Let’s get moving for Decent Work!
Germany

City where the action takes place: Berlin
Date of the action: 06-10-2011
Level of the action: International
Name of the organisation: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Contact person: Hendrikje Grunow - decentwork@fes.de

Jobs are no longer a guarantee for the livelihood of our future generations. The number of young people working in precarious employment relationships is growing and the number of workers in the informal economy and in contractual employment relationships is on the rise worldwide. More than an estimated 150 million young people in developing countries fall under the category of the working poor who live in extreme poverty despite having a job. Even academic education does not assure decent work: Highly-qualified young people around the globe have to accept underpaid jobs in order to have any income at all.

Youth unemployment has been steadily rising for more than a decade. During the global economic and financial crisis, unemployment figures increased by more than 20 million people. Especially young people were hit by the consequences of the crisis: At the end of 2009 the International Labour Organisation (ILO) announced that a record number of 81 million young people, aged 15 to 24, were unemployed. The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has alarmingly called the current youth a “lost generation”. Without a global political change towards making decent employment the centre of attention, societies are doomed to a severe crisis.

How can we support that the younger generations worldwide mobilise and voice their inter-ests? How to collect and give voice to proposals for the future-oriented forms of employment? What are socially and ecologically sustainable policy alternatives and inputs for governments? How can young people reach policy makers?

The German Confederation of Trade Union’s youth organisation (DGB Jugend) and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) hope to contribute to channelling the younger generation’s interests into the current political debates and build new foundations for decent work together. Jointly DGB Jugend and FES are organising a series of events described below to support this aim.

Speakers: Dorothee Zinke, chairwoman DGB Berlin-Brandenburg, Germany Hatem Laouini, Office of Young Workers, Labour Union, Tunesia Helena Schulz, CCOO Comisiones Obreras, Spain Giorgio Jackson, Students Movement, Chile (tbc)

Moderation: Wolf-Christian Ulrich, ZDF log in