The BWI European Regional Youth Assembly was held on 10-14 April 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden hosted by BWI Swedish affiliates. The youth delegates representing twenty unions from fifteen countries throughout Europe elected six members of the regional committee. The delegates also elected Jakob Wagner of BYGGNADS-Sweden as the Chair.
Johan Lindholm, President of BYGGNADS and Vice-President of BWI European Region opened the Assembly by stressing that, “We cannot meet the demands and be relevant enough if we cannot attract women and youth in our trades. I strongly believe that we should fight against any forms of discrimination and macho behaviour, be open and inclusive for women and youth! Without youth, we simply cannot continue to Stand Up and Fight Back. Our movement constantly needs new generations with new energy and innovative ideas.”
Based on the decision made by the European Regional Conference in Adana, Turkey that took place last November, to extend the number of country groups to six, the newly elected BWI European Regional Youth Committee are as follows: Jakob Wagner of BYGGNADS, Sweden; Devin Can of IG BAU, Germany; Giacomo Virgilio of FILCA CSIL, Italy; Christiaan Nuijten of FNV, Netherlands (2019-2020) and Lewis Phillipson of Unite the Union, UK (2021 – 2022); Eldiiar Karachalov of CWUK, Kyrgyzstan 2019, Matijs Babris of LBNA, Latvia 2020 and Aygun Aliyeva of TSEIHIRK, Azerbaijan 2021-2022; and Daniela Miloska of SGIP, North Macedonia. Daniela Miloska and Devin Can were elected two Vice-Chairs of the committee.
Participants at the Assembly also discussed major problems of young workers in their region, especially the image of unions for young workers and young workers’ vulnerability to workplace accidents by focusing on basic objectives to tackle these issues. The youth delegates gave the mandate to the Regional Youth committee to finalise the European Regional Youth Action Plan which will be based on the before-mentioned discussion points during the Assembly.
