CWU Young Workers Education Weekend 2025

A weekend of debate, learning and building networks by Jack Leslie and Charlotte Hoole

Charlotte Hoole – National Young Worker Postal for the North West – Bootle and Seaforth DO

This month we held the Young Workers Education Event, which was brilliant and ran very smoothly. The speakers were fantastic, and the programme was packed with informative and inspiring sessions.

On the first day we had panel speakers. For the T&FS panel we heard from James Samuels (National Executive Committee, T&FS Executive and Acting National Officer) and Hannah Sadler (T&FS Executive Member and VMO2). They spoke about rebuilding the union in VMO2 after the merger decimated membership levels and led to the union being derecognised, and how they were able to rebuild and move forward. They also spoke about AI awareness and the launch of the shorter working week campaign for no loss of pay in the T&FS constituency.

The postal panel featured Tony Bouch (CWU Outdoor Assistant Secretary). He spoke about the USO, how the trial offices were not performing well, and the work being done to sort them out, as well as new contracts and terms and conditions.

The final panel was UTAWS with Nicolas Mignucci (Google/DeepMind Organiser) and Vanessa Heron-Hua (UTAW Organiser). They spoke about the tech industry, issues around AI systems such as ChatGPT and Gemini, and how people use them for coding and work.

On the second day the agenda was full of guest speakers and informative topics. We started with an icebreaker quiz about the CWU, the GFTU and the miners’ strike. We were put into groups, which helped people get to know each other, and it was fun trying to figure out the answers.

The first set of speakers were Lois McCallum (Digital Organiser and Campaigner, TUC) and Gawain Little (General Secretary, General Federation of Trade Unions). They spoke about organising, how the TUC and GFTU organise, and how young workers can organise in their own workplaces.

The second set included Danny Scott (Jarrow Insights), who spoke about AI and whether it is good or bad for future workers. He also explained the work his company does, including a project with a union where they researched racism in a workplace. Using technology, they listened to conversations from people with far-right views, and their research helped the union tackle racism and remove managers who were spreading far-right ideologies. We also heard from Hollie Gregg, who spoke in more depth about AI awareness and the launch of the shorter working week campaign for no loss of pay in the T&FS constituency.

The final set of speakers focused on apartheid and campaigning today. The first was Alli Cowen-Rivers from the No Tech for Apartheid Campaign. He spoke about his experience and what motivated him to take on Project Nimbus, a billion-dollar cloud computing contract with the Israeli government and military. The second speaker was Steve Marsling (Anti–South African Apartheid Campaigner), who showed us a short clip of his film about groups from the Young Communist League that went to South Africa to deliver letter bombs spreading news that the ANC was still active, which gave hope to many South Africans and helped ending segregation there. He spoke about why he took part, how he felt knowing he could be tortured or executed, and how he continues to campaign today for Palestine.

After the speakers we had dinner, followed by a performance from Banner Theatre. They gave a brilliant set covering the miners’ strike, the farmers’ strike in India, and the Amazon strike. They combined performance with videos of real people speaking about their experiences in those struggles, which was powerful and inspiring. We are now considering inviting them to the Young Workers Conference in November.

On the last day we had some fun with a mock conference. Paddy Magill (Standing Orders Committee) explained the rules and how to write motions, while Kerry Fleck (Young Workers Co-ordinator) explained why conferences are important and what they bring to the union. We then wrote funny motions and debated them. None were passed, but it was a really fun and valuable learning experience.

The whole weekend was brilliant, educational and inspiring. It was also a great opportunity to socialise and network with other young workers, sharing what is happening in their regions and the challenges they face in the workplace. I am already looking forward to next year’s event.

Jack Leslie – Scotland No5

On Friday the 29^th of August, I had the great pleasure of attending the CWU young workers education weekend at Quorn Grange hotel. A weekend full of promise which was certainly fulfilled.

Our first day consisted of panels from each of the divisions of the CWU. The telecoms and financial services panel was chaired by James Mason, with speakers James Samuels and Hannah Sadler. This session covered all the key industrial issues affecting our members across the Telecoms sector including an important discussion on the impact of AI.  In a really interesting session James interviewed Hannah about her experience of organising and winning recognition in VMo2 which has been a much different challenge to the experiences of our members in Royal Mail or BT Group.

The postal panel was chaired by myself with the CWU outdoor assistant secretary Tony Bouch speaking on the recent pay deal, USO reform, technology on delivery, and recruitment. The pay deal section was very positive with every postal branch returning a yes vote in the recent ballot. This deal secures an increase of 4.2%. Further to this, the first steps in the harmonisation of terms for new entrants are set to take place towards the end of this month with hopes that this process will be completed by December. On USO reform, news was more mixed; with struggles in reaching an agreement with the business. Signing in and out times being linked to overtime was also a hot topic, with a positive being that this would prevent staff having to pursue unpaid overtime due to it being inputted incorrectly, with a downside being that this would increase the visibility of sign in and out times. Regarding recruitment, overall 88% of staff are union members including 54% of all new entrants however attrition is still high with approximately 250 staff leaving per week.

The UTAW (Union of technology and allied workers) panel was chaired by Ben Girvan with four speakers from across the sector. Firstly, Vanessa Heron-Hua (UTAW Organiser) offered her thanks to CWU members after winning a sizeable settlement with her former employer; this is particularly significant within the technology sector due to the very challenging organising environment present within it. Lack of recognition in workplaces, poor human resources and a generally anti-union culture among some staff causes great difficulty for organisers. Another recent significant win was achieving recognition at Mighty, based in Northern Ireland; with CWU training being sighted as a significant factor in reaching this goal. Particular difficulty has been faced in organising TikTok moderators, with the business planning to dismiss their entire content moderation team one week ahead of a recognition ballet. This, of course, is being forcefully challenged.

