End of year wishes!

World Solidarity wishes you a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
May all your dreams come true!

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”

― John Lennon

The effect of India withdrawing currency notes on informal economy

The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi's announcement over television on the night of November 8, 2016, withdrawing from circulation currency notes with denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000, has had a cascading effect on the economy. In this Issue Brief, M. Vijayabaskar, Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, maps the pathways through which demonetisation impacts the informal economy. A distinction is made between sectors and categories of labour such as the self-employed, the casually employed and the micro and small enterprises operating below the realm of formal regulation. This Issue Brief brings out the paradox of justifying demonetisation in terms of formalising financial markets even it has informalised labour markets. Finally, it also points out that there is little likelihood of the move benefiting the informal economy even in the long run.

People may, therefore, be pushed into the financial system in desperation if the government chooses to not remonetise all that has been demonetised. While this may mean 'inclusion' in a symbolic sense, it will mean little else for the large segments of those who have been excluded from access to formal employment opportunities. Given that it is the same government which has pushed for labour reforms that weaken the protection given to formal workers through 'model' reform laws passed in Rajasthan, it is hard to buy the argument that demonetisation may actually work in favour of even those currently employed in the formal segment leave alone those in the informal economy.

Read the full article here.

Developing alternatives for Indian agricultural workers: solar panels for irrigation

 AREDS in India looks to develop alternatives for agricultural workers by creating and promoting a model farm which uses a more sustainable approach. WSM facilitated a grant from the Energy fund in Belgium, so that they could purchase solar panels for the irrigation in this very dry area of Tamil Nadu. As this is a fairly innovative technique, it required some research and experts analyzed the existing wells, and made recommendations. Next, three tenders were requested from companies, which all had similar prices, but the quality of the equipment varied, like the type of motor and pump. Once the choice made, the order went through the bank and fifteen days later it was installed, with concrete pillars already set up by AREDS according to the specifications provided beforehand. The Company installed the four sets of 10 panels next to each near the four wells and then engineers erected the pumps inside the wells. Currently, the plot has five horsepower motors which can run for ten hours. The system is self-sufficient and not connected to the electrical state grid, except one which was close to the grid. Plants are kept alive despite a severe drought this year in Tamil Nadu. AREDS also practices intercropping, with specific measures per crop. Through a rain harvesting programme, there is no danger of the wells running dry.


Of course, the goal is now to share these techniques, so AREDS reached out to farmers, government and universities. Four groups of twenty small-scale farmers, majority women have been trained in first 2016, with a three day training to learn how to maintain the panels, do minor repairs, measure the watts produce and when to switch them on. At least ten people have applied for the state grants for solar panels, which can take some time. A delegation from the local government agriculture department was invited and decided to support this initiative. The Agriculture university of Trichy is also attending training on this farm, and an exchange program runs with French students and soon VIVES, a farmers higher education institute in West Flanders.

Position Paper ANRSP on access to health care

Preambule

The Asian Network on the Right to Social Protection (ANRSP) is composed out of various trade unions and social movements in Asia, supported by the Belgian organisation World Solidarity (WSM). All these social movements strive in their own way for social protection, job creation and decent work, which are essential for sustainable and inclusive development. The ANRSP focuses on promoting the right to social protection on a regional, continental and global level, as part of the efforts for Decent Wages and Work worldwide. It is currently discussing this position paper regarding the access to health in Asia. Health care is only one element to ensure the general health condition of a population, with other social determinants which are often linked to the lack of a dignified life. This includes unsafe working conditions, inadequate housing, lack of income etc., which the network also tackles.

The ANRSP demands that health care should cover all, and special efforts made to include workers and populations currently not covered by social security systems, such as the young, garment workers, construction workers, health workers, migrant workers and people living below the poverty threshold. Work is urgently needed to make the right to health a reality for all.

Social protection and disasters illustration: Nepal's earthquake

After the earthquakes hitting Nepal in April and May 2015, which killed 9.000 people, injured 25.000 and hundreds of thousands of people were made homeless. Over 4,4 billion USD was promised in aid for the relief and reconstruction, but implementation by the Nepali government was too slow and failed to materialize: only a year and a half after the earthquake did some 75% of over 1.000 affected households receive a 450€ grant to rebuild their houses. Should there have been systems of social security in place, with registered beneficiaries, this aid could have come much sooner and could have saved many lives.

Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) medical Team helped Nepal earthquake victims

By Mr. Rammani Pokharel, NTUC

After learning about the devastation, Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) from Bangladesh came to Nepal and linked up with another WSM partner, Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC) to offer medical help. A team of one doctor and five medical students, some with Nepali origins but studying at GK, came by truck, bringing medicines and supplies. NTUC facilitated the hosting of two medical camps in and around Laliptur for construction, commercial and carpet workers. The remaining medication and material was handed over to the Bangladesh Embassy in Kathmandu. During their mission, 971 (among which 398 male and 573 female) patients were treated. Head of the team, Dr. Halimour was glad he didn’t have to perform any major amputations. He remembered treating a little girl whose mother had died while shielding her from falling debris and who was still very afraid.

Social protection, disaster risk reduction and climate change

Many organisations work with the vulnerable groups to increase their resilience to withstand shocks, improve their ability to reduce/manage risk and to reduce their poverty, which is a risk factor in itself. Why do we consider these groups are more vulnerable:
• The poor/socially marginalised often live in places more exposed to hazard risks
• They have less ability to cope with and recover from disaster impacts
• They have less voice and influence
• They depend on informal safety nets that become stretched after major shocks
• They are adversely affected by delays in, or lack of access to, relief/early recovery responses

Social protection approaches have been successfully used to:
• Reduce disaster and climate-related impacts
• Protect from total destitution
• Enhance abilities to reduce existing disaster impact risks and adapt to new/increased risks as a result of climate change

What is meant by Universal Health Coverage?

