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“I am Fatima Hussain from Pakistan. I am 24 years old. I live in Lahore. I applied for many jobs in different factories but in vain. In our society, it doesn’t look good for a girl to have a job, people don’t like women workers.
I ended up deciding to work as a domestic worker because it is easier to get a job in this sector. But domestic workers are not paid well. They are paid PKR 1,500 per home (US$ 15). I was very disappointed by the low pay and the volume of extra work. I had to fulfill tasks that were not related to my job.
One day I met the YCW – that was a very beautiful day. In a meeting, I shared my experience as a domestic worker and the extra work.
We as YCW group wrote a letter to the Labor Council and requested it to increase my wage and make restrictions for no extra work for domestic workers. After a month, the management of the housing society where I work received a letter from the Labor Council saying that domestic workers had to be paid PKR 2,000 per home (US$ 20) instead of 1,500 and could not be given extra work. Now I earn PKR 8,000 for 4 homes. Although it is not enough to meet my daily needs, I am very happy and I attend the YCW meetings on a regular basis, hoping that I can do something more to change my life and that of other workers.
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My name is George Verzosa, I come from Calbayog City (Southern part of the Philippines). I have never completed my college education because my parents could not afford to send me and my siblings to school. I migrated to Manila to find work and I worked in a sack factory as a machine operator under a contractual agency. I worked with the minimum salary, while some of my co-workers were below the minimum wage. When I had overtime hours and received extra pay, I sent it to my relatives and family way back in my province.
We were required to work rapidly because we had a “quota” to achieve and they wanted surplus production. When we did not meet the quota required for the day, it was deducted from our salary. However, when we exceeded the production quota, there was no compensation.
In 2014, my work became more precarious. I worked only three to four days a week. It was a “no work, no pay” policy, so the days I had no work, I had no income. It was extremely difficult for me to help my family and even to support my own needs, I was renting an apartment too.
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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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Just work and young workers’ rights were at the forefront of the gathering of around fifty young workers and leaders of CAJ from various regions of Germany. They gathered together in Berlin from April 28 to May 1, 2017 to deepen their action campaign on “Precarious Work”. Three main demands under that theme were identified: the reduction of working time, basic income guarantee and gender equality at work and in the society.
During the “Bundesaktionstage”, which was the name of the study days and the “March of Young Workers” organized in the framework of this grassroots event, young German workers, students, unemployed youth, migrants and refugees joined together in action.
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The International Young Christian Workers (IYCW) is declaring March 15 International Day against Police Violence and State Repression. We have experiences from all around the world of increasing incidents involving the use of force by police and the military to suppress the demands of the population for Just Work, Equality and Dignified life.
For instance, the Walloon YCW noted that in recent months, following the attacks in Brussels and Paris, the Belgian government had decided hastily the implementation of a range of security measures and racistic laws that attack the foundations of democracy in the country. “The evacuation and arrest of undocumented people last September 19, 2016 in Molenbeek, which took place with an extraordinary deployment of police forces (helicopters and heavy weapons) is symptomatic of the way the government is criminalizing undocumented migrants by turning them into potential terrorists. We can also see an intensification of raids carried out in working-class districts and in areas of exploitation of undocumented workers, in particular in Matongé and Saint Josse. In the post-terrorist context, the instrumentalization of fear enables the public authorities to put in place policies and safeguards that lead to mass surveillance.”
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The 2016 International Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in partnership with the Unesco was held from 12 to 14 December in Paris. The conference focused on the theme “The challenge of the digital revolution for NGOs” and was organized around four subthemes: “The digital revolution and its impact on the diversity of cultural expressions”; “The challenge of access to digital information”; “Does e-learning address challenges of education systems worldwide?”; and, “Science and the digital revolution: which ethical implications?” The International YCW took an active part in it and made its contribution to the debate.
The digital issue is at the very heart of social stakes, resulting in new developments, opportunities but also major challenges. Therefore, all social organizations, but also the society as a whole, will have to face it. According to the Unesco, « The digital revolution has fundamentally altered the way in which cultural goods and services are produced, distributed and accessed. Indeed, the accelerated expansion of social networks and user generated content (UGC), the explosion of data created by cloud computing and the proliferation of connected multimedia devices – smartphones, tablets, phablets, e-readers – in the hands of the users have had a huge impact on the cultural scene, in both the global North and South. Technological changes have led to the emergence of new players and new logics»[1].
During the conference, the IYCW insisted on the two components of the “digital revolution.” It underlined on the one hand the opportunities it offers to our social organization, whether through communication, exchange, the capacity of mobilization, the intensification of interaction, or in terms of visibility, and on the other hand the dangers and challenges it poses, such as surveillance and the creation of monopolies. Increasingly precarious working conditions, in particular for young people, the promotion of consumerism, and most of all the negative impact on social security and social protection, including in the field of participation and financing (unpaid taxes and security of workers in companies) are dangers facing the world of work.
At the Conference, we had the opportunity to meet several friendly organizations, including representatives of the International Young Catholic Students (IYCS), the Centre Catholique International de Coopération avec l’Unesco (CCIC), and the Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales (CLACSO).
For more information, please visit the Unesco website.
[1] Unesco, 2015, “Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the Digital Age,” http://en.unesco.org/creativity/sites/creativity/files/exchange_session_digital_issues_en.pdf
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The International Young Christian Workers is about to open an International Exchange and Seminar together with the Future of Work Network in Bandung, Indonesia this coming August 12-24, 2018.
We welcome all our delegates from national movements of YCW from Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific, as well as delegates and guests from our network the like of Justice and Peace-Germany, International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), International Movement of Catholic Agricultural and Rural Young (MIJARC), International Coordination of Young Christian Workers (ICYCW), International Movement of Christian Workers (MMTC), World Solidarity and many others.
The International Seminar 2018 in Bandung is a dynamic activity to exchange the reality on the life and work of young workers, our culture and our action. By coming together we are writing the history of young workers in the context of World of Work (wow) and by then we are putting a stone-mark of vision of the Future of Work (fow).
