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Open hearing : Youth & Employment: Giving young workers a voice

Press release

Young workers go head-to-head with young MEPs

When? Tuesday 14 October 2014 from 12.30 until 14.30
Where? Altiero Spinelli (ASP) Room 3G3, European Parliament

Members of the press are cordially invited to attend the open hearing organised by six sectoral European trade union federations (ETUFs), uniting over 30 million workers and organisers through the “Enough of their crisis – back to our future” campaign.

The open hearing, organised in the European Parliament in Brussels, aims to put young workers on an equal footing with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and bridge the gap between EU legislators and tomorrow’s workforce.

Europe’s youth are suffering historic highs in unemployment, are being forced to accept zero-hour contracts, gather work experience via phoney internships or migrate to find work at minimum wages. But to what extent are European decision makers aware of the real-life stories of young workers in Europe? What is their response to this generation’s day-to-day reality and the numerous challenges they face when trying to enter the European labour market?

Nine young trade union shop stewards working in some of the key sectors of Europe’s economy in different member states will enter in direct dialogue with the following MEPs:
•    Anneliese Dodds MEP, S&D, UK
•    Ernest Urtasun MEP, Greens/EFA, Spain
•    Eva Paunova MEP, EPP, Bulgaria
•    Javi Lόpez MEP, S&D, Spain
•    Paloma Lόpez MEP, GUE/NGL, Spain
•    Rina Ronja Kari MEP, GUE/NGL, Denmark
•    Terry Reintke MEP, Greens/EFA, Germany

You can follow the discussion live on the campaign website, or join in using the hashtag Noback2ourfuture on Facebook and Twitter.

Practical
Registration: From 11.30am in the Altiero Spinelli Building (Espace Simone Veil entrance)
Lunch: A sandwich lunch will be served from 12-12.30pm outside room ASP3G3
Interpretation: Interpretation will be available in English, French, Spanish and passive Dutch

Media contacts
EFBWW: Werner Buelen +32 (0)475 84 06 48 or wbuelen@efbh.be
EFFAT: Dominique Mitchell +32 (0)490 56 94 05 or d.mitchell@effat.org
EPSU: Pablo Sanchez +32 (0)474 62 66 33 or psanchez@epsu.org
ETF: Koen Reynaerts +32 (0)470 93 05 90 or k.reynaerts@etf-europe.org
industriAll Europe: Mischa Terzyk +32 (0)473 86 58 84 or Mischa.Terzyk@industriall-europe.eu
Uni Europa: Dimitris Theodorakis +32 (0) 76 25 71 44 or dimitris.theodorakis@uniglobalunion.org

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