Dear Mr./Ms. Chairman.
Thank you for giving us the floor. The Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
is under threat in many countries. We cannot deny the facts that the shortage
of Decent Work opportunities forced many young workers to accept jobs of poor
quality, low salary, and even without access to Social Protection. It is challenged by contractualization,
informalization, flexibilization and digitalization of work. These systems that
runs in many countries denies the basic rights of workers on Freedom of
Association, decent salary and access to social protection. Please hear the short testimony from
Philippines;
“My
name is Errol and I am a contractual worker for six years now. My salary is 10.7
US dollar for twelve hours of work. The company is not paying my overtime. I
have been moving from one job to another and I have no chance to become regular
worker. The Contractualization is widespread in the Philippines.”
The above testimony of Mr. Errol
reflects the situation of many workers in several countries. They are facing
multiple challenges in their workplaces like underpayment, low wages, job insecurity,
long working hours, lack of social protection, and rights restricted to join
association.
This problem may sound repeated and
obsolete, but it is a reality that has never been addressed so far by the
concerned authorities. We believe that
young workers has right for just work and dignified life. This cannot be
achieved if the young workers continue to be exploited.
Therefore, we urge the National
Governments to strengthen their national laws concerning the abolishment of
contractual work system. Likewise not to settle on Minimum Wage but instead on
Decent Living Income.
We urge Trade Unions to adopt and
extend their membership to the contractual workers and other categories of
workers to cover their rights on CBA.
Finally, we ask the ILO for strict
implementation on Convention 138 and 182 for the abolishment of all forms of
child labor, and the follow-up on Recommendation 204 on the transition from the
informal to the formal economy.
The Fundamental Principles and Rights
at Work is needed now more than ever.
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