Dear friends,
Greetings from the GAATW International Secretariat!
The year is coming to an end and what a year it has been! All of us have experienced confusion, fear , stress and worries as never before. It has not been possible to carry out our planned work and we have struggled to adapt it to the changed situation. Not only has international travel been difficult or impossible, we have also had to stay confined to our homes for many weeks or even months. Our communication with family members, friends and colleagues in other countries has been mediated by technology . Working from home or working remotely from another country has become a necessity . In our efforts to make sense of things, to learn from other colleagues and share our thoughts with them, we have tried to straddle multiple time zones and organised many on-line sessions. Those sessions worked to some extent but have also left us with tremendous zoom-fatigue at the end of the year.
At the other end of the work spectrum, millions of workers have lost their jobs and do not know if and when they will find employment again. Support from governments has been largely inadequate, and often excluded migrant and unregistered workers. Economies around the world have collapsed and recovery is going to take a long time. Although the vaccine offers some hope, it is going to take a long time before everyone feels safe again.