THIS year’s TUC Young Workers Conference took place in a moment of renewed energy and determination, and saw more than 150 young trade unionists register as delegates, alongside visitors and observers.

Over the past 12 months, young workers across Britain have seen ever-increasing challenges, with bills skyrocketing and the number of young people out of education, employment, and training climbing to nearly one million. Despite this we’ve seen historic campaigns in our movement spearheaded by young workers, like the Village Hotel strike in Glasgow led by young precarious workers, which now approaches its fifth continuous month.

TUC Young Workers Conference is about far more than just the motions moved on the conference floor, and the navigating of different trade union and TUC structures. It’s a vital opportunity for young workers in different sectors and trade unions to meet, share skills and experience, and build links and friendships that will return to delegates regions, communities and workplaces.

The conference also saw the launch of the TUC’s Organising Young Workers Strategy, which should form the base for much of the necessary work in coming years, as well as providing a strong foundation for the Young Workers Committee to develop priorities and assess the wins and challenges of recruiting and energising more young people in our movement.

A key element of conference is the regional breakout sessions, which encouraged delegates from all unions to go and meet others from their TUC region, with the hope of catalysing relationships that would lead to stronger local co-ordination between young trade unionists, including the building of young workers’ specific events and spaces, like socials and organising workshops.

In Derby, we’ve seen regular weekly young worker socials, which have had a knock-on effect for engaging young people who are not trade union members, as well as a marked increase in youth participation in our trades council, with our most recent meeting having an average age of under 30.

Creating spaces for young workers to self-organise informal networks and regular social activities alongside the formal union structures is crucial to engagement, as for new members these can be far more engaging than formal meetings or committees, while still allowing for important discussion about industrial organising and tackling barriers within our trade unions.

These spaces can help address both the challenges of low union membership among young workers, and of low engagement among young trade union members, by facilitating conversations that can recruit new members, and provide a more exciting space for those young people who have joined unions but have not yet got involved in the formal structures.

While it is doubtless that significant challenges remain and a monumental effort is required to halt — and reverse — years of declining union power, this year’s Young Workers Conference showed that the energy and ideas to achieve this are already here. Young trade unionists are not just shaping the future of work through workplace and community organising, but the future of our trade union movement.

Fraser McGuire is chair of TUC Young Workers.