COVID 19 : International Workers’ Survey

MOROCCO The state has taken advantage of the pandemic to aggravate its repressive policies, violence and arbitrary arrests, budget cuts in the health budget itself, and corruption in the markets and in the aid to the health sector

12 février 2021

The pandemic has had catastrophic consequences on the Moroccan population, be it political, economic, social or cultural. 

Politically, the state has taken advantage of the pandemic to aggravate its repressive policies, repressive practices by the authorities, violence and arbitrary arrests, budget cuts even in the health budget itself, and acts of corruption in the markets and in the aid to the health sector.

Economically, almost all the vital economic sectors have been frozen. The rate of development has gone down to below 0 %; there has been an increase of the foreign debt, with the state resorting to foreign debt seven times in the course of just two months, exports have diminished, which has increased the trade deficit, and depleted foreign currency reserves, which has left the State unable cover its imports..

Socially, increased poverty rate, the number of poor people has risen to 24 million citizens, among whom those belonging to the middle classes. Public services have been frozen, education, healthcare, etc., except for those services directly related to the pandemic.

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GERMANY « With the « rescue plan » of 1.3 trillion euros, they accepted the bases for the banks and capitalists to organize hundreds of thousands of layoffs »

29 décembre 2020

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With the almost unanimous decision of March 25, when all the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag accepted the "recovery plan" which at the time amounted to about 1300 billion euros, the bases were in place for the banks and capitalists to organize hundreds of thousands of layoffs under the control of the banks, speculation and hedge funds, etc., which grant the loans, but which above all are manoeuvring to decide whether or not to grant them. 

And this at our expense, at the expense of workers who have been forced into partial unemployment by the millions (6.7 million workers in partial unemployment in May, who receive only 60 to 67 % of their last net salary), as well as precarious workers, temporary workers and part-time workers, who have been reduced to unemployment by the hundreds of thousands. There were indeed 6.3 million unemployed in October. The number of officially unemployed in October 2020 was 2.76 million 556,000 more than in 10/2019, to which must be added 3.552 million workers in "underemployment" (according to the ILO definition) – 420,000 more than in 10/2019. A further sharp increase is expected in the winter months. The budgets of the Länder, and even more so the municipal budgets, have been organized in such a way as to provide for "restrictions on municipal services" – with incalculable consequences for public services and the socalled welfare state. 

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BENIN Activities have Slowed Down Especially for those Working in the Informal Sector – Workers are Managing to Protect themselves from the Danger Around them

21 décembre 2020

In Benin, the working class has been hit hard by the crisis linked to the COVID 19 pandemic. 

Since March 2020, activities have slowed down in many sectors, especially for those working in the informal sector. Workers are managing to protect themselves from the danger around them. Accompanying measures adopted by the government have mainly targeted a portion of small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Public sector workers were not affected at all by the social measures. However, the price of transport and basic necessities has been increased. 

Concerning employment, the private sector and the informal sector have been adversely affected by COVID. Some bank branches were suspended for 3 to 4 months, or closed permanently. Many small businesses in transportation and catering put their employees out of work. Unfortunately, we do not have figures to illustrate this. 

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INDONESIA « 67% workers were still obligated to go to work. However, 25% of them did not received any protective equipment, such as hand-washing facilities, and disinfectants from the factory »

12 décembre 2020

During pandemic of Covid 19, Indonesian government published some policy that against workers right. 

In the middle of March, the Minister of Manpower issued circular letter which legitimate the cut of wage and furlough. Many workers that employed with short term contract found it was even worse. They were being laid off without compensation. Besides, based on online survey we conducted at the end of March to early April, 67% workers were still obligated to go to work. However, 25% of them did not received any protective equipment, such as hand-washing facilities, and disinfectants from the factory. 

The Ministry of Manpower stated that over 3,5 million workers have been laid off during the pandemic, while KADIN (Indonesian Chamber of Commerce & Industry) claimed the number reached 6,4 million. 

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THAILAND “The people want a political reform, and the first step is to oust the military junta”

9 décembre 2020

It began among students and young people. The military regime that has been in place since 2014 (1) imposed a dark period for the democratic movement. The "flash mobs" of February 2020 (2) gave new hope. The second stage of the mobilization took place in the summer of 2020, when new strata of students and youth mobilized, contradicting a common belief that youth were largely apolitical. [...]

AUSTRALIA Australia Asia Worker Links « Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost »

5 décembre 2020

1) What have the consequences of the health crisis for the population been – especially for the working class? What has the COVID impact been on employment, how many jobs have been lost?

Australia, being an island, was able to shut its borders totally before the virus was able to take hold internally.

As of late October, there were almost 28,000 Covid-19 infections recorded in Australia, with just over 900 deaths.

The state of Victoria has been the worst affected with just over 20,000 infections and around 820 deaths.

Most of the deaths have been of people over 60 years of age.

The major outbreaks have affected the aged care sector, plagued by cost cutting and insecure work, and those working in the hospitality sector and health care.

The former due to the insecure nature of their employment, the latter due to their constant exposure of the virus from patients.

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CANADA “Unanimous vote in Parliament: 107 billion dollars for the banks and bosses”

12 octobre 2020

What are the effects of the pandemic?
 
The death-toll of the Covid-19 has reached 9,636. By mid-June, health workers infected by the virus represented 25% of the cases that had been declared since the beginning of the pandemic.
 
Hospital workers complain of the lack of personal protective equipment, especially face-masks and other such protective equipment. In Canada, a federal State, the health sector depends on provincial governments, whose only action is to impose such measures as wearing masks and respecting social distancing.
 
No provincial government has instituted a systematic screening programme, has devised ways to accommodate contaminated people, to massively recruit doctors and medical staff [...]

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