ITUC Youth Blog

International Conference “Women's Rights in the Workplace” (18-19 March 2010, Sofia)

Daniela Aleksieva — 2010-04-13T12:43:07Z

On 18-19 March 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria, representatives of 18 women's organizations and institutions from Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia took part in the international conference on the topic “Women's Rights in the Workplace”. The meeting was organized by the Women's Committee of the Pan-European Regional Council (ITUC-PERC) and with the financial support of the Belgian Liberal Union (CGSLB).

The effects of the economic crises on the labour market and the situation of women workers, their voice at work and in trade unions, as well as the key role of the women in social dialogue and collective bargaining, were some of the main issues discussed during the conference. The main presentations on the topics mentioned above were made by Ms Yanka Takeva (interim president of PERC's Women's Committee); Mr Nikolay Nedev (CITUB executive secretary of the Social Dialogue and Collective Bargaining Department); and Ms. Maria Sotirova (professor at the University of Plovdiv). During the discussion sessions, presentations were made by almost all participants, who presented the situation in their countries and unions and shared their experience and some good practices.

On the second day of the conference, there was a special panel devoted to young women workers, which was organized jointly with the PERC Youth Committee. The panel was divided in two parts. The first part was focused on the main trends, problems and challenges faced by young women workers concerning their place and voice at work and in trade unions. The second part was focused on sharing an experience and good practices with participants concerning the concrete achievements for young people and women through collective agreements at the sector/ branch and the enterprise level. Although the time for presentations and discussions was very short, this panel was a huge success, and one of the main conclusions of the panel, highlighted by all speakers and participants, was that addressing young women workers' concerns and expectations effectively, and ensuring their full involvement in trade unions, should be essential tasks for trade union leaders.

As a whole, the conference was a real success, ending with a series of conclusions and recommendations that aim to push gender equality higher up on the national, regional and international agenda. Some of the main priorities in the future work of the PERC Women's and Youth Committees, as well as for all represented organizations, which were identified by the participants, are as follows:
Each organization should intensify its work within its trade union confederation/ organization and participate in joint national and international projects, aimed at protecting women's rights in the workplace.
Another priority is to make continuous efforts for creating and maintaining social dialogue as a real mechanism for coordinating the interests of social partners, with the active participation of women and youth organizations and networks.
There should be an effort to build a common policy at the national level for ensuring the equality and protection of women's rights, as well as development of anti-discrimination policies, conducted on the basis of sub-regional workshops with coordinators of the Women's Network.
Women's committees and networks should provide assistance and support to the trade union confederations in their fight for strengthening the presence of trade unions in micro, small and medium enterprises, where the percent of informally and totally unprotected employed women workers is extremely high.
There should be constant efforts to raise the prestige of women's organizations, for equality of participation in the negotiating teams, by promoting and defending good practices among the organizations, as well as working with mass medias in this direction.
It is important to strengthen the cooperation between women's and youth structures/networks in the trade union confederations and organize joint projects and actions, with the main aim to include more young people in issues of gender equality.
The PERC Women's and Youth Committees should organize training for women, and especially for young women trade union leaders, about conducting social dialogue and collective bargaining, in an aim to improve and defend women's rights and gender balance.

Slovakia: High Unemployment – Insecure Future

Erika Bršelová — 2010-04-07T07:53:52Z

The unemployment rate in general rose during all of 2009. It reached 12.89 per cent in December 2009. According the OECD statistics, the unemployment rate in Slovakia was 13.6 per cent, the 3rd highest in the EU-27.Most working places were eliminated in the production sphere, and also in services and trade.

A big problem is the increasing number of unemployed who have finished school.. Most difficulties with finding a job on the labor market are encountered by those who have finished secondary school with leaving examinations; in second place are those leaving school without examinations; and in third place are those finishing school from universities and gymnasiums. It seems that there is a big mismatch between the skills received and skills needed in the labor market.

One of the possibilities for young people in finding a job is to go to the labor office, search on the internet or go to a job fair. One of the regular job fairs was held from 11 – 12 March 2010 in Bratislava. Many international companies and job agencies based in Slovakia are looking for new workers in many sectors. Most of the available jobs are in the IT sector and services, but companies are also looking for skilled workers, workers with special qualifications, health care workers, teachers, technical area workers, workers who fix and repair machines and workers for services and trade.

