We learn to defend our rights

When your rights are being violated, information and negotiation skills are the most appropriate tools to solve a dispute amicably. Taking this into account, for 2 days, 80 young people have studied their socio-economic rights that guarantee access to decent work and found out what are the tools which can help them in promotin and defending them within the training course ”Socio-economic rights of young people and social dialogue" carried out in May 2014, in Chisinau.

During the training the young participants had the opportunity to discuss with the representatives of the the Youth Council of the National Confederation of Trade Unions and the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Moldova.

Decent work starts with an employment contract

The right to be legally employed is provided for all, without exception. Hence, the other guarantees which an employee may benefit for - paid leave, medical and social insurance, maternity leave maintaining the job, sick leave and other benefits for cases of risk or injury. The lack of work experience, age, gender or other discriminatory considerations are not and should not be accepted as reasons for illegal employment or dismissal.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports, a methodological and financial partner of the project "Decent Work for YOUth", develops youth policies that come to support socio-economic rights of young people. "At this moment the task of the Ministry is to ensure an efficient cooperation between youth organizations and state structures. In this regard, now they are working on developing the national youth strategy, which focuses on four factors: employment of young people and supporting young entrepreneurs, strengthening the civic spirit by establishing the workbook for volunteers - which ensures registration of voluntary work as professional experience and support youth in the diaspora." said Ion Donea, Head of Youth Programs, within the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

During the training course, young people were informed about the legal rules that focus on these rights and to be able to appeal to them anytime if needed and learned how to recognize easier cases when they can be considered as violated.

"The advantage of being a member of trade union especially for young people starts from the moment of employment. We help them not to be discriminated, to negotiate their salary etc. Although it is a collective lawyer, not individual, trade union occurs when the employee's rights are violated. Just last year, 200 employees were restored to their jobs, when their individual employment contract was terminated by the employer. When an accident happens and the employer and the state inspector say that the employee is 100% guilty and he does not receive any compensation for loss of working capacity, we intervene and participate in the investigation of the case”.said Nicolae Suruceanu, the General Secretary of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova.

"When you work "illegally" you practically don’t exist. Nobody can protect you because you don’t appear anywhere. You can not include the experience in your CV, because no one will confirm that you worked with them. You don’t pay taxes and you can be fined. I'm glad I attended this training, because until now I haven’t clearly realized that accepting such conditions, you work against you” said one of the participants of the training.

 "I learned many nuances related to the individual employment contract, which I did not know before. There are aspects of the legislation that I didn’t really take into account. And I think that young people deserve to know and apply them. My role now, I think, is to share what I have learned today with my students" mentioned Corina Sirbu, French language teacher, trade union leader, Agroindustrial College, Ungheni.

No one can help you if you are silent

Also within the course, participants discussed about the importance of making themselves heard. Studies previously carried out within the project "Decent Work for YOUth" revealed that the majority of young respondents face the same type of problems, some of them have even innovative solutions to solve them, but don’t know whom to go in order to promote their interests. In this respect, within the training they learned how to have an effective dialogue with socio-economic actors: government, employers and trade unions and to make their voice heard. At the same time they have realized the importance of information dissemination held to form a common front with a greater number of young people like them.

"It is necessary to combine our efforts for young people to have the knowledge and the skills needed for becoming more active in social and economic development and in promoting their interests. So it's not enough just to know whom to address in case of violation of rights, but to come with proposals that would improve the situation and know what to do to get the change. For instance, employers require experience from young employees. The problem was heard and now the Government seeks to support companies offering internships of experience gathering for young people who are at the beginning of their career" said Stela Stratila-Sirbu, president of the Youth Council of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova.

Trade Unions are the first protective shield against infringements of socio-economic rights.

What is the trade union? What are its powers? How can such an organization be formed? How to identify the trade union leader who would promote the interests of all and why is it good to be a member of such an organization?

We've all heard of trade unions, but few could answer all these questions exhaustively. Even fewer realize the importance of organizations representing employees' rights in defending their rights at work and only a small number of people resort to the help of the trade unions. However, during the last year 200 employees were restored to work thanks to the intervention of the trade unions.

 "These trainings are highly welcome. They come with the necessary support to help young people to fight for their rights. Nowadays, the most important thing is to know where to look for information. Any training provides the basic idea, after which you orient yourself and look for what you need” said Dan Talpa, participant from Ungheni.

The training course "Socio-economic rights of young people and social dialogue" is part of the project "Decent work for YOUth – improving the social-economic situation of the young people in Moldova by empowering the youth and the civil society", implemented by Foundation CNV Internationaal, the Association for Children and Youth "Faclia" and the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova, a project funded by the European Union.