Organised by transitions: the self-organisation of next-generation welfare professionals in Slovenia

Much is known about innovative union strategies to organise young workers, but little how and why they self-organise outside of unions. Based on field research in Slovenia, we examine ‘next-generation welfare professionals’, a diverse group students, unemployed graduates precarious workers attempting enter state-regulated, relatively well unionised education social protection professions. We argue that their self-organisation direct consequence education-to-work transitions consequent disembeddedness from the workplace professional community. Their grievances stem mismatch between strict entry requirements scarce paid internships, which lead long unemployment spells, unsupportive active labour market schemes, fear exclusion. initial tactic was establish communities collective sense injustices self-organising emerged targeted policymakers with demands for sustainable government funded internships. Although relations established trade unions are not close, do receive organisational support Trade Union Youth Plus organises stuck transitional stage ‘waithood’. Our findings show need become more present within zones that, shaped by state policies.