From 16 to 17 June 2022 took place in Namur / Belgium a seminar about “The social and human consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on support and supervision measures for the inclusion of the most vulnerable groups”, organised by CET Namur (Centre Européen du Travail Namur), with the support of EZA and funded by the European Union.
The consequences of the COVID pandemic, whether seen from the perspective of Belgium or the other Member States involved in this seminar, may be useful for the whole EU.
Rather than lamenting the dramatic effects of COVID on society in general and on the systems of living organisations, it is appropriate to focus on the role - sometimes accelerating - that the pandemic has imposed on all stakeholders forced to look at the socio-economic reality as it is.
A positive awakening requires concrete societal, economic, behavioural, structural and emotional actions to be taken for the benefit of users.
One of the immediate revelations of the pandemic is that situations of precariousness, poverty and issues of inclusion/exclusion must be addressed urgently. The seminar placed particular emphasis on homeless women who are increasingly adopting avoidance strategies that keep them off the welfare radar.
1. A working method that is fully transferable to the EU Member States was proposed by the Working Group Social Impact of the Belgian Federal Public Service of Social Security:
- While statistics on employment, health, social actions, education, etc. usually take a long time to be published and available, in this case the data collection is now done almost in real time with a direct view of the socio-economic impacts of COVID.
- Socio-economic data is collected with the support of experts from the field, civil society, trade unions and associations operating in the field.
- The advantage of having statistical data based on real-time field situations feeds into policy-driven action plans in the short term.
2. During lock down, public space was forbidden and socially deserted. The social link was lost for homeless people with serious consequences for the situation of women in precarious situations and even for women in shelters. The findings of the speakers on the second panel were convergent: an increase in domestic violence, a decline in the practice of sharing domestic tasks to the detriment of women, problems between couples amplified by the lock down and health restrictions, widespread teleworking, a drop in income from work or social benefits calculated on the basis of salaries leading to precariousness...
Among the solutions highlighted:
- The creation of shelters open only to homeless women with reception and support staff well trained in women's issues.
- Setting up a homelessness observatory to document the situation and propose solutions to be implemented by politicians;
-Women are the losers of the pandemic although they have been described as heroes in the treatment of the pandemic. It is important to implement existing legislation on equal pay, equal treatment at work and in society, eradication of violence and harassment both at work and in society.
- It was proposed to act on different legislative instruments such as:
- “The directive on the transparency of remuneration between men and women”, which must be strengthened;
- The directive on the balance between work and family life to trigger a real change towards a revaluation of care work - unpaid and paid. An ambitious transposition of this directive must be demanded in the different MS for the benefit of all workers.
- Efforts must be made in all Member States to set up quality childcare facilities accessible to all workers, especially the most vulnerable in search of training;
- Telework must be seen as a tool for positive flexibility and not as a remedy for the lack of childcare places or as a sticking plaster for failing worker mobility policies;
- The lack of enforcement of workplace harassment laws must be addressed;
- ILO C 190 on violence and harassment should be ratified and transposed in all EU Member States by any appropriate legislative means;
At the political and institutional level, the Federal Government of Belgium has put in place an action plan on gender mainstreaming measures, requiring public authorities to carry out gender analyses at all levels of action, to produce reports on the concrete implementation of actions undertaken to measure the impact of the policies envisaged on women. This type of practice, which can raise awareness of the delay in implementing gender equality, can be a source of inspiration in the EU Member States.
3. The opinions of the training organisations converge on the point that if the effects of the health crisis have made it possible to develop "technological agility" among trainees and trainers, it is illusory to believe that it is possible to renounce the benefits of face-to-face training and apprenticeships. The work environment, like that of training, is an environment where the group has its place, if only for reasons of capturing the attention of learners or detecting the dangers of dropping out or giving up. Alongside these risks, we must not ignore the issue of the digital divide in its various aspects, nor the loss of contacts and therefore of rights that the digitalisation of services entails for weak and precarious users. A culture of service and support must follow the dematerialisation of public services.