The ILO published a Condemium of Practice which compiles examples of how trade unions have reached out to workers in the informal economy, improved their working conditions, and supported their transition into the formal economy, as linked to ILO Recommendation 204. In it, they refer for Indonesia to WSM partners KSBSI and SBMI.
The ITUC was involved in helping the ILO identify good examples for inclusion in this publication, and the final result can be a very valuable resource because it provides a large number of concrete examples to contradict claims from some that ‘’trade unions are not representative of informal workers’’. Download the full publication here.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE INFORMAL ECONOMY AND GENDER:
In Indonesia, the proportion of informal employment amounts to 83.5 per cent of total employment (including agriculture).
For 2018, applying this proportion to total employment results in an estimated number of 104 million informal workers in Indonesia. All contributing family workers are in informal employment by definition. Own-account workers have the next highest percentage of informality.
Many people in the informal economy are employees (47,8 per cent of total informal employment). Over 84.8 per cent of Indonesia’s total female workforce is employed in the informal economy, against 82.7 per cent for men. A significant portion of these women are unpaid workers.
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS IN TERMS OF REPRESENTATION, SERVICES AND INCLUSIVENESS OF SOCIAL DIALOGUE:
• Improved trade union organization, representation and provision of services to informal workers.
• Extended social security for informal workers, including migrant workers.
THE STORY:
The Confederation of Indonesia Prosperity Trade Union (KSBSI) is a national trade union centre in Indonesia. It was founded in 1992 and has 2.1 million members. From 2017 until 2021, KSBSI and the General and Informal Construction Federation (FKUI), (the federation organizing informal economy workers) will be offering a training programme for workers in the informal economy (street vendors, motor taxi drivers working for the Go-Jek online package delivery application, and others). In this training programme, the trade union is raising the awareness of informal economy workers about the Indonesian social security system, which includes universal health insurance for all and different social security schemes covering workers, such as working accident insurance, a pension scheme and an old age and death allowance.
In addition to training, KSBSI also conducts campaigns, workshops and advocacy to improve the concrete implementation of the social security system, to make sure that workers in the informal economy are able to claim their social security rights.
Both the KSBSI and the FKUI have recorded significant progress in organizing informal economy workers in the construction industry, home-based and domestic workers, on-line drivers and street vendors. Bringing them into the trade union fold has contributed to the union’s strength, in particular addressing decent work deficits in the informal economy. One of the greatest achievements of their campaigns is that the central government is committed to attaining universal health coverage by 2019.
Another big achievement for KSBSI, in partnership with the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union SBMI, was the adoption by the Indonesian Parliament of the new Migrant Workers’ Act on 25 October 2017, which creates the legal basis for the inclusion of millions of Indonesian migrant workers in the social security system, which should increase their access to social insurance significantly. The new law came after years of campaigning by migrant workers’ rights groups to end exploitation and modern slavery. The new law places the responsibility on regional and local administrations to oversee their residents who want to migrate abroad for work. As a part of this shift towards local governance, regional administrations are now in charge of providing pre-departure vocational training and ensuring that workers receive proper placement, thus taking away much of the unchecked power of private recruitment companies to charge exorbitant fees, often trapping workers in debt bondage.
RESULTS:
Better representation, improved skills and enhanced social protection for informal workers, through their participation in trade union activities, will contribute to formalization and decent work.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION:
• Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ILO-ACTRAV): actrav@ilo.org
• ILO COOP Unit: coop@ilo.org
• ILO Country Office: jakarta@ilo.org
• Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia KSBSI: denksbsi@gmail.com
• ITUC Asia-Pacific: gs@ituc-ap.org
The ITUC was involved in helping the ILO identify good examples for inclusion in this publication, and the final result can be a very valuable resource because it provides a large number of concrete examples to contradict claims from some that ‘’trade unions are not representative of informal workers’’. Download the full publication here.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE INFORMAL ECONOMY AND GENDER:
In Indonesia, the proportion of informal employment amounts to 83.5 per cent of total employment (including agriculture).
For 2018, applying this proportion to total employment results in an estimated number of 104 million informal workers in Indonesia. All contributing family workers are in informal employment by definition. Own-account workers have the next highest percentage of informality.
Many people in the informal economy are employees (47,8 per cent of total informal employment). Over 84.8 per cent of Indonesia’s total female workforce is employed in the informal economy, against 82.7 per cent for men. A significant portion of these women are unpaid workers.
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS IN TERMS OF REPRESENTATION, SERVICES AND INCLUSIVENESS OF SOCIAL DIALOGUE:
• Improved trade union organization, representation and provision of services to informal workers.
• Extended social security for informal workers, including migrant workers.
THE STORY:
The Confederation of Indonesia Prosperity Trade Union (KSBSI) is a national trade union centre in Indonesia. It was founded in 1992 and has 2.1 million members. From 2017 until 2021, KSBSI and the General and Informal Construction Federation (FKUI), (the federation organizing informal economy workers) will be offering a training programme for workers in the informal economy (street vendors, motor taxi drivers working for the Go-Jek online package delivery application, and others). In this training programme, the trade union is raising the awareness of informal economy workers about the Indonesian social security system, which includes universal health insurance for all and different social security schemes covering workers, such as working accident insurance, a pension scheme and an old age and death allowance.
In addition to training, KSBSI also conducts campaigns, workshops and advocacy to improve the concrete implementation of the social security system, to make sure that workers in the informal economy are able to claim their social security rights.
Both the KSBSI and the FKUI have recorded significant progress in organizing informal economy workers in the construction industry, home-based and domestic workers, on-line drivers and street vendors. Bringing them into the trade union fold has contributed to the union’s strength, in particular addressing decent work deficits in the informal economy. One of the greatest achievements of their campaigns is that the central government is committed to attaining universal health coverage by 2019.
Another big achievement for KSBSI, in partnership with the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Union SBMI, was the adoption by the Indonesian Parliament of the new Migrant Workers’ Act on 25 October 2017, which creates the legal basis for the inclusion of millions of Indonesian migrant workers in the social security system, which should increase their access to social insurance significantly. The new law came after years of campaigning by migrant workers’ rights groups to end exploitation and modern slavery. The new law places the responsibility on regional and local administrations to oversee their residents who want to migrate abroad for work. As a part of this shift towards local governance, regional administrations are now in charge of providing pre-departure vocational training and ensuring that workers receive proper placement, thus taking away much of the unchecked power of private recruitment companies to charge exorbitant fees, often trapping workers in debt bondage.
RESULTS:
Better representation, improved skills and enhanced social protection for informal workers, through their participation in trade union activities, will contribute to formalization and decent work.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION:
• Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ILO-ACTRAV): actrav@ilo.org
• ILO COOP Unit: coop@ilo.org
• ILO Country Office: jakarta@ilo.org
• Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia KSBSI: denksbsi@gmail.com
• ITUC Asia-Pacific: gs@ituc-ap.org