The WHO defines Universal Health Coverage as “access to health services, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship”. UHC is a “concept that is deeply rooted in its 1946 Constitution, which declares health to be a fundamental human right”.

UHC is designed as a three-dimensional system that progressively moves towards:
i) the coverage of the entire population by a package of services,
ii) inclusion of an increasing range of services, and
iii) a rising share of pooled funds as the main source of funding for healthcare, and thereby a decrease in co-payments.

This model is gaining in popularity and the current discourse on UHC is dominating the majority of inter- national discussions on health care. UHC is presented as the response to urgent needs in health in low and medium income countries. Some enthusiastic backers have named it the “third great transition” in health, by changing the way in which services and the organisation of systems are financed.

The privatisation of health in the Philippines

Today, 8 people out of 10 in the Philippines report never having had a medical check-up or physical examination in their life. 28% of all Filipino women have no skilled birth attendance care. Due to poverty, 6 out of 10 people die in the Philippines without ever having seen a doctor. Health care utilisation rates in the Philippines show worse access to health than the regional average. The primary reason is a lack of financial means. Free health services are very limited and the poorest cannot afford treatment or medicine.

A long history of privatization...
Health care in the Philippines became increasingly inaccessible for the poor majority since the policy of privatization which started in the 1970s during the Marcos era. Philippine foreign debt became insurmountable and the IMF-World Bank imposed the Structural Adjustment Program, leading to privatizing state assets for more income. This practice was followed by succeeding presidents and governments, like in 2000 by President Joseph Estrada under the Health Sector Reform Agenda (HSRA) and Executive Order 366. This program was to provide fiscal autonomy and expanding the coverage of the national health insurance, also called Philhealth. The policy included the corporatization of public hospitals and integration of the four Government Owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCC) Hospitals to cater to medical tourism. The aim of the government is to relegate its responsibility of providing people’s right to health to the private sector. What happened is that since people have to pay for their treatment, rates increased so much higher that in the GOCC hospitals specializing on the heart, kidney, lung and children, health services are no longer free. In fact, a kidney transplants cost more than one million PHP or 19.000€.
This privatization policies continued under different names from President Benigno Aquino III under the “Philippine Development Plan” (2011-2016) which strengthened implementation of the National Insurance Policy or Philhealth, public-private partnership (PPP) and the millennium development goals in health. Health Services in public hospitals became a commercial product and Philhealth covers only 9% to 11% of total costs, except for 23 selected cases only. According to the Department of Health data, 54% of the total cost of health services is out-of-pocket.

Fight against privatization
Under PPP, Philippine Orthopedic Center, the only public bone specialization in the Philippines was a pilot project. The government plan was to bid the modernization of the hospital to private funds of 5.6 Billion PHP or 106 million € with a concession of 25 years private operation of the hospital, with an option to renew for another 25 years of private operation. The ugly side of this business is that only 70 beds out of the 700 bed capacity will be allocated to service patients, and not indigent patients. The private investor, Megawide, also has an option to terminate the health workers.

Public or private?

 Who is best placed to deliver quality health care services if we want to achieve accessible, good quality health care for all? Public or private providers? There is no easy answer to this question, firstly because defining what is private and what is public is complex. Private providers are heterogeneous, consisting of formal for-profit entities such as independent hospitals, individual care workers working on a self-employed basis, informal entities that may include unlicensed providers, and not-for-profit providers, such as community and social enterprises, non-governmental organisations, civil society etc. In many countries, individual health workers, like doctors, are often self-employed, but hospitals and health centres are mostly (or all) in the hands of the government or run by social, not for profit, organisations. Elsewhere, health services are provided by a mix of for profit and not for profit enterprises and institution, subsidised by the government or otherwise. So, we can’t make a simple distinction between public and private, but we can say that there are some clear structural reasons why for-profit health care and competition do not promote efficiency or quality, and impede universal and equitable access to health care.

Access to medication

Access to medicines at an affordable price is a key factor in addressing these challenges in developing countries, where a large part of the spending on health is allocated to pharmaceutical products. Rules on commerce and free trade agreements (FTAs) have a direct impact on the prices of medicines as we will go on to see, and can lead to the economic and financial interests of pharmaceutical giants taking precedence, at the expense of the right to health care.

Illustration: India
India, once nicknamed the “pharmacy of the developing world” played and continues to play a crucial role in falling medicine prices in the developing world. The country has opted for a balanced intellectual property system which protects public health and only grants patents where there is genuine innovation. This allowed India’s generic pharmaceutical industry to supply 20% of generic medicines in the world and 80% of all medicines used to treat HIV/Aids64. The price of first generation antiretrovirals went from 10,000 dollars per patient per year to 100 dollars thanks to competition from India65 and allowed over 5 million patients to benefit from this treatment.

AREDS’ health interventions for adolescent girls

Adolescent age is a critical stage in the life cycle of girls in particular. Until they reach this stage, their life revolves around their family. Once they reach adolescent age, they tend to extend their relationship outside their family circle to include friendships with the peer members of their own sex or opposite sex and other adults like respected teachers or tutors. They face conflicts between their personal aspirations and social pressure.  It is at this stage, they become rebellious, ignoring social stigmas and taboos.


