joceurope.org

MARCH 8th
International Women's Day

"Young Women Workers demand further inclusion in a human and equal society for all"

For more than 75 years, the International Young Christian Workers (IYCW) has rganised and trained young women workers and has considered their situation as one priority of action. Women are still the victims in so many different ways of exclusion and marginalisation in our society. We are excluded as women and as workers.

«My name is Pattrisiya. I'm 22 years-old and I live in Rajagiriya, near Colombo, Sri Lanka. In our culture, it is very difficult for young women to access the world of labour as our mother and family do not want us to work outside. Therefore I feel bad as I cannot express all my skills and talents. I'm not allowed to study and can only do those jobs which are usually assigned to women, i.e. sewing, cooking and all those activities which men do not want to do. Why is it like that ? When shall the situation change?

My name is Nalini Peries. I'm 21 and live in Negombo, in Sri Lanka. I have two sisters. My mother is a housewife and my father works in the informal sector. I did some work which is generally considered "typical women's jobs" ,i.e, sewing or embroidering. I had to produce 50 pieces a day. I was paid 2 Rs a day, that is 0.01 US$. I was earning 100 Rs/day (0,50 US$), and worked without any social or legal protection.

The „Symbolic Action" of the JOC Europe asbl, "Young workers reinventing tomorrow's world of work!"  23-26.11. 2006 in Passau/Germany

1. Background and objectives of the activity

More than 100 young people from eight European countries met for four days in Passau to discuss about their visions and conceptions of the future work and life in Europe. This activity represented the climax of a three years process during which many projects and actions were organised and implemented at local, regional, national and European level.

2. Programme and results

2.1 The process in the national Movements

At the beginning of the meeting the three years process was briefly recalled and each national Movement got the opportunity to present actions/projects which had been implemented during this process. The presentations showed how much courage and energy young people develop when they try to find answers to their various problems on the training and labour market and gave the participants the possibility to get some small insight in the reality of the others which created a good basis for mutual understanding.

"We encourage all women and young women workers to lose their fear and to struggle for a life free of violence, without the fear of suffering harassment, and physical or psychological abuse."

STATEMENT MARKING THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The International Young Christian Workers is against all forms of abuse against women, in particular young women workers who, day after day, suffer different forms of violence in all regions of the world. We would like to share about some cases which show how violence against young women workers expresses itself.

"Rosa María Alave Sandoval lives in the Ilo province in Peru. Her job consists in cleaning, washing, and ironing in the house of a prosecutor (her employer). She was accused of stealing $7,000, without taking into account her service years. Rosa was found guilty without a fair trial, and she was taken to jail without a prior sentence, without considering her situation as domestic worker, and the situation of her children and family. All this shows that there is now a trading of favours among judges with a view to violating Rosa María's rights."

IYCW intervention at the ILO Conference on 1st of June 2006

Permanent NOT Precarious work!

Honourable chair person, respected members of the 95^th International Labour Conference,

Today companies around the world hire workers in different work arrangements to increase their profits. In many work places workers are hired in part-time, occasional, sub-contract work and Interim basis. This disparity in the employment contracts creates discrimination with out access to the same social benefits as permanent employees.

In some countries labour laws encourage individual workplace bargaining, forcing individual workers to bargain directly with their employers for payment and working conditions. This type of bargaining does not favour even the skilled workers. This situation leaves young workers vulnerable and creates a huge power imbalance in the employment relationship. Lack of transparency on such work agreements creates unfair discrimination within the workplace.