SUR Youth Council held a meeting via video conference

The Youth Council of the Seafarers' Union of Russia held its first online meeting this year. Representatives of SUR from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novorossiysk, Sevastopol, Kerch, Ussuriysk, Vladivostok and Kaliningrad discussed current operational issues and the work plan for the near future.

One of the main topics of the meeting was a discussion of the strategy for a just transition in sustainable development programs within the maritime sector of the Russian Federation. Recall that in 2015, the UN General Assembly, by Resolution dated 09/25/2015 “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, developed 17 sustainable development goals - a global call for action to end poverty, to ensure the protection of our planet and to foster prosperity of all people around the world.

In the same year, the International Labor Organization published the “Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all,” which are based on four pillars: social dialogue, social protection, workers’ rights and employment, and emphasize the roles of workers, employers and government as key active partners in ensuring a just transition.

The SUR Youth Council believes that it is important for the trade union, guided by the principles of a just transition, to ensure that the rights and interests of seafarers, youth and women are taken into account, and to ensure a maintenance of seafarers' qualifications and jobs as part of the economic structural changes in the maritime industry of the Russian Federation.

In this regard, the SUR Youth Council has developed a draft Strategy for Just Transition within  Sustainable Development Programs in the Russian Maritime Industry.

Thus, the project involves the establishment of an action team from among the SUR Youth Council members; analysis of national legislation, Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation and other legal acts affecting issues of the Sustainable Development agenda; collecting data on climate change impact on work and lives of young workers to better meet their needs. 

Following the approval of the project, the SUR Youth Council will submit it to the SUR Council.

Among the plans of the SUR Youth Council is to finalize the draft Regulations on SUR scholarships for cadets of higher and secondary educational institutions where the SUR shop organizations have been created, as well as a draft of literary contest among SUR members.