Participation of ECWM to the COMECE Conference: "Building the future of work. A faith-based contribution to the initiative for the centenary of the ILO"

The European Christian Workers Movement (ECWM) has participated in the conference "Building the future of work. A faith-based contribution to the initiative for the centenary of the ILO" that has been convened by the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) on November 27, in Brussels.

The world of work faces profound changes. Digitization, the acceleration of globalization, artificial intelligence and the need for an ecological transition alter the conditions and the concept of work and employment. To respond to these challenges, the International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the Initiative on the Future of Labour as part of the centenary of this UN agency scheduled for 2019.

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ECWM Yearly Seminar in Birmingham, UK: "Digital work - working anytime, anywhere - impact on workers and their families"

From 18 to 20 October 2018 the annual ECWM Seminar was held in Birmingham (England) with the theme: "Digital work - working anytime, anywhere - impact on workers and their families".

We gathered representatives of 12 Christian workers' movements from 10 European countries to discuss the impact of digital technologies on people, families and social life.

The seminar took place in different working dynamics: communication of experiences and testimonies, expert presentations, group work, plenary dialogues, etc.

The seminar has been structured in three parts: SEE, JUDGE and ACT. This is the formative pedagogy proper to our movements.

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MCW England: "Unworkable workplaces" - New issue of MCW Review

Back in September 2014 the MCW Review featured an article by a Primary School Teacher and her colleagues sharing their experiences of working life. It describes how some had chosen to go part-time just so that they didn‟t have to work weekends which is what the result of full-time teaching actually meant in practice. The demands of work time and balancing family life meant exhausted teachers. Now, 4 years later newspaper headlines point to the fact that there is an “out flux” of teachers lining up to leave (Guardian Education, 10th April 2018). This June edition mirrors the same phenomena, albeit highlighting how the demands of the workplace are affecting the health of workers.

Various political parties have supported quotas being introduced into public services and contracted-out services; companies have set up exacting timescales of service provision, delivery and response times which have met with general popular approval. As a result, expectations have risen within the general population. However, these populist measures when introduced failed to acknowledge that whilst we are customers, travellers, students, patients, we are also the workers who have to provide and maintain this same level of immediate service demand. Individuals can allocate themselves or be allocated into particular compartments where they become at odds with each other and themselves particularly when, simultaneously, funding and resources are cut for a variety of reasons. Unsustainable and unworkable are words repeated as article after article in various newspapers refer to the widespread recognition of work-related stress. Long hours; not in control of how the job or role is carried out; no input into how the job could be improved; working towards goals and quotas that are more quantifiable than qualitative; all contribute to the stress factors being identified in too many places of work.

The statistics from the Health & Safety Executive reported in this edition underlies the presentation contents given at the various meetings marking International Workers‟ Memorial Day. The lost working days because of work demands demonstrate the conditions, pressure and obligations being made on and met by workers. Elizabeth, a young woman, set on being a good doctor and looking after those who needed health care could only come to one conclusion to save her own sanity: to leave; to walk away. Her article is telling in many ways. It highlights how, when pushed to step up and speak out; to stand up for yourself and those around you it results in a blame game. Consequently, solidarity is lost and the individual is isolated as if it is only their problem. Thus, any fundamental issue shaping all their lives gets lost and at the very least the workplace is fractured or, at worst, broken. Dr Caroline Elton is author of “Also Human: The inner Lives of Doctors”. One reviewer of this book, Rosie McConachie, seems to capture and sum up exactly the issues which Elizabeth was conveying, “the book looks at the ways the system fails doctors and medical students and to some extend the ways some doctors fail one another.”

The MCW welcomed Otto Meier and Toni Santamaria in preparation for the European Seminar taking place in Birmingham during October 2018. With the theme Digital Work, anytime, anywhere and its impact on workers and their families the experiences in this edition, although not specifically about digitalisation, are more than likely to be replicated and will inevitably beg the question how we can protect the rights of all workers.

Download MCW Review n°65 (PDF)

"Decent work for a good life for all", A Statement of ECWM on the occasion of the World Day for Decent Work, October 7th

Also available:         

(Outcome of the ECWM seminar on "Decent Work and Precarious Employment" held from 12 to 15 July 2017 in Avila, Spain)

We find that:

Many people around the world are living in unworthy conditions because their basic needs are not guaranteed. They have no access to land, work and housing, which prevents them from enjoying a good life. The globalization of the economy has not had as a consequence a globalization of social rights. The power of multinational corporations in many ways makes it impossible to implement policies that are more respectful of the convictions of the people. Capitalism often drives forward a type of economic progress that does not involve social and environmental accountability. Work is gradually being replaced by precarious employment which, on the one hand, affects people’s health and, on the other, pushes them away and out of society. People are not given the same opportunities in life. Poverty and hunger continue to increase. Many are forced to leave their homeland, because of war and destruction or of poverty. The fate of refugees and migrants shows how unfair the current global economic order is. "This economy kills!" said Pope Francis in his apostolic letter Evangelii Gaudium.

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ECWM SEMINAR AND CONGRESS IN AVILA (Spain) Decent work and precarious jobs in Europe

Sixty participants from 11 European countries meet from 12th to 15^th July at the CITES (Teresian-Sanjuanist International Centre) of the diocese of Avila to hold the annual seminar and General Congress of the European Christian Worker Movement (ECWM).

The seminar, which is being held for the second consecutive year in the city of Avila, focuses its contents, on this occasion, in the European situation regarding decent work and the alarming increase in precariousness throughout the continent.

The first part of the seminar will focus on analysing from personal experiences the consequences of the changes taking place in the labour world. KWB Belgium activists and members of the HKD Napredak organisation in Bosnia will also be present. There will also be a space for reflection and debate on the situation of migrants and refugees in the face of the desperate situation facing so many people and the almost absolute stagnation of European institutions. This moment will be accompanied by Alberto Plaza, Jesuit, director of Pueblos Unidos and member of the Jesuit Service to migrants in Spain.

A second part will address the role of the ILO and workers' organisations in achieving decent work. Bernard Thibault, who was secretary general of the CGT between 1999 and 2013, will participate. He is now a member of the ILO board of directors of France.

The priest Gerard Müller, ECWM accompanier, will consider a look at the labour world from the Word of God and the social doctrine of the Church. After this intervention the work groups will be started to deepen the situation addressed in the expositions.

On Friday the 14^th, the participants of the seminar will visit two decent work experiences in Avila. They will know about the work carried out by Diocesan Caritas in supporting the creation of small businesses and the Special Employment Centre for people with disabilities, La Casa Grande de Martiherrero. At the end of these visits a street action is planned and participants, despite linguistic limitations, will approach the citizens of Avila to get their opinion on decent work.

At the end of the seminar the ECWM Congress will begin and will focus its work on the preparation of the General Congress of the World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW) to be held in the days following the European meeting.

For further information, please contact Manolo Copé, ECWM coordinator, at +34650574823.