“I Have No Direct Contract and My Life is Insecure!”

After finishing high school, I studied Business Administration and finished with a Bachelor’s degree. I searched for a job for about half a year and every time my applications were rejected, the reason was: "You have no working experience" or "We are primarily looking for people with more work experience" ... Even in positions that were advertised for new entrants they kept saying, " We have found someone with more experience ".

Long story short, I got a job from a temporary work agency. I am working in the purchasing department of a big company which isn’t far away from home. But this job doesn’t require academic studies. My salary corresponds approximately to that of the people directly hired by the company for the same position, but those people are working together with a Buyer while I am working alone.

In the company I feel warmly welcomed – most colleagues do not even know that I am employed through a temporary work agency. I get the same discounts as the employees hired directly by the company – for example a discount in the canteen. I really like the work and the colleagues.

Today, November 25, as we commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we the International Young Christian Workers raise our voices to denounce the widespread violence and discrimination that young women workers experience every day at work and in the society. One of them is Mary, 28 years old, from Nicaragua.

“I am working in a free trade zone for Hansae Nicaragua SA, a garment factory. I have worked there for one year as a machine operator.

In our country, gender-based violence is a problem we face every single day at home, in the way they educate us to assume household tasks because we are women, e.g. cooking, washing, housecleaning, taking care of kids… When I leave my home and go to work, I am faced with sexual harassment in the street every day. The society downplays this practice as something harmless, but in my opinion, it is also gender violence and I really feel harassed as I walk among the people.

The forum of the Pacific Island Civil Society Consultation on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is a response by civil society stakeholders strongly endorsing dignity for safe, orderly and regular migration into and from the Pacific Region. The said regional consultation was organized in Fiji from November 2 to 3, 2017, by leading civil society organizations such as the Migrant Forum in Asia, Justice and Peace, Sydney Asia Pacific Migration Center and others. The Asia Pacific International Young Christian Workers movement was represented by Nanang Ibrahim. 

The forum gathered representatives from non-governmental organizations, youth movements, trade unions, educational institutions, the business sector, and other individuals who deliberated the key issues on human rights and good governance relating to the implementation process of the UN Global Compact on Migration.