“Digitalisation is the way I can keep contact with my friends during the pandemic. But digitalisation is also the reason why people cannot keep their free time and their working time apart. It is the reason why I feel pressured to not only answer every little message, but to answer it within a few minutes. Digitalisation is a complex issue which demands a complex discussion.”
The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a worsening of the social problems faced by the working class at the international level. The pandemic has affected almost all areas of the world of work, with the risk of transmission of the virus in the workplace, and it has affected the daily life of society on a global scale.
The reorientation of multinational, regional and national work systems towards new modalities such as digitalisation and the generalization of teleworking has offered false opportunities to workers and created risks of deregulation of all social and labour rights. The levels of unemployment, precariousness, and exclusion of a large part of young workers have increased alarmingly, while we see that the social security and protection systems that were created thanks to workers' solidarity are now being privatized or weakened by governments and employers who have opted for money rather than life.
On this May 1st, International Workers' Day, the International YCW wants to call on the working class, trade unions and social movements to take care of each other. The most precious good we possess is above all life. The defence and respect of the main human and labour rights in this situation of international vulnerability is a priority. Means and strategies must be put in place to increase solidarity with those who have less access to protection mechanisms and free public health care.
The IYCW also takes this opportunity to call on public opinion to demand that international institutions, states and employers create and invest in protection and security systems for workers, as well as in free and inclusive public health care in this time of global pandemic.
The legacy of the Chicago martyrs is not dead. Today, more than ever, it continues to light the way towards dignified work.
On this May 1st, the International YCW demands: #worklifeandaction
The International Secretariat of the IYCW
