Young Trade Unionists from Northern Regions Meet in Murmansk

On 16 – 18 February northern Russian city of Murmansk hosted an international conference of young trade trade-unionists and employment specialists from northern regions who gathered to discuss youth employment promotion in the remote and north regions – the “Second Arctic Young Trade Union Leaders School” (the first meeting of this kind took place in Murmansk in March 2015).

Taking part in the event were young trade union leaders, regional governments officials and experts in labour and employment issues from the Russian Federation, Norway, Kazakhstan and representatives of Youth Committee within the International Trade Union Confederation’s Pan-European Regional Council (PERC).

The ILO was represented by Sergejus Glovackas, senior workers activities specialist at the Decent Work Technical Support Team and Country Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia in Moscow. He made welcoming remarks at the formal opening session of the Conference and then presented the recommendations of ILO’s ‬Bureau for Workers’ Activities, ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ACTRAV, on youth employment. He also introduced to the participants the outcomes of the ILO tripartite meeting on oil and gas sector in the Arctic region, which took place on 25-29 January in Geneva.

There was a separate session at the Conference on the prevention of HIV/AIDS at the workplace. Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Murmansk Region Natalia Salieva made a presentation on “ILO’s Programme to Assist the Prevention of HIV/AIDS in the field of labour in Murmansk Region.” Importantly, all the Participants of the Arctic school has undergone voluntary testing on HIV/AIDS.

ILO expert Svetlana Besfamilnykh presented the ILO research on the situation in the field of youth employment in the Northern region.

The programme of the event included a plenary session, discussion in working groups and a tripartite round table on promotion and protection of youth employment considering the present state of the labour market in the region, which was organized on 18 February in the Information Centre (museum) on nuclear power located aboard “Lenin,” the decommissioned famous nuclear-powered ice-breaker.

The participants of the Conference have adopted a resolution – an Appeal to ILO’s tripartite constituents, where they formulated recommendations for the improvement on living conditions of the young people in the Arctic region. Welcoming the participants on behalf of the regional administration, Deputy Speaker of Murmansk Regional Duma Nadezhda Maksimova said the young people are more likely to be faced with the lack of decent jobs. The official was confident that the productive discussion on youth employment, initiated at the conference, would help consolidate the efforts by both the administration and the youth in addressing the employment issues.