Brussels (IYCW News) – In the midst of the cries and screams of millions of contract workers who have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IYCW continues to speak out to the world at the International Labour Conference which has been taking place virtually at the ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Ana Cecilia Salazar, a leader of the YCW Americas Team, took the floor at the labour conference bringing her lament about the fate of a contract worker from Peru who lost her job due to the pandemic. "I had a temporary contract. When the lockdown was decreed, the company suspended the work. The contract will end and there will be 50 of us young people jobless," Ana read aloud as she shared the testimony of the Peruvian contract worker.

Contract workers are the most vulnerable workers and the first to be fired when the company has to terminate the employment relationship. In her statement, which was read from Peru, Ana emphasized that the phenomenon of easy layoffs for contract workers occurs in almost all countries and has affected millions of contract workers worldwide. This form of work, as well as all forms of precarious and informal work related to online platforms, is increasing even more in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Brussels (IYCW News) – Basma Doka Louis, the African YCW coordinator, read a statement at the International Labour Conference (ILC) addressing one of the main topics in the conference in the social protection committee - A recurrent discussion on the strategic objective of social protection (social security), under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on social Justice for a Fair Globalization.

In her statement, she emphasized that young workers need to feel valued by living a recognized life. The full implementation of ILO convention 102 and recommendation N. 202 is crucial in order to guarantee a just social protection system for all.

Basma also shared the testimony of a restaurant worker in Australia who was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: “I was working in the restaurant as a cook. When Covid hit and the government provided a form of crisis social security payment, I was not eligible for it and the business let me go. I had to depend on charity events for food and groceries. It impacted my mental health.” The statement was read out from Egypt in a virtual ILC.

 IMPACT_OF_COVID-19_EN.pdf