UFCW Canada youth develop new skills and solidarity at latest YIP session

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Winnipeg – April 29, 2016 – The UFCW Canada Young-Workers Internship (YIP) program recently travelled to Manitoba where young UFCW Canada activists converged for Phase 2 of Canada's leading youth labour program.

Together, the 10 young workers developed and created UFCW Votes, a campaign which aimed to encourage union members to get out and vote in the recent Manitoba provincial election.  Participants of YIP Phase 2 had the unique opportunity to learn new skills as well as work hand-in-hand with their union at a closer capacity. The group also had the chance to be on the frontlines of some of the many community outreach initiatives UFCW Canada participates in.

Throughout their time in Winnipeg, the group connected with thousands of UFCW Canada members in face-to-face interactions, workshops, and through a wide range of social media platforms. The young workers generated creative and dynamic content daily on a variety of platforms which can be seen via the UFCW Canada YIP Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

"While some individuals in society see us young people as the problem, our union sees us as problem solvers," raves YIP Phase 2 participant and UFCW Local 1000A member Ilija Dimenski. "We not only engaged with social, political, and economic issues among ourselves but also with various community, labour, social justice and environmental activists and politicians. More importantly, we realized that knowing about these issues is not enough. We have to do more, we have to be willing to apply what we learned and put it into action.”

"To see a group of young people channel their energy into a campaign like this was truly inspiring," says UFCW Canada national representative and YIP facilitator Pablo Godoy. "All of the participants, who came from across Canada, deserve a tremendous amount of admiration for the level of commitment and creativity they demonstrated while on YIP Phase 2.”

The UFCW Canada Young-Workers Internship Program (YIP) Phase 2 gives participants the experience of political campaign-building, while Phase 1 of the program is focused primarily on in-class training and education. This summer, UFCW Canada continues its longstanding acclaimed training and education program and will be hosting a series of YIP Phase 1 sessions across the country. To find out more about this season’s upcoming YIP sessions, click here.