Therefore, it is important to show them the right path, as they are at a stage which is full of inexplicable and new things. Hence, the AREDS Health Team sensitizes the adolescent girls on the physiological and psychological changes that they experience during this stage and answers their fear and doubts.

Physical development
Adolescence extends from puberty to adulthood. Puberty marks different biological changes in girls. For many of them, the natural phenomenon puberty is mysterious. The physiological growth in most of the adolescents reaches its zenith by mid-adolescence. At this stage, they will be close to their adults by height and weight and now, they will be physically capable of conceiving and producing babies. Many girls find the changes in their physique enigmatic. AREDS Health Team help the adolescent girls understand this natural phenomenon through trainings and personal interactions.

Statistic on health: Strength in numbers

It is currently estimated that 1.3 billion people do not have access to affordable and good quality health care in the world while 56% of the global rural population has no health coverage.
One in three households in South East Asia borrows money or sells assets to pay for health. The WHO suggests that health care expenditure is considered catastrophic whenever it is higher or equal to 40% of the non-subsistence income of a household, in other words, the income available once the basic needs have been covered. Each year, approximately 44 million households, i.e. over 150 million people in the world have to deal with catastrophic expenditure and approximately 25 million homes or over 100 million individuals find themselves in a situation of poverty on account of having to pay for these services.

Access to health is also about people in it: the Health workforce

Access to health isn't simply about infrastructure, hospitals and medication, it is also about the nurses, doctors and other health practitioners that are a part of it. A key advice for the WHO Workforce 2030 and the actors working on it would be to move away from focusing on the instrumentalist, utilitarian role of the health workforce in economic growth and labour markets, and rather emphasise the intrinsic value of a competent workforce in improving health outcomes and reducing health inequalities.


The migration of health professionals is at the junction of the right to mobility, right to health and the right to decent work. It is about finding an acceptable compromise between the rights and obligations of migrant workers, employers and governments based on sound research findings

Illustration: Thailand
Thailand has four decades of experience with strategies for solving the inequitable distribution of human resources for health (HRH) between urban and rural areas. There are four key components in these strategies: (1) Development of rural health infrastructure. (2) Educational strategies including rural recruitment, training and hometown placement. (3) Professional-replacement strategies such as training in basic medical care capacities for rural health personnel. (4) Financial strategies such as a compulsory public service, incentives for working in rural services, payback for tuition fees by rural public work, reform of the health care financing system to Universal Coverage Health Scheme.

Quotes on access to health

Health protection is central to decent work and must be a reality for all.
Guy Ryder, Director-General, ILO

Universal health coverage is one of the most powerful social equalizers among all policy options.
Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization

Where is the right to health enshrined?

Health is a fundamental human right that is indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. It is enshrined in several instruments, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (Art.25) and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966.

For the World Health Organisation (WHO), the right to health contains both freedoms and rights: the right to control one’s own health and one’s own body (for example sexual and reproductive rights) and the right to physical integrity (for example the right not to be subject to torture and not to be subject to any medical experimentation without consent); the right to access a health protection system which guarantees equal possibilities to all to enjoy the best possible state of health.
The key to health is a functional health care system i.e. one that is available, accessible and acceptable to all without any form of discrimination and of high quality.

According to ILO Recommendation 202 on social protection floors, the minimum requirements in the area of social protection must include:
• basic income security (especially in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity or disability).
• access to a nationally defined set of goods and services, constituting essential health care and including maternity care, that meets the following criteria:

• Availability: the facilities, goods, public health programmes and health care services are functional and in sufficient supply.
• Accessibility: the facilities, goods and health care services are accessible to all without any form of discrimination. Accessibility is made up of four interdependent dimensions: non-discrimination, physical accessibility, economic accessibility or being sufficiently affordable, accessibility of information.
• Acceptability: all facilities, goods and services in the domain of health care must respect medical and appropriate ethics from a cultural point of view, in other words, should respect the culture of individuals, minorities, people and communities, be receptive to the specific requirements linked to sex and stages of life and must be designed so as to respect confidentiality and improve people’s state of health.
• Quality: as well as having to be acceptable from a cultural point of view, installations, goods and services in the domain of health care must also be scientifically and medically appropriate and of a high quality.

W-Connect on Health: editorial

On the 12th of December, the International Day for Universal Health Coverage, the Asia Network on Right to Social Protection presents this thematic edition of W-Connect on Access to Health. A high quality health care system is one of the pillars of social protection and is a necessary condition for a global population with better health. This third 2016 W-Connect newsletter starts by detailing what access to health means and refers to some of the relevant legal international instruments. While many of the World Solidarity partners in Asia focus on labour rights, some work on the access to health, like the two in charge of the editorial oversight of this edition: Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK) in Bangladesh and the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) in the Philippines. Women and adolescents have their specific health needs, as demonstrated by the article from AREDS in India. The 1st of October is also the International Day for older people and 2016 is the year to take a Stand Against Ageism, so we look at what came out of the exchanges between GK in Bangladesh and OKRA in Belgium regarding elderly. In another article, Social Protection is also linked to disaster risk reduction and climate change. It is calculated that we could’ve built up health systems in West Africa at one third of the Ebola response cost.
Building on the dossier “Health, a commodity” from the Belgian campaign Social Protection for All, this edition also lists the areas in which demands are being formulated by the WSM supported Asia Network on the Right to Social Protection.

