Does the new Nepali Constitution work for the workers?

After five years, six months and 26 days of work as well as two elections, two major earthquakes and close to 500 aftershocks, a new dawn supposedly rises on Nepal: the new Constitution is proclaimed today. But who supported and opposed, and what kind of provisions does this new Constitution reserve for the workers and the right to social protection?

Policy Paper regarding Labour Migration: SAARC

Labour migration is a crucial issue for the SAARC region and it directly and indirectly affects rights of workers and rights to social protection, so the SAARC Network on the Right to Social Protection, supported by WSM, jointly drafted this policy paper in Kathmandu on 18th of September 2015.

Migrant workers from Nepal to Gulf States
(c) AWO

SAARC is due to launch a policy paper on labour migration by beginning of 2016, and has mandated the Nepali government to draft this. SARTUC, which gathers trade unions from the SAARC region, had already initiated a process where per country, all affiliated trade unions drafted a joint position paper on migration. The network based these positions on the common position paper drafted on migration by the Nepali affiliated trade unions as facilitated by SARTUC. During the SARTUC meeting in Sri Lanka 28-29 Sept 2015, this and papers from the other SARTUC countries will be discussed. For Nepal, two members of the network, NTUC and GEFONT, will be attending as well as ANTUF. Seeing the objective is to reach a common position paper for SAARC regarding labour migration, the Network advocates for the following items to be included:

a) Decent living Wages

SAARC invites its member states to include a common decent living income as minimum wage standard, taking into consideration, cf. art. 3 ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (No. 131):

• the needs of workers and their families, taking into account the general level of wages in the country, the cost of living, social security benefits, and the relative living standards of other social groups;
• economic factors, including the requirements of economic development, levels of productivity and the desirability of attaining and maintaining a high level of employment.

Seeing these factors, the network endorses 500 USD/month for all workers, while it can be increased regarding the hosting or sending country, specific skills or sectors.

 

b) Social Security

SAARC invites its member states to include in bilateral labour migration agreements that:

• Hosting countries are to ensure access to Social Protection services in accordance with ILO R202, so that all migrant workers as residents have the same access and quality of social protection services in the hosting countries as nationals;
• Sending countries are to set up and manage Migrant Welfare Funds with contributions for the specific migration related costs, such as repatriation of workers after death or sickness. Both hosting and sending countries shall contribute to the Migrant Welfare Fund, which will be administered by the sending countries’ governments. The management of these national Migrant Welfare Funds will be ensured with the inclusion of social dialogue partners, from the trade unions or organisations which are representative of migrant workers’ interests.

c) Voting rights

SAARC invites its member states to grant and organize voting rights for migrant workers through the diplomatic representations of the sending countries in the hosting countries.

 

d) Recruitment Agencies

SAARC invites its member states to promote government to government recruiting. Any private agencies or agents have to be registered and meet national regulations and criteria.

 

The Network on Right to Social Protection is composed out of trade unions, organisations and social movements in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and is supported by World Solidarity (WSM). Other issues the network focuses on are Decent Living Income, access to social protection for the informal Economy and Access to Health.

From Fear to Freedom: WSM Asia partners look at gender violence

During the Asia workshop which gathered all partner organisations from Asia to Kathmandu, Nepal, a moment was also dedicated to the gender aspect, by showing a movie on gender violence.



Participants highlighted afterwards that some empowerment has taken place, despite cultural barriers and legal discrimination. Violence against women does not have as a single victim the women, but the entire society suffers from this. Participants felt culture allows or facilitates this but is made by people, who can change. The role of religion is also underlined. One felt that there was too much focus on southern countries in the movie, while there is also still a lot of discrimination in the West. Conventions and laws are adopted, but mentalities and practices change only slowly.

Does more freedom lead to less violence, questions one participant? One participant felt that since watching the movie, he better understood the size of the issue and how present it is worldwide, and how he was shocked by some men proudly stating how many women they had raped.

Some good messages and actions were shown or suggested, which we can use as inspiration. However, while the movie focused on physical and emotional violence, what was less shown was the burden placed on women, workwise, taking care of the family, to provide etc. These are structural injustices that need to be addressed. There are many political aspects behind each conflict, of which women are those first victims.

