Transcontinental Cooperation in Addressing Labour Conditions and Labour Relations in the Times of Economic Crisis and Social Reforms

The goal of this initiative is to propose an integrated approach to improve the material, social and political situation of workers in non-standard labor conditions. This population has suffered very serious deterioration in their living conditions, including a very high exposure to the risk of poverty, even serious risk of famine in some areas of Mexico and aggravation of general conditions of health. The target group is only weakly protected by the law, or not at all; moreover, inefficiency of democratic institutions lessen people’s trust in the state-of-law.

Transcontinental exchange of knowledge and experience and peer learning will strengthen the capacities of both partners for addressing the issues of the hardening of labor conditions. Cooperation between Mirovni inštitut-Peace Institute and CEDI-Unitierra will combine various bottom-up and top-down approaches that both partners have developed in the past. Cooperation will lead to the invention of new solutions how to empower the workers in non-standard employment. In the frame of the pilot project partners will launch a new initiative which has not been tried before in such an integrated approach. This approach, we believe, will in the long-term generate better policies and attitudes on the side of public authorities and employers, and better practices by the people themselves.

Partners intend to build up a compound service for supporting the workers in non-standard employments as their long-term engagement. New local infrastructures will offer a wide range of support with in-house assistance to persons concerned including legal service, advocacy of their interests when confronting public authorities, field research of less known social practices and the raising of public awareness. The initiative will bring an important transformation in the approach and in the content of previous partners’ activities. It will be an important step forward on the basis of the past research and activist experience for the development of new capacities in response to the new social needs.

The pilot project will initiate the setting up of suitable local infrastructure. During the project, partners will carry out all preparatory activities (interviews, policy analysis, mapping etc. according to their needs) necessary for setting up their infrastructures in the future.

More information: https://www.mirovni-institut.si/labour