Beyond Insecurity: A New Approach to Work, Wages and Wealth Distribution

7:30 am EDT (GMT -4) – 9:30 AM

The COVID-19 pandemic has left hundreds of millions of precarious and informal workers on the brink of becoming destitute. In richer countries, some workers have received temporary income support, but many are now under pressure to return to work without adequate protection. With a deep recession looming, an alliance of national and global trade unions and associated support organizations, under the banner of Global Trade Union Assembly, have convened a symposium entitled Beyond Insecurity: A New Approach to Work, Wages and Wealth Distribution.

This virtual symposium, which took place on 27 August 2020, focused on what actions unions can take to encourage a major shift in social and economic priorities. During this session, workers’ organizations from the North and South and their allies and partners had the opportunity to discuss the implications of the pandemic while seeking out innovative ways to strengthen organizing and overall global worker solidarity.

This 2-hour virtual event was the fourth in a series seven webinars, the first of which was held in July. It was expected to attract up to 800 trade unionists. Informal worker organizations strategies and responses to COVID-19 were shared during this event.

Speakers

• Barbara Figueroa, President, Central Union of Workers (CUT) Chile and Secretary, Economic Policy and Sustainable Development, CSA- Trade Union Confederation of Workers of the Americas
• Elizabeth Tang, General Secretary, International Domestic Workers Federation (UDWF)
• Kao Poeun, Deputy General Secretary, Independent Democratic Association of Informal Economy (IDEA), Cambodia
• Nohra Padilla, Leader of the Bogota Association of Recyclers (ARB) and the Colombian National Association of Recyclers (ANR)
• John Mark Mwanika, Programme Officer, Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Uion of Uganda (ATGWU) and Chair, Urban Transport Committee, International Transport Workers Federation (ITF)
• Nicolas Caropresi, Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE) and Union of Workers in the Popular Economy (UTEP), Argentina
• Samantha Mason, Policy Officer, Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), UK