Bruno concluded by stating that in 2014, 56% of the beneficiaries of the SAARC WSM programme were women, which might seem like a good result, but taking into consideration the partners which are strongly or exclusively focusing on women (domestic workers, informal economy, garment and health workers), it could and should be a lot higher. As it is one of the five areas which is dealt with in the capacity strengthening tools of WSM, which some have prioritized, but too often, it is limited to attempts at increasing women presence or quotas, but not really mainstreaming gender inside the organisation.

Halfway through the 2014-2016 WSM programme in Asia

During the Kathmandu meeting, a 10 min video showcased some of the results halfway through the programme, as another way to show some of the issues and achievements from the partners and what kind of support is provided by WSM.



Besides the synergies and issues shown in the video above, partner organisations also worked with their own beneficiaries with the support from WSM.
SAARC: the PO’s in the SAARC region delivered 411.823 services (legal aid, vocational training, organising, etc.) in 2014, which is already 65% of what is to be achieved throughout the whole programme.
ASEAN:
• Cambodia: the campaign for a higher minimum wage mobilised over 100.000 garment workers from 139 factories, leading finally to an increase from 100 to 128 USD. It is a substantial increase, but not yet what CLC and C.CAWDU aspired, i.e. 177 USD. That’s of course due to the fact that minimum wages are set in dialogue with the employers. 1.400 Cambodian employees went from short term contracts to contracts of indefinite duration. CLC organised over 1.000 workers in 3 new sector (plantations, transport and private services).
• Indonesia: the PO’s have undertaken surveys among their membership to get a clear idea of what the needs are of the workers. This research constitutes the basis for their proposals which they defend in social dialogue. A CBA led to improved working conditions for 2.000 garment workers. The collaboration between KSBSI and SBMI centers on migrant workers. 6 centers to assist migrant workers were created, with training in labour rights for at least 100 migrant workers.
• Philippines: 400 health workers were trained regarding short-term contract workers and the consequences of privatization, which was taken up in at least 2 CBA procedures. During 14 medical missions over 320 marginalised patients were treated.

All the WSM Asia partners gather in Kathmandu to discuss the right to social protection

All participants, spelling out SP, standing for Social Protection.
Participants from ASEAN form the S,
participants from SAARC the P.

After having to postpone twice, due to a blocked runway and the Nepal earthquake in April 2015, all WSM partners from Asia finally met in Kathmandu where they went from their national political action to regional and international political agendas. 

In one of the evaluation forms, a participant wrote at the bottom:"Met, learned and planned to do." This possibly captures best what was done during the workshop. During five days, participants exchanged regarding their strategies and ideologies. They divided into ASEAN and SAARC groups and prioritized certain issues to work on, such as labour migration, informal economy, decent living income and access to health for all. 

Some sessions were dedicated to capacity strengthening: for gender, the financial tools used by WSM and to take better pictures. This last session rounded off with an invitation where participants could practice the techniques or the rule of thirds using the band-aids which are part of the ongoing campaign on social protection for all in Belgium (link). This led to quite some funny pictures which are now uploaded on the website, showing how important social protection is worldwide.

Stop child labour in India - from NDWM

NDWM, the WSM partner in India, is launching an online film campaign against the amendment in India of the child labour Law to allow children below 14 to work in the family based work. Kindly sign the petition and pass it on to your friends and colleagues and support our cause.

Role of Trade Unions after Nepal earthquake

The 8.3 earthquake and the 400 aftershocks that shook Nepal since April 2015 have killed over 9.000 people, injured over 23.000, and destroyed or damaged over 750.000 homes. 60.895 trade union members and depends were affected. The sectors most affected were the labour intensive sectors, like real estate (4 % drop), tourism (2.6%), construction (2.3%) and manufacturing (2.2%). In agriculture, much of the livestock sector, which accounts for over 23% of value added was destroyed: loss of over 17,000 cattle and 40,000 domesticated animals. Many arable lands were lost due to landslides. Tourism has been adversely affected with nine out of every ten planned foreign arrivals cancelled. While many jobs have been lost, to reconstruct the houses, an annual requirement of 500.000 workers would be necessary. In order to have this labour force, vocational skill training and decent jobs are necessary. This is what trade unions should ensure during the reconstruction process.

\What did GEFONT and NTUC do?

