Moate man elected to UNI Youth committee

A Moate man was recently elected to a youth committee of a major European confederation of trade unions.

James Rabbitte (24) from Moate was voted on to the UNI Youth Europa steering committee.

UNI is a confederation of trade unions from the private sector across the globe and the UNI Europa Youth Steering Committee provides elected delegates with an opportunity to brainstorm solutions and activities to implement the Youth Action Plan.

James was nominated by his trade union, Mandate Ireland, to go to UNI's international conference which is held every second year.

Speaking about this, James said: “I was elected as the they call it to the titular seat holder for area one. I'm representing Ireland and Britain. All the delegates from Ireland and Britain had to come together and provide nominations beforehand. I was able to convince the delegates to give me their first preference vote.”

As part of this, James will have the opportunity to attend in-person meetings across Europe and Zoom meetings along with organising winter and summer schools to teach young people about trade unions and employment law.

“I'm also on Mandate trade union's national executive. So I have the pleasure of representing both my local council, my national executive and Ireland at an international level,” added James.

According to James, the future of trade unions is in building new structures. “It's a great way of just seeing how well we perform in completely different countries with completely different legal systems and trade union systems.”

“We have an action plan that's set up by UNI Europa, we have to implement as a youth organisation. It's given me a great chance to travel as well as to keep doing the work that I like to do.

“I would highly recommend any young person that's not a member of a trade union to join a trade union, particularly in these harsh times. The cost of living is gone up. It's not looking like it's gonna go away. Christmas is going to be hard and obviously the first thing that would be attacked is wages. So the only way to counteract that is in an organised workforce.”

The former Moate Community School student wishes to raise important issues for young workers such as the abolition of underage rates for workers on the national minimum wage.

“In trade unionism, I believe that we are stronger together. Collectively, we should be seeking to help each other to make a better society.”

As it is the European Year of Youth, the UNI youth steering committee is seeking funding for UNI Europa. James commented: “This is a huge undertaking for us, like. This is essentially us doing this as elected officers. We still have to go back to our homes and do our own jobs.”

The summer and winter schools provide talks on trade union structures, trade union history, and national laws in the different countries that are related to employment law and Trade Union law.

Their aim is to increase the voice of young people and their issues in trade unions to support their needs and create environments for young workers to find their true potential.

James is the son of Adrian Rabbitte and Patricia Rabbitte née Sheerin. He currently works for a local hospitality business.