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“Terminus Interim. Stop the train of interim-abuses." This was the title of the public
activity organized by KAJ (Flanders YCW) in Ostende with the presence of leaders from different regions. The aim of the event was to denounce the reality and violence suffered by young people who are seeking for jobs in temporary work agencies and see their dreams and expectations vanish into thin air.
Most of those young people have just graduated from secondary school or university, they are drop-outs, or have low skills, and they turn to temporary work agencies to help them find a job. In many cases, they face difficulties when they have to deal with the agencies, and KAJ wants to draw the attention of the society, the political authorities, the trade unions and the temporary work agencies themselves. They have reached the local and national press to explain their objectives and present the reality of young workers. KAJ carried out a survey, asking several young people about their reality, and it started to organize actions, including the June 2 event.
The IYCW International Secretariat participated in the action in Ostende. Arlindo de Oliveira (the international treasurer) was there and collected some testimonies from young people explaining their main problems.
Young Workers Under Pressure
Riensje, a KAJ regional coordinator, and other young activists responsible for the activity in Ostende said: “People who leave school have difficulty in finding a job. They feel pressure. First of all from the agencies when they say you don't have the skills to work for them. So you go back home but when you get there sometimes your family doesn’t believe you and say you are not looking for a job, or just like the agencies they question your capacities. It definitively doesn't help us, it doesn't motivate us.”
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“In the world today, there is a wide gap between the decent life everyone is supposed to be entitled to and the difficulty we have to meet our most basic needs,” said the YCW Asia Pacific (ASPAC) team in a statement it has recently published.
The ASPAC YCW mentions appalling statistics from international institutions. For instance, according to the World Bank, around 50% of the world population lives with less than US$2.50 a day while in Asia alone, even in the least industrialized countries, you need at least USD15 to 20 per day to meet basic needs. Around the world, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. The ILO reported that about 5.1 billion people (75% of the world population) are not covered by adequate social security, while according to UN-Habitat, 2.6 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation and 884 million people lack access to adequate sources of drinking water.
The Reality of Young Workers in Asia
The statement includes some testimonies from young workers in Asian countries.
“I am working in a construction field and I am a daily wage worker. I am 20 years old, yet I am the one responsible to take care of my family. I have 3 younger brothers and sisters whom I am supporting for their education and family food expenses. I receive a salary of PhP250/day (US$ 5). With this salary, we can’t even afford to have a good meal three times a day. There are days that we eat rice with magic syrup (artificial cooking powder), adding water in it.” - Jomarie Navarro, Philippines
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The forum of the Pacific Island Civil Society Consultation on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is a response by civil society stakeholders strongly endorsing dignity for safe, orderly and regular migration into and from the Pacific Region. The said regional consultation was organized in Fiji from November 2 to 3, 2017, by leading civil society organizations such as the Migrant Forum in Asia, Justice and Peace, Sydney Asia Pacific Migration Center and others. The Asia Pacific International Young Christian Workers movement was represented by Nanang Ibrahim.
The forum gathered representatives from non-governmental organizations, youth movements, trade unions, educational institutions, the business sector, and other individuals who deliberated the key issues on human rights and good governance relating to the implementation process of the UN Global Compact on Migration.
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The Egypt YCW Fights Sexual Harassment
The IYCW international team was pleased to welcome Sabah Eskandar, a former member of Egypt YCW, who visited the international secretariat in Brussels on Saturday February 9th.
In her visit, Sabah was accompanied by Milad Mikhael, a former international team member for the Africa region (1998-2002) and by George, an Egyptian activist.
The meeting, which lasted about 2 hours, provided the opportunity to discuss the current situation in Egypt and YCW in this post-revolution period. Sabah explained that conditions in Egypt now are not really stable in all spheres of life. The change in the country’s government did not significantly improve the social and political situation. The prices of goods are higher and people are increasingly suffering.
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An interreligious conference was held in Uganda from April 25-28, 2017 to deliberate on working conditions in relation to the ILO future of work initiative and the sustainable development goals. It was co-organized by the Justice and Peace Department of the Uganda Episcopal Conference, Kolping International and the International Labor Organization, with the participation of around 65 people from various countries of Africa. Doriabelle Yongala, representative of the International Young Christian Workers Panafrican Team (Panaf), presented the reality of young workers in Gabon and shared the continental analysis on the growing unemployment rate, informalization and the increasing life and work precariousness facing young people.
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Equal Pay Day stands for the gender pay gap between women and men, which according to the Federal Statistical Office is 21 percent in Germany. This large pay gap means that women work for free until 18 March, i.e. 77 days, while men have been paid for their work since 1 January. Thus, the gross hourly wage for men is 4.41 euros more than for women. Germany lies thereby in the European comparison far behind. Positive examples in Europe are Romania, Italy and Belgium, which have gender pay gaps of less than 7 percent.
CAJ women see a huge problem here and do not want to accept this: Jasmin is angry when someone says that the pay gap doesn't even exist if more women work full-time or if they go less into social professions. She wonders why it is still the case that social activities are so badly paid.
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Promoting the Rights of Informal Workers and Unemployed Youth
The India YCW has been carrying out a campaign for an increase in the minimum wage of informal workers and for the right to employment for the unemployed. In order to raise awareness among the civil society on those issues and bring those demands to the attention of the local government, the India YCW organised a bicycle rally covering four rural areas (Pallappatti, Ethiload, Silukuvarpatti and Nilakottai) around Dindigul in the district of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, on 16th February.
32 members of the YCW took part in the bicycle rally, holding placards with their demands and explaining the objectives of the rally and their demands to the public through distributing handbills and holding street corner meetings.
The demands the YCW put forward towards the local, state and central government were the following:
- Implement the social protection policies and programs for informal workers;
- Increase the wage of appalam making workers from Rs. 18 to Rs. 30 per kilo;
- Set up a perfume factory in Dindigul and give jobs to the unemployed;
- Set up monitoring bodies for the proper implementation of the 100 days job per year program;
- Increase the salary of workers employed in the 100 days job per year program from Rs. 132 to Rs. 200 per day;
- Increase the number of 100 days per year to 200 days per year.
At the end of the rally, the YCW leaders met with the district administrator of Nilakottai, presented their demands and asked for a follow-up by the state and central governments. Representatives of two organisations participated in the rally and supported the demands of YCW. Around 800 workers and people were reached out through this rally.