Bruno Deceukelier, WSM Asia Coordinator 

Dr Kadir, GK Bangladesh

Angela, AHW Philippines

Stop the Killings!

Pensioenen, veilige werkomgevingen, toegankelijke gezondheidszorg, moederschapsverlof, kortom: Sociale Bescherming. In vele landen in het Zuiden is dit geen vanzelfsprekendheid. Activisten en sociale organisaties die opkomen voor de uitbouw van een inclusief systeem van Sociale Bescherming zijn vaak het slachtoffer van repressie. Om hun strijd in de kijker te plaatsen, organiseert het campagneplatform Stop The Killings dit jaar samen met de campagne Sociale Bescherming een actiedag op 8 december in Brussel aan Brussel-Centraal!

Neem deel aan de actie & stuur een brief naar de betrokken ambassades hier!
Participez à l'action & envoyez une lettre aux ambassades concernées ici!

Les pensions, un environnement de travail sûr, des soins de santé accessibles, le congé de maternité, bref: la Protection Sociale. Dans de nombreux pays du Sud, elle est loin d'être une évidence. Les activistes et organisations sociales qui se battent pour mettre en place un système inclusif de Protection Sociale sont souvent victimes de répression.

Afin de mettre en lumière leur lutte, la plate-forme de campagne Stop The Killings organise cette année, en collaboration avec la campagne Protection Sociale, une journée d'action le 8 décembre.

WSM and partners lobby at the ILO Asia Pacific Regional meeting (ILO AP RM)

The 16th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting reviewed progress made towards building a future with Decent Work since the 15th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (held in Japan in 2011). From 6 till 9th of December 2016, ILO brought together 351 delegates from Asia and Pacific governments, employers' and workers' groups. Delegates discuss the future of work and emerging challenges and consider policies that can strengthen sustainable development, job creation and social justice in their region.Out of 50 member states invited, 37 members and one Territory attended. A total of 351 participants attended, the highest level of the last four regional meetings. The meeting was composed of 72 government delegates, 34 Employers' advisers delegates and 34 Workers' Delegates. Women represent 28% of the total delegates.

This is an increase compared to the last ILO AP RM in 2011, when it was 20,4% but still below the benchmark set of 30% and beyond, for real gender parity, as called for by the Director-General. The meeting finished by adopting the Bali Declaration.

WSM and IYCW also attended and supported some participants and interventions, in line with the political agendas established by the Asia Network on the Right to Social Protection. The goal was that members of the Steering Committee understand the functioning of the ILO and its Asia Pacific Regional Meeting and lobbies successfully for the inclusion of certain issues in the final conclusions.

The Members of the Steering Committee attending were Father Chetan (India), Leizyl (YCW ASPAC), Sister Sulistri (Indonesia), Ath Thorn (Cambodia), Ganesh Niroula (Nepal) and Ramesh Badal (Nepal). Andy from the International YCW also attended. For WSM, Jeroen, Bart, Francina, Bruno and Bismo attended. In the following posts on this blog, we publish some of the interventions, as well as some interviews made to evaluate their participation.

Attending the ILO AP RM: Sullistri, KSBSI, Indonesia

In this meeting, I can bring forward certain positions and influence the policies on Asia and Pacific level. We promote also the women participation and attention to gender. We can also create links with the National Decent Work programmes in Indonesia.

In my intervention, I focused on the environment and the palm oil sector, which is a big issue in Indonesia. We need a just transition, so that workers do no suffer. Climate change is also mentioned in the SDG, and so we plead for involvement of social dialogue, and include indigenous people and environmental NGOs. The Free Trade Agreements are also part of my intervention, which should include social elements and workers’ rights.

Attending the ILO AP RM: Francina, WSM South Coordinator

I wanted to come to learn more about the trade union dynamics and the process of the ILO. As WSM closely works with labour standards, it is important for me to know what is being debated on regional and global level. In the context of WSM’s work on Social protection, our partners contribute to job creation by offering vocational skills to members.

During this ILO meeting, the aspect of skills was put in a larger context, linking it to multinationals, the importance of new technologies and young workers. Also the social dialogue was very relevant, because workers facing problems on the work floor have to first turn to the first step of social dialogue, the bipartite plant level, before the government is brought in. Also that many states have not yet ratified some of the core conventions was revealing, like India hasn’t ratified freedom of association (ILC87) or collective bargaining (ILC98).

Attending the ILO AP RM: Ganesh Niroula, NTUC, Nepal

Very interesting to witness the tripartite dialogue, hearing what is being raised by all three parties per country. We can learn from good practices and lapses, so situations can improve for workers and productivity as well. We also learn about the situation of decent work and issues in Asia and the Pacific.

Many issues are raised, like the strike in South Korea and the brutal repression by government, or the unfriendly trade union reforms in India or Indonesia and diluting union policies. Certain governments aren’t providing space to organize or to do collective bargaining. For instance, in Nepal, legal strikes aren’t banned, but the Industrial Act passed in this year, specifies certain sectors that prohibit strikes completely. This legislation is stricter, because it prohibits strikes in a larger way than the essential services act, which wasn’t applied too strictly. The Nepali trade unions have filed a case before ILO regarding this legislation.

Through the two interventions from the Nepali workers’ joint representative, Ramesh, which were agreed upon beforehand between trade unions in the JTUCC, we were able to share what is the situation in Nepal regarding labour migration and skills. The employment agenda is discussed here and linked to productivity. Nepal has high unemployment and low productivity. By discussing here with policy makers and employers and learning on these topics, we hope to improve these two aspects.

