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	Migrant workers in Malaysia alarmed by Government threat to withhold 20% of their salaries by Joanna Ewart-James Freedom United, agencies   Feb. 2019   Migrant workers in Malaysia are facing a new threat: the government wants to deduct 20% of their salaries in a move to prevent them from running away from their employers.   Shockingly, Malaysia's Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran believes this is 'win-win' for both workers and employers. Yet this plan moves Malaysia in the opposite direction of stopping bonded labor and violates fundamental labor rights.   Migrant workers who have done absolutely nothing wrong do not deserve to be punished.   Act now to reject 20% wage deductions   'If workers are given a decent wage, decent work environment and a decent life, why would the employers fear their workers running away? That's a vital question that needs to be answered', said Glorene Das, the executive director of Tenaganita.   Migrant workers in Malaysia - largely from Indonesia, Nepal, and Bangladesh - often owe thousands of dollars in exploitative recruitment fees. Taking away one-fifth of their income will make them even more vulnerable to debt bondage, a form of modern slavery where workers are forced to work to pay off a debt.   The Malaysian government says workers wages would be held by the Social Security Organization, and that they can claim them when their work permits expire and they leave the country.   On the verge of tears, Mahesh, a Nepali factory worker, said that he already struggles to support his mother, wife, and children back home on his $250 a month salary.   He is over $1000 in debt to recruiters, and the threat of losing 20% of his wages is especially cruel and unwarranted.   'I have a family, and I have to eat and survive here.. What should I do?' he pleaded.   But as well as reducing already meager wages preventing some workers from leaving, this proposition would open the door for abusive employers to cancel the work permits of migrant workers who speak out, making it extremely difficult for them to retrieve withheld wages.   * Take action to support migrant workers in Malaysia via the link below. Visit the related web page
	A human-centred agenda needed for a decent future of work by IDS, ILO, agencies   Jan. 2019   The ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work has called on governments to commit to a set of measures in order to address the challenges caused by unprecedented transformational change in the world of work.   The commission outlines a vision for a human-centred agenda that is based on investing in people's capabilities, institutions of work and in decent and sustainable work.   Among the ten recommendations are:   A universal labour guarantee that protects fundamental workers rights, an adequate living wage, limits on hours of work and safe and healthy workplaces. Guaranteed social protection from birth to old age that supports people's needs over the life cycle.   A universal entitlement to lifelong learning that enables people to skill, reskill and upskill. Managing technological change to boost decent work, including an international governance system for digital labour platforms.   Greater investments in the care, green and rural economies. A transformative and measurable agenda for gender equality. Reshaping business incentives to encourage long-term investments.   "Countless opportunities lie ahead to improve the quality of working lives, expand choice, close the gender gap, reverse the damages wreaked by global inequality. Yet none of this will happen by itself. Without decisive action we will be sleepwalking into a world that widens existing inequalities and uncertainties," the report stresses.   It outlines the challenges caused by new technology, climate change and demography and calls for a collective global response to the disruptions they are causing in the world of work.   Artificial intelligence, automation and robotics will lead to job losses, as skills become obsolete. However, these same technological advances, along with the greening of economies will also create millions of jobs - if new opportunities are seized.   The report is the culmination of a 15-month examination by the 27-member commission, which is made up of leading figures from business and labour, think tanks, academia, government and non-governmental organizations.   The ILO Global Commission Report on the Future of Work is an important contribution to global understanding of the changes occurring and that will continue to unfold in the world of work. The report should stimulate engagement and partnerships within and between national and regional jurisdictions to ensure that the global economy and global society becomes more equitable, just and inclusive.   At the same it should inspire global action to contain or eliminate challenges that humanity has inflicted on itself in the course of history.   The world of work is undergoing great changes. Governments, trade unions and employers need to work together, to make economies and labour markets more inclusive.   The report also highlights the role the ILO should play in the development and delivery of the 'human-centred economic agenda' in the international system and calls on the organization to give urgent attention to the implementation of the report's recommendations.   'The issues highlighted in this report matter to people everywhere and to the planet', commented ILO Director-General Guy Ryder. 'They may be challenging but we ignore them at our peril'.   http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/future-of-work/brighter-future/lang--en/index.htm http://www.ituc-csi.org/ILO-Global-Commission-Future-of-Work-Report-Centenary http://bit.ly/2RMjjMe http://www.social-protection.org/gimi/gess/ShowMainPage.action http://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/technology/automation-davos-world-economic-forum.html   Jan. 2019   Precarious work leads to precarious lives, writes Sinead Pembroke from Ireland.   Often, policymaker narratives focus on the unemployment figures declining, yet we are seeing more and more workers experiencing or being at risk of in-work poverty, especially through precarious work.   Precarious Work, Precarious Lives: how policy can create more security - a report recently published by FEPS and the Irish think tank TASC - describes how precarious work is not just a labour-market matter, as it has far reaching consequences beyond the workplace.   The report, based on the evidence of precarious workers living in Ireland, reveals that, although such insecurity is prevalent throughout Europe, Ireland differs because of the lack of universal access to state services, such as healthcare and childcare.   Ireland has a 'two-tier' system of social supports: there are those who meet the means-tested eligibility criteria to be subsidised by the state and those who do not. Those who do not are assumed to be able to afford healthcare services. Ireland's lack of housing security - such as a social housing programme and an affordable rental model would provide - exacerbates the experience of precarious workers.   