NUM National Youth Structure

05/10/2026

29/09/2026

Africa powers the green future, so why are its young workers left in the dark? ⚡⛏️ Day 2 in Abidjan 🇨🇮 got straight to the point!

Young workers from across the region are at IndustriALL Global Union's Global Youth in Mining and Energy Conference to shape their priorities on decent work, safety, skills and a Just Transition 🌍✊

🗣️ IndustriALL assistant general secretary Christina Olivier opened the conference with a challenge on apprenticeships:

"Success should be measured by how many secure, decent jobs are provided. The proof is in the pudding." 🍮

💡 She warned that apprenticeships too often become a source of cheap labour, and asked why government agreements with multinationals don't guarantee young people training and clear pathways into work.

🗣️ IndustriALL mining and energy director Adjei Danso said fixed-term contracts and subcontracting have become "the new normal", making organizing and collective bargaining harder along supply chains 🔗

💡 Dr Mbuso Moyo exposed "the fault line": the world needs around 3 billion tonnes of critical minerals to decarbonize by 2050, much of it from Africa, yet 34 per cent of Africa's working youth live in extreme poverty.

🗣️ "Why do we allow this to happen?" he asked.

💡 He also took on labour brokers, the platform economy and automation, which are pushing young workers into ever more precarious jobs 🤖📉

🦺 Dr Vincent Kouamé brought it home with health and safety. Youth is not the danger, he said. The danger is how young people enter the workplace.

🔥 On heat stress: "A heat break is not a privilege. It is a safety barrier."

➡️ He proposed a 90-day passport for new workers, so no one carries out critical tasks until they've shown they can do so safely.

🗣️ "No young worker should gain experience at the cost of an injury."

💬 The discussion that followed was open and honest! Young delegates spoke about mental health and the stigma around it, calling for it to be treated as a health and safety issue like any other 🧠

👕 One delegate pointed out that black uniforms worsen heat stress. A small fix with a big impact!

✊ And participants turned the mirror on themselves: unions are employers too, and must lead by example.

👀 Now the young workers are in working groups, turning ideas into demands. Stay tuned!

29/09/2026

28/09/2026

Young workers ready to lead in Abidjan ✊🏾

IndustriALL Global Union's sub-Saharan Africa youth workshop opened in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, on 28 September 2026. It kicks off a week of regional meetings under the theme "Promote inclusivity in the world of work".

🗣️ "Do not wait for permission to lead. You will wait forever."
IndustriALL assistant general secretary Christine Olivier set the tone. She urged young workers to keep organizing, keep building their structures and challenge the organization whenever youth participation becomes symbolic.

💡 The latest ILO youth report shows global youth unemployment rose to 12.4 per cent in 2025, leaving 67 million young people out of work. More than 257 million are not in employment, education or training.

🗣️ "The real problem is not a lack of skills, it is a lack of decent work," said Olivier.

She also called on participants to engage with IndustriALL's draft youth policy, which goes to the Executive Committee for adoption.

💡 Solidarity against gender-based violence
Regional co-chair Susan Khumalo (SACTWU Stewards) reminded participants of the killings of 11 women in South Africa in recent weeks. The tragedy is a painful reminder that the fight against gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) is far from over, and one IndustriALL and its affiliates cannot stop fighting.

She also called for human-centred migration policies, African unity and a Just Transition that protects jobs.

💡 A new political lens
Regional youth committee chair Kelvin Ayemhenre, from the Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria - SEWUN, Nigeria, challenged young workers to look beyond a capitalist mindset. He also asked them to build on the mentorship of leaders who have opened space for them.

💡 Young workers in transition
Dr Mbuso Moyo of the University of the Witwatersrand presented research carried out with the IndustriALL youth committee. It looks at young workers in mining and energy in the DRC, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Drawing on Antonio Gramsci, Moyo described an "interregnum", an age of uncertainty. Its symptoms include youth waiting years for jobs that never come, rising gender-based violence and survival economies.

He questioned whether renewable energy will replace the jobs lost in coal. He urged young workers to become "organic intellectuals" who speak for workers often seen as unorganizable, such as motorcycle taxi riders and e-hailing drivers.

💡 What the research found
The findings, based mainly on existing studies, paint a stark picture:

🇨🇩 DRC: Subcontracted young mineworkers earn around US$330 a month, while permanent staff doing the same work earn US$898. More than 70 per cent of young cobalt and copper workers are in informal artisanal mining, earning US$1–3 a day.

🇿🇦 South Africa: Young people make up 35.7 per cent of the population but only 10 per cent of formal mining jobs. The coal phase-out in Mpumalanga puts more than 200,000 jobs at risk.

🇿🇼 Zimbabwe: Almost half of young people (49.5 per cent) are not in employment, education or training. Youth union density is below 10 per cent.

💡 What needs to change
The research calls for:

➡️ 30 per cent youth representation in affiliate leadership and bargaining teams

➡️ Equal pay for work of equal value

➡️ Employer-funded academies to train young workers for new technology and renewable energy jobs

💡 Breakout groups: reimagining an inclusive world of work
Participants split into three groups to discuss the issues emerging from structural change and how unions should respond.

They identified automation, artificial intelligence, precarious work and the green transition as the biggest pressures on young workers, who are often the first to lose their jobs under "last in, first out" rules.

Union responses shared included:

✅ Collective agreement clauses in Kenya protecting workers' pay when floods prevent them from reaching work

✅ Bargaining for reskilling and upskilling to prevent job losses

✅ Organizing informal and outsourced workers

✅ Pushing governments for tripartite consultation on the Just Transition

🗣️ Moyo challenged the groups to back their demands with evidence: "We can't afford to speak in generalities. As trade union leaders, we must be able to say: in my country, because of these policies, these are the effects."

The week continues with the regional women's meeting, followed by conferences on youth and women in mining and energy and human rights due diligence.

19/09/2026

Modikwa Branch in North East region are having a sports day under the theme of encouraging healthy lifestyle in our communities through sports and uniting the union to promote membership growth.