Attending the ILO AP RM: Leizyl, YCW ASPAC

The meeting was different from what I expected, like the original way to organize the participation, through the panel discussions, which bring together different views from various countries and is more dynamic. However, I feel it really lacks interventions from the grass-root level. For the YCW and myself, this helps to understand the issues that the ILO tackles, like Global Supply Chain, labour migration and decent work, from the perspective of young workers. Every year, we also attend the ILC in Geneva, so this is very relevant. For us, this is not only a moment to lobby for our demands, but also the networking aspect is important. For instance, during this meeting we met a representative from the Singapore trade union, and since we would like to also extend our work there, they offered their assistance to facilitate the start up. Labour migration is an issue that stood out, because after our YCW International council, the YCW provides specific input, but our analysis is still not very clear. In Europe, the focus is currently more on refugees, but here in Asia, the context is different and labour migration is more important for young workers.  The Global Supply Chain is in our opinion is part of the major causes of precarious work, like flexibility and outsourcing. The intervention from the government delegate from the Philippines indicated to me that they want to end contractualization, which is an important demand for us. If I could have made an intervention, it would have been on social protection for young and migrant workers, because this is a right that is currently not respected in most of the Asia Pacific countries.

Attending the ILO AP RM: Father Chetan, NDWF, India

For me, it was the first time to attend, so it was a learning process, which helps us understand the issues better. We also witness the continental dynamics and issues that are being debatted, like labour migration, where they go deeper into recruitment issues, social protection in hosting and sending countries etc. Even though no binding instrument comes out of it, I do feel some government delegates will take certain issues back to their national level and initiate some efforts. India in my perspective will not be among these, as their delegation seemed to simply pretend all is going well, the government is doing so much and there are no major problems. This is regrettable. I also appreciated better the importance of the issue of Freedom of Association, which I understand now is a vital prerequisite for social dialogue and collective bargaining.

Attending ILO AP RM: Ath Thorn, CLC - Cambodia

It is interesting for us to attend, to know more about the priorities of the Asia Pacific Labour movement. We learn about the situation of decent work in each country. We see how sometimes the employers’ or government group try to limit our efforts, even though we are supposed to all work together for decent work. Their delegates often pretend everything is fine, while there are many labour issues and violations. Only 14 states among 47 Asia Pacific have ratified the 8 ILO core conventions.

Can Cambodian partners file complaints at the ILO?

Life and work has been complicated in Cambodia in the past years, both for workers and for trade unions (see post here and here on Cambodia minimum wage struggle). ACV-CSC, ACV-CSC METEA and WSM have been supporting since many years the Cambodian Labour Federation (CLC) and the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), the largest independent federation in the textile sector in Cambodia affiliated to CLC. In the last years, CLC and C.CAWDU have demonstrated their strength and capacity to organise and mobilise workers, to negotiate agreements with individual companies and to launch (inter)national campaigns when needed. They are strongly valued by all key international stakeholders (ITUC, IndustriAll, UNI, CCC and several other labour rights organisations) for their independence.



However, many challenges remain for CLC-C.CAWDU. They requested from ACV-CSC and WSM to complement their (reactive) urgent appeal work with a more proactive strategy. Understanding the ILO’s work with regards to developing and supervising the effective implementation of international labour standards (ILS), is one of the key areas in which CLC-C.CAWDU wanted capacity strengthening.

Thirty five members of CLC, C.CAWDU and other affiliates delegated their leadership and the staff of the legal department took part in this training and looked at the ILO supervisory system, gathered data by interviews of garment workers and field visits and practiced by drafting complaints and campaigns for the Clean Clothes Campaign. It met with a 84% satisfaction rate and participants felt their expectations were largely met, promising to apply this knowledge and to share it with other members.

1 Million kilometers for Clean Sports Clothes, handed to Bioracer

© Mine Dalemans

A team of valiant KWB and World Solidarity cyclers hands over 1 million bike kilometers to Limburg cycling gear company Bioracer, together with a request to make Clean Cycling Clothes  a reality. ‘Clean’ stands for respect for the human and labor rights of the workers making cycling gear. The CEO of the company receives the activists and listens to their questions. Read the account below.

Experience of National Domestic Workers Movement in India promoting Labour Rights and Social Protection for Vulnerable Workers

The National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) in India is rights based movement of domestic workers across 17 states in the country. Since 2011, NDWM has been facilitating the establishment of trade unions of domestic workers in several States. Fifteen domestic workers trade unions together form the “National Domestic Workers Federation (NDWF)”.  Each members pays Rs 60 to 120 (1 to 2 US dollar) as membership fees per annum, of which 10 % is shared with the NDWF.

At the moment, The Jharkhand Gharelu Kaamgar Union, the domestic workers union affiliate of NDWF in Jharkhand State is developing a domestic workers cooperative, with the support of ILO (pilot project). The objective of such a the cooperative is 3-fold:

• Promote decent work for domestic workers through collective bargaining and thus to facilitate the transition of the sector from the informal to the formal economy;
• Break the unequal employment relationship between domestic workers and employers;
• Enhance the skills of domestic workers and facilitate quality both for the domestic workers and the employers.
• Facilitate economic empowerment of domestic workers through savings and credit from Cooperative.

