that we might not be able to find a job at all.  We held up our end of the bargain and the economy has not.

We need to grow our rank and file membership with young workers in an effort to strengthen and diversify the union movement.  This requires looking at how we reach out to young workers here in the IBEW and how we as a labor movement include them in our work and organizing efforts.

We need to take a hard look at what our future looks like if we remain complacent and keep allowing big business to use the economy as an excuse to strip our benefits, our rights, and our jobs! This is not the future that our parents had envisioned for us, it is not the future that labor leaders had envisioned for us and it is definitely not the future that we had envisioned for ourselves.

After watching the AFL-CIO move young workers to the top of their priority list and becoming inspired by the active young people around our great nation and the world, I can only hope that the IBEW sets the same priority for its succession planning, creating a future of the labor movement with young people by young people.

Lorenso Arciniega, a member of IBEW Local 1245, was a delegate to the AFL-CIO Young Workers Advisory Council.