The unemployment rate of young people between 15 - 24 years of age in Slovakia is about 23 per cent. It was 29.9 per cent in 2003. The biggest problem is long-term unemployment. The cause for this is lack of skills and experiences. One of the options for how to combat this problem is the “school leavers practice”. Under certain conditions a person finishing school/graduate can get a job in a company [1]; the company also receives a kind of financial support from the state for creating this kind of job for a young person.

Today, Slovakia has 391 499 unemployed people, or a 12.6 per cent unemployment rate. The first signs of recovery could be that there are new international investors who are planning to start their businesses in Slovakia and create hundreds of new working places, not only in the capital city, but also in other regions. This could help Slovakia to fight the high regional unemployment.

The challenge for trade unions in this case will be to keep an eye on the quality of the new jobs. Workers deserve decent working conditions and decent life also during the crisis.

[1] The graduate has to be less that 25 years old, has to be in the evidence of the Labor office for at least 15 days; this type of practice takes 6 months /20 hours a week, and the main goal is to receive skills and practical experience directly from an employer/company.

Joe the Dog's video: Subtitles in YOUR language - Links

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-29T07:12:07Z

Joe's video is now available with subtitles in 40 languages. Here are the direct links to open the video with the correct subtitles:

ITUC launches Youth Campaign: STEP 3 – Posters and special website

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-23T08:24:15Z

As third step of its youth campaign, the ITUC has managed to put its hands on the advertising posters of the company Change The World. Luckily, we have been able to add our own contribution to them in form of a sticker. Have a look on the blog: http://youth.ituc-csi.org/posters

Then you can also check out the website www.changetheworld-now.com and see what you can do about this company which is not doing so well on the ethical front… Watch it to the end and follow the instructions!

If you want to receive posters, please contact us.

What can you do?

1. Share this with your friends, colleagues, coworkers, trade union members.

2. Share this on any social network or web platform you are using in your country.

3. Put the link to the posters or the website on your website or your blog.

Change The World

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-23T08:18:29Z

A company that uses child labour? That exploits women to get maximize their profit? And that are proud of their actions? Have a look at this intriguing website.

Posters

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-23T08:18:06Z

The ITUC has managed to put its hands on the advertising posters of the company Change The World. Luckily, we have been able to add our own contribution to them in form of a sticker.

ITUC launches Youth Campaign - Step 2 – New Blog and a best practice guide for young people

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-19T12:21:50Z

As a second step of its youth campaign, the ITUC is relaunching its youth blog and is launching the campaign's brochure.

The Youth blog comes with a redesign, new functionalities such as Facebook and Twitter sharing as well as a special campaign section.

The brochure is a best practice guide on organising young people and is aimed at informing young people in trade unions about the wide range of work covered by trade unions at the international, regional and national level.

The brochure is available for download on the campaign section of the blog. If you would like to receive printed copies for your union members, please contact us.

On the campaign section of the blog, you will also find various others links and tools such as Joe's pictures for your websites and publications as well as Joe's ringtones for mobile phones. Don't forget to say thank you to Joe by becoming a fan on Facebook or by watching his video

ITUC launches Youth Campaign - Step 1 - See our new video!

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-19T11:22:45Z

Joe the dog tries to change the world

What can you do for Joe?

1. Share this video with your friends, colleagues, coworkers, trade union members.

2. Share this video on any social network or web platform you are using in your country.

3. Put the video on your website or your blog. You just have to copy/paste the YouTube embed code. If you cannot put YouTube videos on your website, just let us know and we will send you the video in mp4 format.

4. If you wish to use the video in cinema, festivals, TV, schools or any other place, the ITUC owns all the rights, so you can use it anywhere, at no cost (however, the copyright belongs to ITUC and you cannot change it in any way before asking us). Just let us know, and we will send you the link to download the mobile-phone version, the internet version and the full HD version, or we can send you by mail a DVD of the video.

5. If you like the video and you have a Facebook account, you can become a fan of Joe on Facebook. It does not cost anything and will take you just five seconds.

Pictures

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-19T10:08:38Z

Joe the Dog has published his best pictures on the blog for you to use in your websites and publications. Check out his album and use Joe everywhere (available in JPG and EPS).


Joe pictures in JPG


Joe pictures in EPS

Ringtones

Philippe Gousenbourger — 2010-03-19T10:05:16Z

Joe offers you two ringtones for your mobile phones. Get musically involved in the campaign and upload the ringtones (available in mp3 and iphone format)


Ringtone 1 (iPhone)


Ringtone 1 (mp3)


Ringtone 2 (iPhone)


Ringtone 2 (mp3)