Fists up!
Unite highlights Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI) Youth Day campaign calling for just politics and a better future
Reading time: 4 min
To celebrate the 2023 International Youth Day on August 12, Unite Construction Executive Council (EC) member Stuart Grice contacted UniteLive on behalf of the EC and the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) to highlight a campaign day hosted by the BWI.
Tomorrow (August 12), the BWI is calling on its affiliates, partners, and young workers to take action on the theme of “Just Politics: Better Future!” to spread the demand of the BWI Youth to fist up for democracy, freedom and the planet to build a liveable world!
The BWI Youth would like to point out that the world politics have been dominated by right-wing policies and tendencies. Workers are oppressed by anti-labour acts, as new labour law amendments to limit fundamental workers’ rights are being proposed while workers and unionists are criminalised.
The BWI Youth believes that a future with decent working conditions, fair transition, and equality is only possible with governments who are on side of people and their welfare and respectful to social rights and democracy.
Therefore, the BWI Youth is against all kind of rhetoric feeding demonisation of pluralist and inclusive policies and criminalisation of social movements, young people, and activists. We do believe that people deserve pluralistic, democratic, and rights-based societies. Every human being has the right to be respected and live with dignity.
With this, the BWI Youth would like to take this year’s International Youth Day theme to basics to remind and to emphasise the fact that the world needs just politics in protecting workers’ and human rights. People’s interests can only be preserved by the movement of people who believe in progressive solutions to tackle the root causes of inequalities and unfair distribution of welfare which will lead the world to an equal and better place for all.
The BWI Youth is calling for action to shout out for just politics to build a better future and to demand democracy, freedom and protection for the planet.
In particular, the BWI calls on its affiliates, partners, and young members to do the following:
- Take a photo with our International Youth Day Posters and send it to the BWI regional staff and/or BWI Global Youth Coordinator Gulsah Doruk at [email protected] or post it on your social media with hashtag #bwiyouthforfuture #IYD2023 so we can repost.
- Change your social media profile picture and/or cover photo with our action posters!
- Record a video message by shouting out to your demands around the action theme and send it to us or let us repost it by using hashtags #bwiyouthforfuture #IYD2023
- If your union will organise an event to celebrate the day, share any visuals and content to announce it.
- Takeover our Instagram one day in the week of 07 August to 15 August by contacting us to let our followers witness young workers’ ideas and demands around the action theme and to promote your actions and events on International Youth Day
Find out more on the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) website here.
Text and image by Building and Wood Workers’ International
