The Crisis Is Not Overcome Yet

Just Work and Dignified Life is the answer!

Aristide Naoustha, a 26 year-old Haitian, tells us that she has not been able to get a permanent job until now due to the continuous lack of job opportunities in her country. Like Naoustha, millions of young people around the world are struggling to have a very basic quality of life.

The world financial crisis has caused a rise in unemployment as economies around the world lose jobs and the fragile recovery is threatened by “incoherent monetary policy.”

The ILO, in its recent report, said that 202 million people could be unemployed across the world in 2013. Young people have been the worst affected: nearly 13% of those under 24 are unemployed. Some 35% of all young unemployed people have been out of work for six months or longer in advanced economies. We still need to count young people who are working in precarious conditions, with unstable jobs or in the informal economy, especially young women.

A Life Story from Guatemala

The young woman worker leaves home at four o’clock in the morning every day. She has to cross the whole city to get to work. She travels around two hours by bus, and then she has to walk almost half an hour to reach the community where she teaches children of low-income families. The neighborhood where she works is poor, marginalized, and the rates of violence are high.

Women have been raped on the stretch of road she has to walk through, and the buses she uses to get to and leave that place are those which, according national statistics, register the most armed attacks and assaults, as well as the most accidents caused by the drivers themselves.

The International Secretariat Bids Farewell to Geethani and Welcome to New Team Members

On Friday 1^st March, the international secretariat invited colleagues, former members and other organizations to a simple farewell party for Geethani Peries, the IYCW international president from 2008 to 2012, and a welcome party for the new international team members.

The event was casual but there was a deep sense of friendship and love. At the beginning of the program, Arlindo de Oliveira, the international treasurer, welcomed all guests and friends. He introduced the program and invited all guests to introduce themselves in turn.

The event continued with the presentation of each member of the international secretariat. Ludovicus Mardiyono, the new international president, explained that the IYCW just recently completed the XIIIth International Council in Ghana successfully. "What we have now is the aspirations, dreams and beliefs of young workers from around the world. Change can occur when there is solidarity and cooperation," said Mardi.

Empower Young Women Workers, End Inequality and Poverty!

I work in a cashew nut factory, in Kanyakumari, India. I have no fixed salary; it depends on the kilos of cashew nuts I can produce. Usually I get INR 70–100 (US$ 1.20 – 1.80) a day. I have to work from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. everyday. I don’t have the right to speak about my work with my co-workers. I don’t have holidays or time to rest. – Kalai Selvi, Kanyakumari, India 

Just like Kalai Selvi, millions of young women workers live in poverty and inequality, without social protection.

A Message from Asia/Pacific

“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.

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 16^th 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.