Confronted with the damages and with solidarity from many corners of the earth, both Nepali trade unions provided relief in the days and weeks after the quake. NTUC leadership visited all 14 affected districts and their affiliates (Health, Teacher, finances, Transport etc.) supplied tents, food, clean water and medicine etc. An NTUC Relief Fund for rehabilitation was created and support provided to members. GEFONT mobilized more than 300 volunteers who helped build 181 transitional shelters and nine schools, distributed food packages for 10.000 families. 22 seriously injured members and 22 families of members who died in the quake were also provided with support.

Support from other WSM partners

GK team gathering donations and equipment

Also the WSM partners in Asia have expressed their solidarity and support. The Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC), and C.CWADU, also WSM partners, gathered donations for GEFONT and NTUC. Another partner in Bangladesh, GK, which runs a Medical College and hospital, has several Nepali students, who, with the help from staff, gathered funds and equipment and drove a team of Nepali doctors and students to Kathmandu for medical support. Facilitated by NTUC, they organized two medical camps in and around Laliptur for construction, commercial and carpet workers. During their mission and various camps, 971 (398 male and 573 female) patients were treated. The trade unions jointly also dedicated the 1st of May celebration to the victims of the earthquake. With SARTUC, they handed over 1 million rupees (8.500EUR) to the Prime Minister Natural Disaster Relief Fund to support but also be involved in and hold the government accountable for the use of the funds.

How do trade unions see the reconstruction phase?

Reconstruction: By Creating Decent jobs, meeting 3-4 September 2015 in Kathmandu

During emergency situations, often decent work is not respected and people work for little money in unsafe conditions. To keep Nepali workers in the country, stimulate the Nepali economy and properly use all the international support given, trade unions are promoting decent work during the reconstruction. Beginning of September 2015, Nepali trade unions under the umbrella of ITUC-NAC, organized an international solidarity meeting with the theme “Reconstruction: By creating decent jobs”. Delegates from government, international trade union community and Nepali trade union movement participated in the meeting. They appealed the Government of Nepal (GoN) to prepare the strategies and campaign of reconstruction of Nepal post-earthquake with focus on Nepali workers. The roadmap has asked the GoN to revise the national employment policy to create at least 200.000 jobs as the reconstruction phase will require huge manpower. GoN should also guarantee Nepali workers 200 days of employment per year and raise minimum wages to 1.000Rps/day for unskilled workers to create decent jobs and stop migration of the Nepali workers. To promote this agenda, ITUC-NAC will ensure representation in decision making processes regarding reconstruction efforts. This roadmap was signed by all three leaders of the trade unions, the Minister of Labour and the representative of the employers’ union.

ITUC visits CFTUI in India

I just came back from a mission in India where the WSM partner CFTUI was visited by a delegation of the ITUC and ITUC-AP regarding their full affiliation. The delegation was composed out of Jaap Wiener, Deputy Director ITUC, Noriyuki Suzuki, General Secretary ITUC-AP, and myself as WSM Asia Coordinator, as mandated by ACV-CSC.

The mission had as purpose to gather information regarding the potential full membership affiliation of CFTUI to ITUC, having been associated member since 2006. During the two day mission, the delegation interacted with the leadership of CFTUI, the Executive Committee members, leaders from the affiliated trade unions and attended a conference of 400 members from the Delhi shop &establishments unions. It also consulted the existing affiliated members in India, INTUC and HMS. The affiliation request will be handled during the next ITUC General Council, on 12th of October 2015 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The strongest point of CFTUI is clearly its membership, which has drastically increased during the past ten years, going from 30.000 members to 1,3 million, and with an additional potential 600.000 to 1 million to join in the coming two years. Its main obstacle is the lack of national verification of its membership, which excludes it from many social dialogue instances. CFTUI has achieved several important improvements of workers’ rights in various areas and states, especially in the informal economy. It does however not yet institutionally play its role in social dialogue, though full membership at ITUC would increase its credibility as a social partner...
 

Article from AREDS: Towards workers’ Rights in India

Twelve trade unions of unorganized workers have come together and formed the Karur District Federation of All Unorganised Workers’ Unions in 2014. Since its inception, the leaders of the federation have been thinking of bringing out a newsletter on the success stories of the member unions, the struggles undertaken by the unions as well as the federation and the matters on the latest socio-politico and economic development in the country. Their dream came true as the first issue of the Newsletter ‘Tholilaalar Urimaiyai Nokki’ (Towards workers’ Rights) was released on the 21st of August 2015 in Karur.

