International Day of the Domestic Worker: A look at the Brazilian YCW and the problem of domestic workers
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Domestic workers have always formed a significant group of the Brazilian workforce. According to the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD) conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2020, there are 4.5 million domestic workers, 12.8% of which are aged 14 to 29. Women represent more than 92% of the people engaged in domestic work, of which more than 65% (3 million) are black women. The typical domestic worker is a young unschooled woman originating from the countryside or an impoverished urban area. Working hard and long hours from a young age onwards, earning very little money in return, these young women all too often remain unschooled and unable to escape the tangles of unregulated domestic work. Given this precarious situation, it is no surprise that domestic workers have been a focal point for the Brazilian YCW (JOC Brasileira) ever since its foundation. On the occasion of the International Day of Domestic Workers, KADOC lets the IYCW archives and the Brazilian YCW speak about the issue of domestic work in Brazil.
Together in action for gender equality : YCWs from all over the world exchanging online
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“I was impressed to see that YCW Nicaragua has a plan about their gender action. It is elaborate, with objectives and everything. It made me wonder why we don’t have such a plan in the Walloon YCW.”
This is a statement from Zoe, a fulltimer in the Walloon YCW, telling other French-speaking comrades about her experience in the Spanish-speaking exchange. When describing her action on gender in the Walloon YCW, she presented a national action group giving space to young women and LGBTQI to act together.
Just like her, other delegates from Gabon, Haiti, Congo Brazzaville, Germany, Ghana, Peru, Indonesia, Wallonia (Belgium) and Nicaragua accepted the IYCW gender commission’s invitation to meet in different spaces organized according to time zones and languages in order to exchange about their actions related to gender. When sharing experiences about gender-based violence and discrimination, it became obvious that existing inequalities increased even more because of the current global pandemic. As Rony from Indonesia reported:
“It is a real challenge that many women in Indonesia do not have any health insurance. This is always bad, but it is a real challenge in such a health crisis. Also, many health workers, who are the front-liners right now in our country, are females.”
Statement on the events in Colombia
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Since April 28, 2021, the world has witnessed the new social outbreak in the sister republic of Colombia. We have seen and heard the clamor of youth, women, workers, peasants and indigenous people mobilized throughout the country. We have also observed the disproportionately violent, brutal and criminal actions of the military and police forces such as the Mobile Riot Squadron (ESMAD) against the people protesting in the streets. We have little or no access to this news, and even less is known about the causes of this situation.
Colombia is one of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that has had a succession of neoliberal governments, which for decades have been implementing a series of anti-people reforms and laws in the areas of health, education, social security and labor, supported by a strong military and police system prepared for the context of war that the country is experiencing, and all of this against a backdrop of constant violations of peace treaties by the state.
The government's latest attempt at fiscal reform, the cynicism of the ultra-right, represented by one of the most infamous figures in the history of the Americas - Álvaro Uribe Vélez - and his puppet Iván Duque, the current President of the Republic, have, by imposing their neoliberal measures, unleashed a massive popular rebellion, highlighting the structural crisis that the country is going through and the failure of this model on the continent. The government's response to this energetic demonstration of the disagreement of the majorities has been more than distressing: armed repression, violation of the demonstrators’ human rights, disappearances of social leaders, sexual abuses and real urban massacres in different regions of the country.
IYCW Webinar: The Impact of Digitalization on Work, Life and Action
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As part of the celebrations of the "International Week of Young Workers" and "May Day", the IYCW organized an online debate on the impact of digitalization on work, life and action on April 30.
With the participation of activists of the movement from different countries and continents, as well as a large number of representatives of social organizations, trade unions, people involved in international cooperation and former activists, the online debate was able to clarify, in its different dimensions, the impact of digitalization on young workers’ lives.
Based on the testimonies and life experiences collected and analyzed, the IYCW noted that young workers, most of whom are forced into precarious work, without contracts or with short-term contracts signed by temporary work agencies, or working in "maquilas", in the informal sector of the economy or in rural areas, as well as students and unemployed youth, do not benefit from the social and economic opportunities presented as advantages of digitalization.
IYCW Statement on May Day, International Workers' Day - The Way Towards Dignified Work in this Time of Global Pandemic
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“Digitalisation is the way I can keep contact with my friends during the pandemic. But digitalisation is also the reason why people cannot keep their free time and their working time apart. It is the reason why I feel pressured to not only answer every little message, but to answer it within a few minutes. Digitalisation is a complex issue which demands a complex discussion.”
The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a worsening of the social problems faced by the working class at the international level. The pandemic has affected almost all areas of the world of work, with the risk of transmission of the virus in the workplace, and it has affected the daily life of society on a global scale.