Concerns about the effects of increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) were also a key topic. An example of this was the use of AI to assess quality of code and approve this without any human intervention, a worrying development. Further concerns were mentioned regarding staff voluntarily using AI to write code which may lead to increasing output targets and potentially lead to discipline being wrought against staff that would not use this technology.

Furthermore, our panellists talked extensively about the challenges of working in US centric businesses leading to difficult hours and an expectation to always be available. This has also led to having to deal with human resources departments that are not familiar with working practices or British employment law, and senior staff at times being expected to assist with troubleshooting even when on annual leave.

Saturday was split across three sessions, opening with addresses from Shannon Connor (Chairperson – CWU National Young Workers Committee), Trish Vollans (Regional Secretary – North East Region CWU), and Gawain Little (General Secretary – General Federation of Trade Unions). These were followed by an engaging CWU quiz led by Hollie Gregg.

Session one, entitled: Organising and Young Workers; was chaired by Benjimen Spencer with speakers Lois McCallum (Digital Organised – TUC) and Gawain Little (General Secretary of the GFTU). This session focused on the impact young workers can make in their workplaces and the vital role they can undertake within their union.

Our second session was entitled: Is AI the next industrial revolution? This session was chaired by James Mason, with Danny Scott from Jarrow Insights sharing his vast array of knowledge on both AI and social listening. We also had the pleasure of hearing Hollie Gregg discuss AI’s impact within British Telecom and the shorter working week campaign.

Jarrow Insights work to bridge the estimated ten to fifteen year technology gap between trade unions and the far-right, Danny first of all provided some both interesting and worrying statistics regarding the use of AI in the workplace. The AI market is set to grow three-fold by 2029 with chatbots at the moment receiving over one billion queries per day. 92% of Fortune 100 businesses use chatbots, with an estimated 36% of technology workers using AI daily in the course of their work. This raises significant concerns about worker displacement going forward, both Hollie and Danny commented upon the fact that a majority of workers are unaware of this technology creeping into their workplaces. BT has potential to cut 55,000 jobs through streamlining processes using AI. It is therefore a priority to build competency among members who will be affected by the implementation of this technology, this has been undertaken with an AI awareness week earlier this year. Hollie then went on to discuss the CWU shorter working week campaign and the successful implementation of a shorter working week elsewhere; the plan focussing on maintaining full pay while working 80% of existing ours while keeping full productivity. This has been proven effective.

Danny went on to give an example of the successful use of social listening in a Rolls-Royce plant. Jarrow insights undertook this after suspicions were raised of a far-right organiser within the workplace. Tension had already been created within the workplace due to British staff generally being on far better terms compared with foreign agency staff. Through audience analysis, narrative tracking, and grievance discovery; 5% of staff were found to have hard-right sympathies with none viewing union or left-wing content online at all. Jarrow insights worked to identify narratives based on the online content employees were viewing and find grievances from there. They then assembled a communications and messaging “bible”, digital asset pack, grievance report, and educational recommendations. This was then used by a trade union to create tailored content in the style of that already consumed by the workforce. As a result of this, the union found a 70% membership density increase with 3,000 new members across two plants. This has since led to a 14% pay rise and a recognition agreement; a fantastic success story.

The closing session, on campaigning against Apatrheid, consisted of Ali Cowen-Rivers( No Tech for Apartheid), and Steve Marsling (South Africa Anti-aparthied Campaigner) giving an insightful past-and-present view on fighting apartheid across generations.

No Tech for Apartheid originated due to technology companies signing contracts with Israel fuelling the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The Israeli defence forces have described AI technology, origination from Amazon and Google contracts as “revolutionising the battlefield” making these technology giants complicit. No Tech for Apartheid undertake protests outside tech offices, tabling within workplaces, leafleting, fundraising, and actively encourage all members to talk with journalists and raise their profile. Membership is ever-growing and it is greatly heartening to hear of their ongoing efforts.

Steve Marsling, through membership of the young communist’s league became involved with the African National Congress which led to him undertaking a daring mission to place leaflet bombs in large cities in South Africa during Apartheid. I cannot emphasise enough quite impactful his emboldening account was, and I would encourage anyone to do further reading on Oliver Tambo’s London Recruits.

On Saturday evening, we had the pleasure of being entertained by the Banner Theatre in their live performance of  “Battle Lines” this truly was first-class and thanks must be given both to them and each of the CWU regions for their sponsorship of this performance.

Our closing day of this fabulous weekend began with Kerry Fleck (Young Workers Co-ordinator), and Paddy McGill (Standing Orders Committee) speaking on union conferences and motion writing looking towards the National Young Workers Conference in November. This was then put to the test in a mock conference, chaired by Shannon Connor, which brought us to the close of the event. This was very engaging and entertaining and has left me very much looking forward to November. Kerry gave some closing thoughts and then we all began our journeys home. Many a smiling face on the way out!

In this role, I have got to experience things I never could have dreamt of. These opportunities for solidarity and fellowship always leave me joyful and inspired. Thanks as always must be given to those that work tirelessly to organise such events, and it is clear for all to see quite how much everyone gets out of them.