2015-10-05
Over 50 participants at the 2nd edition of the European Social ForumIn October 1-4, 2015 the second European Social Forum took place in Cluj-Napoca. The event, organized with the support of the European Commission by the Economic and Social Training Institute and Europäisches Zentrum für Arbeitnehmerfragen (EZA), reunited organizations and participants from Germany, Malta, Portugal, The Netherlands, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Spain, Estonia, Croatia, Macedonia, Denmark, Belgium and Romania.
Among the speakers, there were members of the European Parliament and experts having a vast experience in the fields of employment and education. Speeches were delivered by Mr. Claude Rolin (Belgium, member of the European Parliament), Mrs. Ilona Borg (Malta, expert in youth projects), Mr. Jose Manuel Cordeiro (Portugal, teacher at the ISIG-COCITE Institute), Mr. Henryk Schärfe (Denmark, researcher at the University of Aalborg) and Mrs. Sigrid Schraml (EZA Secretary General).
The event was successful, participants concluded that YEI - Youth Employment Initiative will contribute to reinserting the youth in the labour market and to their attending training activities. The funds coming from the Youth Employment Initiative can be used to support activities such as ensuring a first employment experience, organizing internship and apprenticeship programmes, additional education and training activities, subsidies for wages and recruitment, support in setting up new businesses for young entrepreneurs and, last but not least, to provide curricula for early school dropouts.
In the workshop dedicated to precarious work prevention, it was highlighted that equal work should correspond to equal pay and equal rights, irrespective of employment contract type, employee nationality or gender. Any employee should have the right to social benefits and conditions that apply in the country where one works. The export of lesser conditions and a lower pay together with workers is to the disadvantage of individuals, families, companies and communities. Employment relationships should be streamlined and correlated so that they would be transparent, clear and prevent abuse.
Another important issue debated in the European Social Forum ”Quality Jobs for the Youth” addressed the challenges encountered by the workforce as regards robotization, which will cause, together with technological advancement and automation, significant changes on the labour market in the following 20-30 years. It is estimated that over 20% of the existing jobs are at the risk of being replaced, particularly those that involve repetitive operations. Less vulnerable activities are those in engineering and science, in the health sector, IT, financial services, education and legal.
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