EMPLOYABILITY AND SECURITY IN A FLEXIBLE GLOBAL LABOUR MARKET be relevant to potential members. If we talk to students in the hotel business, they are not very interested. If we go to places like McDonalds and Burger King, we find students who are working to finance their studies and are only there for a short period of time. These and other patterns are breaking the traditional structure of the trade unions. ‘People are no longer taking a traditional approach to employment and following a career ladder in one company. Unions should reflect this. If we cannot influence working conditions, advance individual careers, and provide improvements, then people are not interested.’ How we work within Europe is important. Although we need to lead and help form public opinion, we fail to do so, and we are losing influence. We need to show what we stand for, how we can make a positive contribution to work and how we support employees in general.’ Encouraging young people Echoing some of Mr Heilmann’s points, Christiane Benner of IG Metall(the German metal workers’ union) outlined practical examples of how her union was gaining young members and actively promoting new structures that benefited both companies and employees.‘Together with VERDI We are going to university campuses to talk with young people about their future. We are advising them and discussing their employment options with them. Many people working in IT are employed by small companies, and so this is a way of reaching them. We are also attending fairs and exhibitions, and talking about the worth of jobs, changes in IT and the ability of people to develop in this sector. We have set up regional networks to demonstrate to IT employees the benefits of works councils. Our strategy has met with some success. We are developing links with new­economy companies, and we are opening discussions with potential members. There are many different ways of being successful. Unions also need to develop politically and create more democracy in their own structures.’ 13 © Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society