Current context in India
The Indian government is taking different steps to de-link the association between the unorganized workers and the trade unions. Previously, the leaders of the trade unions to which the workers belonged to were doing the work of enrolling and renewing memberships with the Labour Welfare Board. Presently, the government has passed a Government Order which says that the workers should go in person to the Labour Welfare Office to enroll their names and renew their memberships. If this becomes regular practice, the workers will approach the union only when they have to avail the financial assistance under labour welfare schemes. Doubtless, this will liquidate the interest of the workers in enhancing their awareness on workers’ rights and will dampen the fighting spirit of the workers in claiming their legitimate rights.

Therefore, the union leaders try to consistently keep the members in contact with the unions. They have to ensure an effective and periodical communication between the union and the members. In such times, a newsletter would surely be instrumental in bridging the workers and the trade union. For this reason, the Karur District Federation of All Unorganised Workers’ Unions has brought out this newsletter.

India to grant better rights through policy on domestic workers

Indian media recently reported the drafting of a policy by the central government on better rights of domestic workers. This issue was part of the political action NDWM and the other WSM partners have been campaigning on for several years now in India, with most recently a postcard campaign demanding the ILO 189 ratification by India and a national legislation. 

According to the media, the NDA government is readying a national policy incorporating these features, besides a host of benefits, including social security cover and provisions against sexual harassment and bonded labour. The 'National Policy for Domestic Workers' is likely to be presented before the Union Cabinet soon.

Domestic servants, who stare at an uncertain future when they grow weak with age and are thrown out of their job, will now have the cushion of a social security scheme under which the employer will have a mandatory contribution.

The policy envisages the right to domestic helps to pursue education, a safe work environment and a mechanism for redress of their grievances.

Workers and employers will also have the right to form groups and engage with each other for 'collective bargaining'.

A draft note in this regard, prepared by the Director General Labour Welfare (DGLW), was submitted to Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya last week."The policy framework is on par with the standards of the International Labour Organisation. India has adopted the ILO convention on domestic workers and therefore we have to make a policy for this segment of the society" he said.

NDWM, though acknowledging the step forward, also notes that a major loophole is that the government wants to recruit domestic workers through placement agency, which will be adding to the exploitation as in many cases, these agents are human traffickers. The policy also doesn't spell out any complaint mechanism or monitoring system if the minimum wage is not implemented. Lastly and most importantly, this is only a national policy which is not binding instrument. If the Indian States don't wish to implement it, the Central Government will have little or no control over it.

CFTUI obtains 25% raise for teacher and helpers in Bihar, India

Aganwari are helpers in the public schools, who deal with everything from cooking to watching over the children. In Bihar, a state in the north-east of India, they made around 1.000INR per month, which hadn't been increased for ages and is very low compared to others states (for instance, Kerala pays aganwari 10.000, Andra Pradesh: 8.000). They have to work for 10 to 12 hours each day, divided in two sections: teachers and helpers (cook) for children 0 to 6 year old from 500 families per helper and many extra responsibilities: polio vaccinations, surveys, caring for sick mothers, etc.

CFTUI, the WSM partner has an affiliated trade union of Aganwari with with 25.000 members out of a total of 70.000 teachers and 70.000 helpers). The demands for raise have been since a long time, with in 2010, finally an increase from 1.000 to 3.000INR.

Since this was still very low, their leadership decided in April to conduct a campaign for increase with:

• Agitation on 6th June
• Block and hunger strike in 250 localities 9 and 10 June across Bihar with around 25000 participants
• State wide strike in 3rd of July

At 26 anniversary, GEFONT hands out awards and support to earthquake victims

On the occasion of its 26th Founding Day, GEFONT handed over cash to the April 25 and beyond earthquake victims, who are members of GEFONT. 25.000 to 40.000NPR were handed over to those victims’ families who were killed by the devastating quake, whereas, the members who were seriously injured in the quake were given 15 to 20.000 rupees. The cash was handed over by GEFONT President Bishnu Rimal, totalling 1.175.000NPR! "I sincerely thank Global ILO staffs' union, and WSM for their generous solidarity" said president Rimal.

On the same occassion, GEFONT distributed two awards and scholarships. This year Yamkala Magrati from Sunsari district was awarded the Noor Wangchhu Award and Chanchalal Bot from Udayapur district was awarded Madhav Neupane Smriti Award.GEFONT President Bishnu Rimal presented Gangadevi Scholarship and Treatment Assistance to Nayan Pokharel of Hetauda and Surya Bahadur Sarki of Butwal. Likewise Mira Basnet, Tea estate worker and member of FAPWUN was given Gangadevi health treatment assistance. She had lost a limb in a bus accident while coming to Kathmandu.
More information can be found here.

