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Forging ties with the Global Youth Solidarity Project

The Global Youth Solidarity Project – now in its seventh year – gives young members of the UAW, the Canadian Auto Workers union and Germany’s Works Council a unique opportunity to learn about the world, each other and themselves.

The program is designed to foster the transatlantic relationship among the sister workforces – to create bonds, discover similarities and differences and forge international solidarity.

2006 GYSP participants outside the NTC. Click on the photo for a larger image.

It consists of two sessions, two weeks in Germany and two weeks in the United States and Canada, during which participants receive on-going wages and are provided with certain travel expenses, lodging and meals.

Thirty young union activists (15 Germans, 11 UAW members and four CAW members) participated in the 2006 program to learn about each other’s cultures, education systems and union organizations.

The group tours manufacturing facilities and other company operations, meets with union and company official, visits national points of interest and engages in social activities to further the experience.

And participants say it works.

It's not all work and study. Here, UAW members soak up a little German culture.

"I’ve not only learned about their language and education, but also about their culture and how the German partners believe so strongly in their union," said UAW Local 412 member Jessica Hall, an early participant in the program. "It was important to know they felt as strong for their union as I do for mine."

Participants in the 2006 program are toured Germany April 22-May 6 and then the U.S. and Canada May 12-25.

U.S. participants in the Global Youth Solidarity Project are chosen at the local union level based largely on their active participation in the UAW.

For more information, contact UAW International Representative Rodney Monk, who coordinates the program, at 313.567.3300.