For those domestic workers, who are already members of the union and  wish to become a member of the Cooperative has to pay a onetime membership fee of Rs.50 and buy minimum one share of Rs.100 (1,5 USD). A member can buy maximum of 20 shares. In return, the cooperative provides the following services to its members :

• Training on the functioning of cooperatives, leadership etc.
• 60 hours of skills training to each member in collaboration with well-known Hospitality industry.
• A savings and credit scheme (members can take loans on a minimum  interest  2% per annum)
• Facilitate employment in Hospitality sector and real estate (Apartments) with a written tripartite contract (Cooperative, Employer and Worker) with a code of conduct and terms and conditions of work.
• The Cooperative extends a social security cover (health insurance, maternity, unemployment benefit and pension) to its members. The premium is paid from the contribution of worker (5% of total salary per month) and the employer (5% of total salary per month) deducted from the worker. The employer pays the salary to the cooperative and in turn the cooperative pays to its members.

For the time being, one cooperative has been established in Jharkhand State with 102 domestic workers as “member-shareholders”. In comparison, the domestic workers union in Jharkhand State has currently over 3.000 members, so there is more awareness raising to be done to convince more union members to join the cooperative. CBA negotiation has started mainly with corporate houses and real estates (apartment buildings). The advantages for the “employers” are the following:

• Acquisition of the specific services required by them.
• Skilled domestic workers.
• In case of complaints or grievances, they can turn to the cooperative as an intermediary.
• They don’t have to deal with the wage and social security administration.
• The union backs the work of the cooperative by providing to the cooperative:
• Training and capacity building on labor rights,
• Legal services (legal support),

Uzziel TWAGILIMANA, WSM Africa
Bart VERSTRAETEN, WSM Belgium
Chandran CHETAN, NDWM, India

Solidarity across borders: trade unions from Nepal to Belgium

To look into adapting trade unions to a federal state, social elections and social security, the leadership of the three main Nepali trade unions came to Belgium end of October 2016 with the support of World Solidarity (WSM) and the largest Belgian trade union, ACV-CSC. 

International Day of Older Persons 2016: Elderly Worldwide: not a problem but a challenge for all of us

• 1st of October is the International Day of Older Persons 

The International Day of Older Persons is an opportunity to highlight the important contributions that older people make to society and raise awareness of the issues and challenges of ageing in today’s world.

The theme for 2016, Take a Stand Against Ageism, challenges everyone to consider ageism – the negative attitudes and discrimination based on age - and the detrimental impact it has on older people.

• Also WSM, OKRA and GK are involved

For the 1st of October,  OKRA and WSM organized a flash mob of 500 elderly from all over Flanders at the Central Station in Antwerp, to draw attention to these challenges (pictures copyright Frank Bahnmüller).

GK organized sports activities with the elderly, a rally at the National Monument in the capital Dhaka, a statement addressed to the Bangladeshi government, mass medical consultations of elderly and other activities.

Andre Kiekens, director of World Solidarity (WSM) "Our partner organisation GK, a pioneer in the field of affordable health care for all, now wants to put the elderly on the agenda. By giving a voice to elderly in its own structures. Inspired by an exchange, GK -like OKRA - wants a movement with, for and by the elderly. It wants to greatly promote the independence of older people in the community they live in, because this is good for the health and quality of life." Or how working with, for and by elderly across borders can reinforce each other. Both OKRA and GK from Bangladesh released a statement.

What response given to Bangladesh factory fire killing 34 workers?

At least 34 people have been killed in a blaze in Bangladesh after a boiler malfunctioning at a factory that packages for Nestle and other companies. 10 workers are missing and hundreds are injured. "Waving their hands through the windows of the factory, the workers were crying for help but those who were outside could not go near the building due to huge flames," said Gul Chan, a housewife of a nearby tin-shed house. Rescuing people and extinguishing the fire took over 48 hours and 22 teams of firefighters and army. The fire happened in Tongi, just 12 miles north of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, and is the country’s worst industrial accident since the 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse that killed 1,135 garment workers. Tampaco Foils, which owns the five-storey factory, reportedly packages various items for several international brands, including Nestle and British American Tobacco.

Worker Rights Consortium, the International Labor Rights Forum, Clean Clothes Campaign, and the Maquila Solidarity Network responded to the explosion in a statement saying "it is vital for the public to understand that boiler safety is also a key issue in Bangladesh's massive garment sector. There have been numerous boiler explosions at garment factories in recent years (...) 
There has been major progress in improving fire and building safety in garment factories in Bangladesh, especially at the 1,600 factories covered by the binding safety agreement between unions and global apparel brands known as the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. However, none of the safety initiatives in the garment sector, including the Accord, cover the issue of boiler safety. Accord standards concerning fire safety address the spread of a fire caused by a boiler explosion, but they do not address the prevention of such explosions - and, in an explosion the size of the one we have just witnessed at Tampaco Foils, limiting the spread of fire will not be enough to protect life and limb. This is a major issue that the Accord, all other building safety initiatives in Bangladesh, and the Bangladesh government must address."

WSM partners also intervened. Hearing of the fire, GK doctors and paramedics went there with an ambulance and medical supplies, as well as a team from the Government. GK medical team stayed there for three days and treated over a hundred workers and also members of the rescue teams. Most of the treated injuries were burns and were later referred to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital burn unit. On 18th of September, NGWF jointly with other trade unions held a a black-flag mourning-rally and also released a statement with their demands, including compensation to the injured and families of deceased according to ILO standards.

