Tag: Employment

Research report on Roma access to decent and sustainable employment

ERGO Network launches its research report on Roma access to decent and sustainable employment

The European Roma Grassroots Organisations (ERGO) Network held its annual Policy Conference on 25 November, entitled “Implementing the EU Roma Strategic Framework. Roma access to decent and sustainable employment.” 

The Roma are more likely to experience discrimination in recruitment and in the workplace, to be paid less, to be offered precarious contracts, to be overlooked for promotions or learning opportunities, or to be given dangerous or unsuitable tasks. While overrepresented in unsustainable and exploitative forms of employment, the Roma are also underrepresented in trade union structures. Additionally, many Roma earn their livelihood from atypical or seasonal forms of work, which are not covered by adequate labour protection legislation and do not provide for employment rights and social security. Job creation efforts are not enough to provide the Roma with quality and secure jobs, and the great potential of social entrepreneurship is insufficiently supported.

The EU Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion, and Participation 2020 – 2030 includes, as one of its four sectoral objectives, “Increase effective equal access to quality and sustainable employment” by 2030, while the Council Recommendation on Roma Equality, Inclusion and Participation features a comprehensive section calling on Member States to “promote effective equal access for Roma, in particular young Roma, to quality and sustainable employment”. Access to quality and sustainable employment is extensively covered by the European Pillar of Social Rights (Social Pillar), chiefly in its Principles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, while decent work is Goal 8 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

During 2024, ERGO Network conducted in-depth national case studies in six countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain), looking at the realities of Roma employment and access to the labour market and the key barriers the Roma face when trying to access quality and sustainable jobs in these countries. Our members in Ireland provided additional benchmarking evidence. The main findings and recommendations were brought together in an EU synthesis report launched in the framework of the above-mentioned event.

Key messages of the synthesis report:

  1. A majority of Roma are not in paid work, at least not in the formal economy, nor are they adequately supported to enter the labour market. Urgent and significant investment is needed into integrated, personalised Active Inclusion approaches, combining income support with enabling services and Public Employment Services to have the necessary resources, staff, and training.
  2. The Roma who work are in poor-quality jobs with low pay, insecure contracts, unsafe working conditions, no access to training, and almost no trade union coverage. Countries need to develop and implement a comprehensive definition of job quality, covering all the aspects mentioned above, and ensure that it applies to all jobs, all sectors, and all workers. They also need to support and strengthen trade unions and collective bargaining.
  3. Antigypsyism is pervasive in recruitment as well as in the workplace. Much stronger anti-discrimination legislation is needed, coupled with effective implementation mechanisms and monitoring, anti-bias training for employers and recruiters, and broad campaigns to combat antigypsyism in society at large.
  4. Pushed to the margins of the labour market, the Roma make ends meet through the informal economy, pursuing traditional crafts, or seeking work abroad.Combating undeclared work needs to be done by regularising sectors and penalising rogue employers instead of poor workers; broader support schemes for self-employment and more protection for mobile workers are needed to prevent exploitation.
  5. Job creation efforts that would benefit the Roma are scarce – and while the social economy holds great potential for Roma employment, it is currently underutilised. More public investment is needed in locally accessible, community-rooted quality jobs, as well as supportive legislation and improved access to funding for social enterprises as a key tool for Roma employment, including the promotion of Roma social entrepreneurship.
  6. Participation of Roma communities and their civil society organisations is paramount in co-creating sustainable ways forward. Policymakers and labour market actors must cooperate closely with Roma stakeholders and their civil society representatives to ensure evidence-based solutions, support disaggregated data collection, foster common understanding, and bridge cultural gaps.

With this research, we aim to kick-start a debate with policy makers on improving the availability, accessibility, quality, sustainability, and inclusiveness of employment for Europe’s Roma.

For more information about ERGO Network’s work on Roma access to decent and sustainable employment, please contact Senior Policy Adviser Amana Ferro.

EC on strengthening social dialogue – What’s in it for Europe’s Roma?

European Commission releases initiative on strengthening social dialogue – What’s in it for Europe’s Roma?

On 25 January 2023, the European Commission put forward an initiative on strengthening social dialogue, aimed at empowering social partners to deliver on their role to ensure social fairness and democracy at work, and to boost Europe’s prosperity and resilience. The initiative includes a Council Recommendation, which sets out how EU countries can further strengthen social dialogue and collective bargaining at national level, as well as a Communication on reinforcing and promoting social dialogue at EU level.

