WIEGO Blog

Après la grève pour demander entre autres la réduction de leur temps de travail à Chicago, il y a 133 ans, qui a donné lieu à la fête du Travail, le 1er mai, 2 milliards de travailleurs et travailleuses échappent encore à la réglementation en matière de temps de travail et de rémunération du surtemps.

133 years after the Chicago working-time strike that gave rise to May Day, 2-billion workers continue to fall outside regulations for working hours and over-time compensation. Informal workers – now the majority of the global workforce – are calling for much-needed protections to limit their working time, as well as child care, elderly care and social pensions.

May Day, or Workers’ Day, is the anniversary of the 1 May 1896, when striking workers in Chicago, USA, died while demanding an eight-hour working day. 

In Dakar, Senegal, women continue to face economic and social inequities — from illiteracy to poverty to gender discrimination — but it’s also true that change is happening. Informal women workers have decided that they can improve their position if they join hands with other women and organize to acquire new skills and assert their leadership.