ILO 2016 Global Media Competition on “Breaking Stereotypes on Labour Migration”

ILO launches a global media competition to recognize exemplary media coverage on labour migration. The objective of the competition is to recognize exemplary media coverage on labour migration by encouraging professional journalists to produce written articles or videos/multimedia that while not overlooking the negative aspects (e.g. often a hard reality of exploitation and violation of human and labour rights), also show the positive results of good labour migration governance, and highlight the positive contribution of migrant workers to countries of origin, transit and destination.

© See-ming Lee 2016

This second global media competition “Breaking Stereotypes on Labour Migration” is organized by the International Labour Organization in collaboration with the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Organization of Employers, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Federation of Journalists, Equal Times, Solidarity Center, Human Rights Watch, and Migrant Forum in Asia.

The competition starts on 14 September 2016 and closes on 31 October 2016. Professional journalists are invited to submit one piece of their work to one of the two following categories:

•     written articles (online or print articles)
•     videos/multimedia

The submitted entries should cover labour migration-related issues. Refugees and displaced persons, where they are employed as workers outside their own countries, are considered migrant workers. As such, submissions covering international migrant workers and refugees (participating in labour markets outside their own countries) will be accepted.

For more details, see here.

Win For Life: focus on living wage (achACT - August edition)

Depuis cinq ans, des dizaines de milliers de travailleuses des usines de confection au Cambodge se battent pour obtenir un salaire qui leur permette de satisfaire leurs besoins vitaux, et malgré des victoires, elles en sont encore loin....


Read more here (FR).

Bill tabled for domestic workers rights in India

NDWM informed that one of the members of Parliament, Shri Shasitharoor, who had promised his support to NDWM, drafted a private member's Bill called Domestic Workers Act-2016 for the rights of domestic workers which is tabled in the Lokhsabha. He drafted the Bill and shared with NDWM for feedback on definitions, wages, work hours, benefits, and rights to obtain a comprehensive and effective bill. It is listed for the 5th of August 2016. Find the full content of the bill here.

On another level, Assam Government is also moving ahead on minimum wages. A Committee has been constituted to advise the  Govt of Assam in the matter of fixation/ revision of minimum rates for the employment of domestic workers.

Avoiding death sentences for two Indian migrant workers in Qatar

C. Rajammal, wife of a migrant worker Chelladurai, urges the state
and central government to help them file
an appeal against the death sentence (Photo: DC)

Alagappa Subramaniam from Selathur Pudukottai district, and Chelladurai Perumal from Virudhunager District are two Tamil Indian migrant workers facing a death sentence  in Qatar, while Sivakumar Arasan from Salem District is facing a life sentence. These three illiterate migrant workers didn't receive any legal support to appeal against their sentence and NDWM findings indicate they were not given a chance to prove their innocence.

The Two Tamils were pronounced guilty on charges of murdering an elderly Qatari woman and were condemned to death by shooting. But then they were not given a chance to appeal against the sentence in a court where they don’t know the language or understand the judicial system. Since, the appeal court in Doha confirmed the death sentence of two; they just have till 31st of July left to appeal in Supreme court. Their fate came to light only when Adv. Suresh Kumar, Nagercoil visited these workers in Qatar to follow up the case and it has received a lot of media attention (links here, here, here, here, here and here).

NDWM kindly requests Chief Minister of Tamilnadu and the Union Government to support the families of the two Tamils who are poor and leading hand to mouth existence by providing legal assistance to the three Tamil men to appeal against the sentence. If timely legal assistance is not provided , then two lives of Tamils is lost by denying them the chance to counter the allegations of murder against them.  It is time the Government steps in to protect the rights of its citizens.

Due to the NDWM lobby with the Tamilnadu Government, they have announced they would release
9.5 lacks INR (around 12.700EUR) for the  legal assistance in Qatar for these victims.

10.000 visitors to our blog!

Since its debut in April 2014, this blog has had over 10.000 visitors, so I thought this deserved a closer look.

Visitors come mostly from the USA (a little less than one third), with Belgium in second place (1.685 visits) and Nepal is in third place, India in eight.
Posts that attracted most visitors were:

1. From our intern in Nepal, Scott (in French)
2. The Asia Newsletter W-Connect
3. Coca Cola pretending to provide hapinmess to Asian workers exploited in the Gulf

The months with most visitors were May and June 2015, just after the earthquake in Nepal.
Most visitors come from the original blog address, then Google (India and Com), then Facebook.

WSM partners attend AMRC training on social protection and occupational health and safety in Laos

The Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC), a strategic partner of WSM, is organizing a training on the link between social protection and occupational health and safety (OHS). This training  is organized July 19-20, 2016, in Vientiane, Laos (programme).

Two participants, Dr. Mohammad Hayatun Nabi from NGWF in Bangladesh and Mr. Shiva Prasad Devkota from ITUC-NAC in Nepal are attending on behalf of the WSM supported Asia Network on the Right to Social Protection.

To get an idea of the content of the training, check out the training manual called ''Defining social protection by the grassroots workers".

Report on Organising for Decent Jobs – Formalising Informal Work

The power of workers’ organising to fight the desperation of the informal sector is revealed in a new report published by Equal Times with case studies from 17 countries documenting union action to formalise informal jobs. The report outlines the success of union organising to transform the lives of waste recycling workers in Brazil, moto-taxi drivers in Rwanda, domestic workers in Belgium and Lebanon, street vendors in Ghana, artists in Uruguay and workers from many other sectors in many other countries.  The work of the Indian Self-Employed Women’s Association SEWA is highlighted in a country where 92 per cent of the economy is informal, while in the USA, worker-focused alternatives to the so-called “gig” economy, where internet platforms are being used by businesses to break down the employment relationship, are examined.