ERGO Network has engaged with the preparation of this initiative during 2022, with a view to raise awareness on the specific concerns of Roma workers. We contributed to the call for evidence issued by the European Commission in October last year, based on our Snapshot on social dialogue and involvement of workers. We have reviewed the proposed initiative in light of this input.

  • Read our full response to the initiative here!

We warmly welcome this initiative of the European Commission to ensure that social dialogue continues to fulfil its key role for just, resilient, inclusive, and democratic societies, particularly at a time when several Members States are attempting to shrink trade union powers. However, the approach does not seem to be inspired by a view to contribute to inclusive labour markets, through supporting diversity and giving a voice to the most disenfranchised, including vulnerable groups.

We are very disappointed to note that there is no reference to Europe’s Roma in either the proposed Council Recommendation or the Commission communication. Moreover, there is no mention of ethnic minorities or ethnic background, or migrant or refugee workers, or other key groups of workers facing discrimination in employment. In fact, there is no mention of racism or discrimination in the two documents.

We further appreciate that the initiative clearly points out the decline in trade union coverage over the past three decades, however these findings are disaggregated by gender, but not by any other indicator relating for example to race and ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity etc. Equally disappointingly, the European Commission puts forward no proposals on how to improve trade union membership. This should have been a key objective of the initiative, as a means to strengthen legitimacy and credibility of social partners.

We salute that the initiative makes a strong plea for trade unions to take into account the emergence of new forms of employment including the self-employed, and to make efforts to include these workers in their structures. This can be very positive for Roma workers, often excluded from the traditional labour market due to widespread antigypsyism, and hence forced to engage in atypical forms of work to survive.

In the context of the evolving nature of labour markets, it is regrettable and inaccurate that both documents use “company” in an interchangeable way with “employer”, thus completely overlooking labour relations in the public and the third sector, where adequate social dialogue to protect workers’ rights is just as needed.

It is high time that the European Commission put forward a similar initiative, codifying, supporting and strengthening civil dialogue. Social fairness and democracy must be guaranteed for the whole of society, not just in the workplace.

Finally, we are pleased to see the European Commission’s commitment to promote social dialogue and collective bargaining in the context of the enlargement process, supporting candidate countries to strengthen their social dialogue processes.

For more information about our work on the Roma employment, please contact Amana Ferro (a.ferro@ergonetwork.org), Senior Policy Adviser in the ERGO Network staff.

Rights Experts of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (RE- CDWD)

Terms of Reference for

Rights Experts of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (RE- CDWD)

Context

Global Forum on Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (GFoD) is the global advocacy mechanism of Communities Discriminated on Work and Descent (CDWD). More than 260 million people across the world are discriminated on the basis of work and descent and are more commonly known as Dalits, Roma-Sinti, Quilombola, Burakumin, Oru, amongst many other names. Discrimination on Work and Decent (DWD) is a global phenomenon which lacks public recognition and acknowledgement and affected communities are among the most marginalised and excluded people. ERGO Network is a member organization of the GFoD ensuring the voice of Romani people from Europe.

Position Overview

GFoD is looking for 12 RE-CDWD to support global advocacy processes at the national, regional and global level. Two of those candidates will be working in close cooperation with the ERGO Network and will be recruited on the basis of requirements and qualifications listed below ensuring the knowledge about the Romani communities and related legal and policy backgrounds in European countries.

The positions are approximately 15 % Full Time Equivalent (FTE) or up to 20 hours per month.

Duties and responsibilities

    • Contribute to the development and implementation of the GFoD’s advocacy strategy.
    • High level of autonomy and responsiveness to engage in advocacy processes at national, regional and global level. Advocacy opportunities will include contributions to events organised by the UN Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC) and events related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
    • Author statements, critical interventions and articles or contribute to specific ideas and concept notes on the concerns of CDWD, particularly Roma, Sinti and Travellers as per the requirement of HLPF and other bodies.
    • Communicate regularly with the GFoD Secretariat and the ERGO Network and undertake national, regional and take part in global consultation processes with CDWD.
    • Participate and organise in capacity building processes.
    • Dedicate at least 2 full working days per month to this role.

Requirements and qualifications

In order of preference, characteristics and qualifications are listed below. Please note that given our preference for candidates, it is not an imperative that the person is fluent in English.

