Solidarity in Action: volunteer for us!
NSCAG News |
on: Monday, 29 August 2011
Jessenia is a street vendor in Nicaragua and a young member of the Informal sector workers union CTCP
- Do you want to make a real difference?
- Are you passionate about Nicaraguan and Latin American issues?
- Are you interested in trade union solidarity?
NSC and NSCAG are recruiting volunteers in the following areas:
Translations (Spanish to English)
At NSC / NSCAG we have a commited but very small staff team. There are so many stories we like to tell you about the work being done in Nicaragua... But we need your help to be able to get across that message!
NSCAG is building the link between Nicaraguan and UK trade unions. Now more than ever we need your support and solidarity to make sure that Nicaragua's process within ALBA and its progressive trade unions can become stronger and more sustainable.
One of such progressive unions is the CTCP, the Informal Workers Union in Nicaragua. It is affiliated to the FNT (equivalent to the TUC in the UK) and has a membership of 45,000. Informal sector workers work in very difficult conditions and are socially marginalized. They are also a large percentage of the Nicaraguan work force, comprising 60 to 65% of the economically active population, the majority of which are women.
After eight years of active organising they are prepared for a new stage of development. They are developing a market based on solidarity and social responsibility through small businesses. To be able to get this far they had to create their own support system, including mutual health organisations which sell medicines at a subsidised price. With the support from the government's Institute of Education, 135 union members are studying, including twenty members who are in higher education and six who are studying in Cuba.They have also started to be incorporated into the social security system.
Jessenia (pictured above) said: “Young people who work at the traffic lights get very little help, but this year they have helped us more because there was no support for young people at all, and you always had to pay for your studies. Now those who don’t study, it’s because they don’t want to. Now there are more opportunities to study and the CTCP has taken an interest in the youth and the self employed workers. I am not going to spend my whole life here at the traffic lights. I want to work in a company or be an administrator in a company or be in an office and in that way I can also help young people that want to learn”
Jessenia is referring to the FNT run special Primary and Secondary School in Managua for workers who have not been able to finish school. These schools were set up in the context of the regional ALBA agreements, some of which also include partnerships with technical training institutions and universities in other countries like Cuba and Venezuela where the workers and their children can get scholarships for technical and university education.
So...
If you want to help us tell these stories and strengthen our links with Nicaraguan Trade Unions
If you really want to make a difference, whilst you learn valuable skills and gain work experience, this is by far your best opportunity!
Solidarity is about taking action, will you be up for it?
If you want to find out more of our current projects or other ways in which you can help, contact Gabriela Quevedo at nscag@nicaraguasc.org.uk