• Pages 26-33 Asia-Pacific: Tackling the informal economy (India, Philippines)
• Pages 34-44 Europe: Informal work in a European context (Belgium, UK, Kyrgyzstan and Bulgaria)
• Page 54 Conclusion: Towards decent work for all

A common strand through the report is the use of an international instrument, ILO Recommendation 204, which sets out how countries should formalise informal economic activity. Link here.

Fresh release: Health care and Social protection

A high quality health care system is one of the pillars of social protection and is a sine qua non condition for a global population with better health. The ILO Recommendation 202 includes:

• access to a nationally defined set of goods and services, constituting essential health care and including maternity care, that meets the criteria of availabilit, accessibility, acceptability and quality;
• basic income security (especially in cases of sickness, unemployment, maternity or disability)

These two pillars of social protection demonstrate a clear link between individuals' state of health and their access to health care.

The campaign on Social Protection for all has just come out with a report on Health Care, examining negative effects of policies that promote private and commercial initiatives, opening up of markers and budgetary austerity. It also proposes some avenues for reflection and puts forward some alternatives.

Photo competition regarding decent work

Sotermun, an NGO based in Spain is launching this year again a photo competition around the theme of "decent work for decent life" and of course WSM again urges its partners to submit pictures highlighting their work. 

The deadline is 15th of September 2016. Here are the detailed guidelines, specifying each competitor can send in max. 3 pictures to sotermun@sotermun.es. Photos should be in jpg and high quality (min. 300dpi and 30cm large). A price of 500€ can be won, as well as certificates for appreciated entries. 

Madras High Court dismisses writ petitions challenging Government Order on Minimum Wages for Garment Workers

The Division Bench upheld the Tamil Nadu government’s writ appeal (WA 867/2015) and dismissed about 550 petitions filed by garment manufacturers to quash the revision in minimum wages for tailoring industry. The Division Bench of the Madras High Court constituting of Justices Ulavadi G. Ramesh and M V Murlidharan decided to uphold the Government Order 59 2D, dated from 3 December 2014.

Earlier in 2005, the government had issued a notification on minimum wage which was not implemented by the garment manufacturers. The manufacturers had gone to court and obtained a stay order in their favour. It had taken a huge effort from GAFWU and trade unions to get all the petitions of the manufacturers dismissed. In 2012, the government once again started the process of revising the minimum wages, and finally notified it by the GO 59 dated 3 December 2014.

The two-member Division Bench in their order held that given the long history of non-payment of minimum wages, an exemplary interest of 6 percent should be paid on the unpaid wages/arrears since December 2014 within a period of two months. Further, the court directed the government and GAFWU to ensure effective implementation of the revised minimum wage and the payment of arrears.

The recent Textile Policy of the Government of India claims to promote both employment and exports. A 6000 crore incentive package has been proposed for this sector. The policy is aimed at deregulating this sector further in terms of statutory obligations of employers towards workers. The government, in fact, is legalizing longer hours of work, non-contribution of employers to statutory PF for new workers, providing tax breaks in the name of employment generation to incentive employers. The protection to workers has virtually been reduced to the protection under minimum wages. In this policy context, the implementation of the revised minimum wages is crucial for over 1 million garment workers, mostly women.

WSM network participates in the Asia Europe People's Forum

The Asia Europe People's Forum (AEPF) 11th meeting took place 4 to 6th of July in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia under the theme of Building New Solidarities: Working for Inclusive, Just, and Equal Alternatives in Asia and Europe. It consisted of seven thematic Clusters:

1. Resource Justice, Land Rights, Equal Access to Water, and Participation – Going beyond Extractivisms
2. Food Sovereignty/Food Security – Beyond Zero Hunger
3. Climate Justice and Transformation of Energy Systems
4. Socially Just Trade, Production and Investment
5. Social Justice – Alternatives to Debt and Austerity, Social protection, Decent Work, and Sustainable Livelihoods
6. Peace Building and Human Security – Responses to Migration, Fundamentalism and Terrorism
7. Participatory Democracy, Gender Equality and Minority Rights

Each of the clusters goes (loosely) through three ‘workshops’ or phases:
1. Contexts and Analysis
2. Lessons Learned, Successes and Failure
3. Strategies for People’s Visions and Future Perspectives

Afterwards, a final declaration was drafted and proclaimed, to be read at the ASEM summit in front of the 53 member states (link).

WSM attended with a delegation comprising Bruno Deceukelier and Francina Varghese and members of the partners, Samy Lourdes from AREDS, India and Robert Trani from AHW Philippines.

Social Justice cluster
Of course, most of our interest went towards the social justice cluster, as this one focuses mostly on Social Protection. Their reference to social justice seems to serve more to highlight the redistributive and transformative role of SP, instead of simple safety nets. WSM had been asked to also present, in the third phase of alternatives, our work and that of our partners.

Around 50 people showed up at the four sessions dedicated to social justice. Several participants question the approach: working from within the system or trying to fundamentally the system.

The WSM presentation, done just after Koen detavernier's presentation of the Campaign of Social Protection for All seemed to have been appreciated and there were many requests for our publications.

At the end of the session, participants also showed their support for the campaign with a pictures and sticking on the band-aids demanding social protection for all.

Though unsure of the political weight of the final declaration and the extent governments would take it into consideration, it is important to provide an alternative voice to the business lobbying. Most interesting for us was however the opportunities of learning and networking, with among others the Network for Transformative Social Protection. AHW is planning to get closer involved with them.