SUR Youth Council: #SeafarersOutOfPolitics

The first face-to-face meeting of the Youth Council of the SUR was held in Moscow. The event brought together representatives of Territorial trade union organizations from St. Petersburg, Novorossiysk and Vladivostok under the age of 35, who have been actively promoting the SUR as a brand among maritime youth throughout the past year. They considered  the results and determined plans for the next period. The agenda turned out to be very busy, and the collaborative working  was interesting and fruitful. The work plans approved by the SUR Youth Council will be submitted for consideration by the SUR Council, which will begin its work tomorrow.

The participants discussed in detail new modern ways to raise awareness of  cadets and young seafarers on topic issues. The invited participant Maxim Globa, a seafarer from  Novorossiysk,  noted that due to the slow Internet on board  it would be much more convenient to read trade union news, check information about a potential employer and receive updates on crew change rules in different ports of the world through a mobile application. 

His arguments were taken into account and it was  agreed to work on the issue of  creation of such program.

The member of the Youth Council, a cadet Nikita Vitvitsky,  Chairman of the SUR trade union organization at Admiral Nevelskoy Maritime  State University,   shared his impressions of the topic-based  game quiz held  at the university. The event was organized last month by young active members of the SUR. Several teams  assembled among students from different faculties competed  in an intellectual battle. The winners received nice  gifts from the SUR. The participants from St. Petersburg decided to  adopt the experience of cadets from the  Far East and  hold a similar quiz at the Admiral Makarov State University of  Maritime  and Inland Shipping. 

An important item on the agenda was the impact of the current political situation in the world on the work of Russian seafarers. The participants planned a flash mob under the sounding  name #SailorsAwayPolitics. The planned starting date  is April 24, the International Day of Diplomacy. To join this flash mob you should made a portrait photo showing the simple truth: seafarers  are peaceful people who transport up to 90% of vital goods around the world, and no political events should lead to discrimination against them. The final chord, as planned by the Youth Council of the SUR, will be the release of a gift photo edition in two languages.

Despite the fruitful team work the Youth Council members resumed the following:  large-scale and, what is most important, effective implementation of the plans require the  involvement of each SUR organization in the process. Thus, it was decided to intensify this work through close cooperation with the maritime training institutions of the country in the regions where there are SUR organizations.