On World Day for Decent Work, BWI joins trade unions around the world in putting young workers at the heart of the fight for the future – for decent jobs, living wages, secure employment and respect for workers' rights.

Young workers in construction, building materials, wood and forestry around the world face many of the same pressures: high unemployment, low wages, insecure short-term contracts and a worsening cost-of-living crisis that puts a decent life out of reach.

Young BWI members are clear that these conditions will not change on their own. They change when workers have a voice, and that voice depends on democracy.

On International Youth Day, 12 August, young BWI members raised their voices and fists in unity and solidarity to call for democracy. Their message was clear: democracy is more than elections. It is the right to speak, to organise, to bargain collectively, and to shape our workplaces, our societies and our future.

Young BWI members warned that democracy is under attack. Authoritarianism is growing, trade union rights are being restricted, young people are shut out of decision-making and workers who speak up are too often silenced.

"Our young members have shown that democracy starts at work: in the right to speak up, to join a union and to bargain collectively," said BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson. "When young workers are silenced, democracy is weaker for all of us. BWI will keep backing young workers to organise and lead the fight for a future built on decent work."