NTUC ensures five demands present in Nepali constitution drafting process

NTUC trade union and its affiliates from the Kathmandu valley met last Sunday, to appeal to their members to attend public hearings organized as part of the constitution drafting process in Nepal. After trade unions agreed in the JTUCC platform on several issues to be included (link), NTUC put forward five main issues which the members should suggest during the public hearings organized in 240 electoral constituencies around the country.

These five demands prioritized by NTUC are:

1. Representation: 10% of workers representation on all levels of the state (parliament, but also district and local level) - link here
2. Social security for all, including for migrant workers abroad
3. Right to vote for Nepali migrants working abroad, through the Nepali diplomatic representations
4. Institutionalizing the Labour Commission, a tripartite structure, necessary for the correct implementation of the Labour Law
5. Right to strike

Five Nepali Congress members from the Constitutional Assembly attended, as well as the Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport, who ensured he supported the demands from NTUC.

Bruno Deceukelier, invited as the WSM Asia Coordinator, which is supporting this process, spoke how WSM believes in solidarity between workers all over the world, which is increasingly becoming a small village. He expressed it was important that in this village, houses of decent work were build and congratulated NTUC on emphasizing the four cornerstones in their five demands:

1. The Right to Strike, which was also contested globally in the ILO and needs to be defended more than ever;
2. The social security and more largely social protection for all, especially with such a significant portion of Nepali working abroad;
3. Workers representation in the democracy;
4. Social dialogue and tripartite structures

He also said Nepal is currently going through a fundamental time, where rights can be inscribed in the constitution and provide the foundation for many improvements of labour rights. If successful, trade unions will then have to play an important role in ensuring the respect of these rights.

How crucial this is can be demonstrated by the opposition of the Nepali Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), which wants to withdraw labour rights from the fundamental rights to be inscribed in the constitution. The article mentions "The private sector has voiced fears about the possible misuse of the provision regarding labour rights. “If the right is treated as a fundamental right, labourers could file a petition against their employers, and the state is liable to protect the right. This will create a dubious situation" (link to article here).

NGWF informs: Garment workers rally and red flag procession held on demanding wage and festival bonus

The leaders of six garment workers federations have demanded immediate payment of wages within July 10 and Eid (festival) bonus within 14 to garment workers. They also urged the government to take action against factory owners, who would violate the deadlines.

The demands were raised at a rally on 08th July, Wednesday, at 10:30am in front of the National Press Club in the capital city Dhaka. The garment workers rally was followed by a red- flag procession that paraded important streets of the city.

Presided over by Amirul Haque Amin, president of the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), the program was jointly organized by NGWF, Bangladesh Garment Workers Employees Federation, National Garment Workers Employees Federation, Akota Garment Workers Federation, Garment Workers Solidarity Federation and Bangla Garment Workers Federation.

The rally was addressed, among others, by Trade union Comrade Qamrul Ahsan, M. Delwar Hossain, Kazi Mohammed Ali, Md. Kamrul Hasan & Ms Shahida Akter Smrity.

The speakers urged the factory owners and BGMEA to pay garment workers their wages and overtime dues for the month of June within July 10 and the Eid  bonus before 14 July 2015, as per the government announcement.

The speakers mentioned that every year during Eid festival some garment factory owners fraudulently cheat the garments workers through a dilly dally tactic & thus do not pay the workers at all. As a result workers fall in inhuman condition. The leaders alerted BGMEA leaders and law enforcing agencies in this regard. This year if any garments factory owner, committing the crime of cheating the workers, they urged all concerned to bring them under law and ensure remarkable punishment.

The speakers demanded that the management of Grameen Knitwear, the factory owned by Nobel Lauriat Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus, withdraw all false and imaginary cases against 204 workers, reinstate the sacked workers or pay, as per termination definition, termination benefit, service benefit, leave compensation and provident fund, including all dues immediately.

The workers leaders also demanded for reopening of Success Fashion and Norwest Industries as well as capture factory owners Safar Ali Bhuyan and Indian national Pollok Sheth respectively for committing offence to destroy trade union.