Seminar on trade unions’ strategies and campaigns for recruiting new members
Cracow, 28th-29th April 2009
From 28th to 29th April there was an international seminar held in Cracow devoted to the problems of recruiting new members by teachers’ trade union organisations. Given that the number of trade union members in Central and Eastern European countries has been decreasing, the issue has been under a hot debate not only in Poland.
The seminar aimed to:
- to make the participants acquainted with current problems concerning membership in teachers’ union organisations in Central and Eastern European countries;
- to present the concept of German trade unions (GEW and DGB) related to recruiting new members
- to present programmes and actions to be taken by the union representatives participating in the seminar in order to recruit new members;
- to discuss other undertakings whose aim is to make young people – future employees - aware of how an active participation in the trade union life affects the protection of employment and co-creation of working conditions and legal employment relation.
Among the participants of the seminar there were: representatives of trade unions from Central and Eastern European countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia and Poland - as well as representatives of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and foreign speakers representing German trade union head offices, e.g. DGB (German Trade Union Confederation).
The subject proved to be so complicated and interesting that a decision was taken to continue the discussion at the presidium of the ZNP Central Committee in autumn.