If you are under 40, there is an exciting young members’ development weekend taking place again in June (20th to 22nd) and is free for Napo members. Below is a report from Rosie, a Napo member, who went recently to one of these
Having attended the GFTU Young Members Development Weekend in February I would recommend it to anyone with any interest in Trade Unions.
The planned sessions covered a range of topics from pieces of history I was previously unfamiliar with, to current TU issues, to practical workshops on negotiating and using media. They had interesting guest speakers with amazing lived experience, and I felt very lucky to be able to learn from them.
However, my favourite thing about the weekend was meeting other trade unionists, getting to know the issues they face, and telling them all about ours. Many people didn’t know anything about probation so it feels important to build relationships with people outside the service who will stand in solidarity with us.
Even the evenings were full of fun things to do, like a quiz and a really brilliant live music performance.
I came away from the weekend feeling inspired and empowered to get more involved with my union and have a positive impact on the future of the service. If nothing else, the hotel is in a lovely part of the world and the food was great!
To have opportunities like this funded by our union is a real bonus, and I’d encourage anyone to make the most of it.
This was what we made during the ‘media’ session – we were tasked with creating something that highlighted an issue within our unions – we picked workloads and created this poster
If after reading this, you are interested in going along, take a look at the agenda via this link and to register, hurry up as spaces fill quickly! The next weekend is 20th – 22nd June 2025.
https://gftuet.org.uk/courses/young-members-development-weekend
If you want a bit more information first still, contact Pippa at pwood@napo.org.uk including to become part of Napo’s Young Members Network