    1. Anchored and rooted in Communities Discriminated by Work and Descent (CDWD): Persons from Romani origin are highly encouraged to apply to this position. Women, LGBTQI+, youth and other underrepresented and marginalized groups from CDWD are highly encouraged to apply.
    2. Experience: Are social leaders within their own community with considerable experience in advocacy actions and processes at national, regional and international level. It is highly desirable that candidates are established human rights defender in their country/region/community and are experts in one particular field area related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, (Access to water and sanitation – SDG 6, decent work – SDG 8, Inequalities – SDG10 etc).
    1. Commitment: Candidates who have shown ongoing commitment and leadership to the cause of CDWD and Roma, Sinti and Travellers in particular are encouraged to apply
    1. Academic qualifications: Academic qualifications such as University qualifications, publications of book, articles or other journalistic work will be considered in the application process.

Recruitment and timeline

Please submit your applications to info@ergonetwork.org until the 07.05.2021 midnight CET with a subject line “GFoD Rights Expert – application”. Please submit your CV together with a one page over letter referencing relevant experience mentioned under Requirements and Qualifications. Interviews will start in the mid of May. We prefer applications in English.

Successful candidates will be appointed for a 12-month period with an initial 3 moth trial period.

Due to the high volume expected applications only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Call for an external evaluator

Call for external evaluator

ERGO Network is contracting an independent expert to evaluate its 2018-2021 work programme Roma Included in Social Europe funded by DG Employment’s EaSI Programme.

 

ERGO Network (www.ergonetwork.org) brings together over 30 members from across Europe and supports organisations with a common perspective on Roma grassroots empowerment and equal citizenship to challenge stereotypes and combat stigmatization. We mobilize and connect organisations and individuals that share and express our values – active citizenship, shared responsibility, and passion – to strengthen and empower Roma civil society involvement in decision-making at local, national and European level and to address existing shortcomings of policies targeted at Roma.

For the second time, we are supported by DG Employment through a 4-year Partnership Framework Agreement that allows us to work closely with our members and to advocate for better policies for Roma through our work programme entitled “Roma Included in Social Europe”.

Role of the evaluator

We are searching for an external evaluator to assess the achievements and lessons learned of the Framework Partnership Agreement between ERGO Network and DG Employment (2018-2021) entitled “Roma Included in Social Europe”.

The evaluator is expected to assess the achievements of ERGO in implementing the FPA and reaching the objectives set and to give recommendations for future work.

Specifically, the evaluator is expected to:

  • Conduct evaluation interviews with ERGO members and national stakeholders involved in the FPA together with ERGO staff to evaluate achievements on national level in 5 countries.
  • Interview relevant EU policy-makers and civil society partners to assess the achievements on European level.
  • Conduct workshops with ERGO staff and members to jointly assess our achievements, lessons learnt and recommendations.
  • Draft a report describing outcomes and achievements, lessons learnt and recommendations for improvements, also taking into account the findings of internal evaluations done in the first three years of the FPA.

Profile:

  • Excellent knowledge of evaluation methodology and experience with programme evaluations
  • Expertise on Roma issues and policies on European Union and member state level
  • Experience working with civil society organisations in the fields of advocacy, capacity-building and network building
  • Excellent writing skills and ability to concisely summarise evaluation results for different audiences
  • Excellent research and analytical skills
  • Ability to work independently
  • Additional language skills desirable

Conditions

The evaluation will be conducted throughout 2021, with the final report expected for December 2021.

Times for interviews and workshops with ERGO staff, members and stakeholders will be agreed with the selected consultant.

Contract and budget: The independent evaluator will be subcontracted to fulfil part of the work programme in the Framework Partnership Agreement between ERGO Network and DG Employment. The expert has no rights vis-à-vis the European Commission.

The expert shall be paid for the execution of the activities and services a fee of maximum 5,000 EUR, all taxes and VAT included.

Application procedure

Interested and qualified candidates should submit the following documents:

  • CV, highlighting past similar assignments
  • Proposed methodology, timeline and budgetary proposal, including envisaged number of working days

We will select the expert according to the principle “Value for money”. Please send your application to info@ergonetwork.org by April 15th 2021, 23:59 CET.

 A detailed project summary can be provided upon request.

For further questions, please contact Christine Sudbrock at c.sudbrock@ergonetwork.org

`
Employment – ERGO Network

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close