The report finds that, when it comes to access to healthcare, precarious work has a negative impact because of the triple financial burden of ill-health: unpaid sick leave, the General Practitioner (GP) fee and the cost of medication or follow-up appointments. This often results in making difficult choices, such as cutting down on food to be able to pay the fee.   Most precarious workers cannot afford private health insurance, unless a family member pays. Therefore, in Ireland many are covered by neither public nor private healthcare services, because they are just above the threshold for a medical or GP card providing free access.   When it comes to securing a home, precarious workers speak about being precluded from purchasing a property, with many forced to live in their family home because they cannot afford to rent or buy. For others, renting is the only option, even though viewed as unaffordable, unsustainable and insecure. The combination of rising rents and forced evictions leads to extensive periods of hidden homelessness.   Finally, many put off having children because of their precarious work situation. Therefore, starting a family is no longer a personal choice for precarious workers, because they are being forced to make their choice based on their work situation. For those who have children, childcare costs are described as unaffordable, sometimes resulting in a parent being forced to give up their job to look after their children full-time.   If precarious work is failing to lift people out of poverty, then what changes are required? Although there is EU-level consensus that something needs to be done about this phenomenon, the prevalence of precarious work is different in each country.   Furthermore, each has its own legislative system, laws and social support mechanisms. While at an EU level the directive is the predominant tool used to regulate precarious work, it is up to each member state to decide how to implement such laws/regulations.   A combination of measures is needed to address precarious work:   EU directives and national legislation need to protect the standard employment relationship and confront the insecurity and unpredictability associated with non-standard employment, low pay and low-hours work. The deficit in universal coverage of vital healthcare and childcare in the EU needs to be addressed, accompanied by policy responses to tackle the housing crisis.   Social-protection systems across Europe should cover all workers and not just employees, promoting a job-quality approach rather than using punitive measures to force job-seekers into taking poorly paid and precarious jobs.   Industrial relations and trade unions have a major role to play in mitigating precarious work legislation is required to strengthen the power and resources of enforcement agencies and consolidate the bargaining power of workers and unions.   When precarious work is discussed at a policy level, we often hear of the need for 'flexibility' for employers. But the detrimental consequences these insecure and unpredictable working conditions have on peoples lives are not considered. We should not be afraid to say that business needs should not come before workers needs: not only should work pay, but work should be conducive to family life and the mental and physical well-being of every worker should be assured.   * Sinead Pembroke is a senior researcher at the Think-tank for Action on Social Change (TASC), specialising in working conditions and precarious work.   http://www.socialeurope.eu/precarious-work-precarious-lives http://www.socialeurope.eu/inequality-and-unions   Sep. 2017   Women set to lose out most from automation of jobs, with poorest bearing the brunt - Institute of Development Studies (UK)   The Institute of Development Studies is calling on world leaders to urgently address how decent work for all - an agreed UN Global Goal - will be achieved by 2030, amid the threat that digital technologies will cause mass future job losses around the world.   The International Labour Organization (ILO) found that the jobs of 56 per cent of the total workforce in Cambodia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia are at risk of being taken over by robots.   Workers in the garment manufacturing industry are especially vulnerable, the majority of which are women. The impact could be even worse on the predominately female informal sector workers such as domestic workers or agricultural labourers, in low-middle income countries.   Overall, it's reported that while men stand to gain one job for every three lost to technological advances, women are expected to gain just one for every five jobs lost.   Estimates show that as many as 85 per cent of jobs in Ethiopia and a substantial share of the workforce in countries such as China (77%), Thailand (72%) and Nigeria (65%) are susceptible to automation (Frey et al 2016).   IDS research finds that governments, businesses and global institutions are not prepared for such large scale rapid technological change and are failing to put in place measures to cope with its impact.   Without adequate policies in place economic and digital inequalities between men and women in some of the poorest countries will be exacerbated. There is already a significant gender gap with women in developing countries about 50 per cent less likely to have access to the internet than men and around a third less likely to access the internet via a mobile phone (Web Foundation 2015). A 2016 study also found that just 36 per cent of the tech sector jobs in the US are held by women (US EEOC 2016).   IDS is calling for policy changes at national, regional and global levels to prepare for the digital future ahead and ensure digital education opportunities are available to girls, with a focus on lifelong learning to equip women to work with new technologies.   Professor Melissa Leach, Director of the Institute of Development Studies, says: 'New technologies present amazing opportunities for innovation and efficiency, but their disruptive nature also poses a threat to many workers around the world, particularly for women in some of the poorest countries whose jobs could be most at risk'.   'To have any hope of achieving the Global Goal of decent work for all and gender equality by 2030, the leaders urgently need to put policies in place to prepare for the huge changes increased automation and AI will bring. They also need to address the widening digital inequalities and skills gaps that exist for many women and for vulnerable groups around the world, who are at risk of being left behind as this fourth industrial revolution takes hold'.   http://www.ids.ac.uk/press-releases/women-set-to-lose-out-most-from-automation-of-jobs-with-poorest-bearing-the-brunt/ Visit the related web page
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