W-Connect Latest edition: on Decent Living Income

We don’t live to work, we work to live. This saying sums up a lot of what we deal with in this edition of the W-Connect newsletter, which focuses on a decent living income. Or living wage. Or just or fair wages. No matter the term, no matter the way of calculating it or which formula you apply, I think we should all agree, we work to live and not the other way around. Unfortunately, it is a far stretch from today’s reality. Many work very hard and struggle to simply survive, not even to live decently.  When it becomes a luxury not only to buy a pair of decent shoes, but to buy food or shelter. And what about spending time with your family, to help your children with homework, or take them for ice-cream. Many are only surviving, getting the minimum out of life.

Legally set, the minimum wages are often too low in Asia to live decently. In 19 out of the 26 states in India, minimum wages (of which there are 1.200, as they differ per sector, per state and between urban and rural areas) are even below the poverty line, let alone any decent living income, as was researched by the WSM partners.

This edition also looks closer at the garment sector, which can be key for the struggle for decent living incomes. It employs 25 million workers in more than 100 countries and in 2013, apparel trade amounted to 460.27 billion dollars, with more than 60% of it originating from 10 Asian countries. Out of the top ten world garment exporters in 2013, seven were from Asia. In the region, China, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Cambodia have covered the bulk of garment production in the last decade. Bangladesh became the second largest producer of garments after China because of its lowest wages for 4 million workers. A race to the bottom which should become a climb to the top, by guaranteeing decent living incomes to all workers, in Asia as around the world. This was already understood in 1948, as article 23 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and for his family an existence worthy of human dignity."

How much longer till this becomes reality?

Download the full version here.

Asia Floor Wage Alliance presents its first documentary: Living Wage Now!

The 105th International Labour Conference gets underway

The 105th International Labour Conference gets underway in Geneva, Switzerland from 30 May to 10 June. This year's session brings together over 4,000 delegates from around the globe to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world of work today. Youth employment, global supply chains and decent work in fragile states will all be high on the agenda.


On behalf of WSM, Bart Verstraeten will attend among others. Together with Bart Vannetelbosch (Central Supply and Services) and several of our partners we are going to the Commission to examine how to ensure decent work in global supply chains. We all know the challenges of the supply chain: the workers in the textile sector who receive poor wages or lose their jobs when they are pregnant; workers in the free trade zones that can not organize or become members of trade unions; miners without contracts, without social protection.

This commission has the mandate to conduct a general debate, that is to say:
- To gather the views of the ILO tripartite stakeholders;
- Determine a new mandate for the ILO in this area.

Fortunately, we had the opportunity to prepare with our partners in the international seminar organized by KSBSI and ACV-CSC in Jakarta in late April. At the end of our seminar, we adopted a final document which comprises our claims (here). Some of these claims will be the basis of our advocacy in the coming days.

And when we say "our" advocacy, we refer to our great delegation. With ACV-CSC colleagues, IYCW, WSM, CCC, KSBSI, CLTM Indonesia and Mauritania, and other colleagues and partners who are coming, hopefully we can influence discussions.

SAARC delegates for collective bargaining on labour migration

The WSM partners from South Asia have been advocating a joint position on labour migration, also through SARTUC, to get a collective bargaining on labour migration. Some progress is being made, as the Nepali newspaper My Republica reported this today:
With the aim of raising collective issues pertaining to labor migration and forming a common labor law to protect the rights of migrant workers from the region, officials from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have gathered in Kathmandu for the first time.

The government officials of the SAARC-member states and various stakeholders aim to set up a regional-level mechanism in order to assist in dealing with major labor migration issues.
Nepal had formulated a draft for setting up such mechanism after the 18th SAARC Summit that was held in Kathmandu. The member states of the SAARC during the summit had agreed to collaborate and cooperate for proper management of labor migration from South Asia.

Clean Clothes Campaign puts out fires at H&M shop in Belgium

Foto: Jürgen Doom

Terwijl de aandeelhouders van H&M vandaag verzamelen in Stockholm, roept de Schone Kleren Campagne het bedrijf op om meer vaart te zetten achter de noodzakelijke renovaties in de fabrieken in Bangladesh die H&M bevoorraden. Activisten van de Schone Kleren Campagne voerden een veiligheidscontrole uit in het H&M-filiaal in Leuven en overhandigden een brandblusapparaat aan het management. Gelijkaardige acties gebeurden in 27 steden wereldwijd.

Drie jaar nadat H&M als eerste bedrijf het Bangladesh Akkoord voor gebouw- en brandveiligheid ondertekende, staan bijna al hun leveranciers achter op schema om renovaties uit te voeren. De internationale Schone Kleren Campagne en drie andere ngo’s hebben gisteren een update gepubliceerd van een eerder rapport  over de vertraging in de veiligheidsrenovaties bij 32 van H&M’s strategische Bengaalse leveranciers. Ook de vooruitgang bij 22 bijkomende strategische leveranciers werd onderzocht.

Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat bij 70% van hun 54 strategische leveranciers, nog niet alle branddeuren geïnstalleerd werden die een veilige uitweg garanderen aan werknemers in geval van brand. Daardoor kan een brand catastrofale gevolgen hebben, zoals de brand bij Garib & Garib zes jaar geleden, waarbij 21 werknemers die kleren stikten voor H&M omkwamen. Dat percentage is zelfs hoger dan bij de vorige update in januari, omdat sindsdien nog meer deadlines verstreken zijn. Andere renovaties werden afgekeurd door de inspecteurs van het Akkoord.

Cambodian trade union law passes

The voting on the law in the Cambodian Parliament took place today. Very regrettably, the law was passed unchanged, despite increasing criticism. All 67 deputies present from the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) supported it and the 31 opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) delegates voted against it.

There are now rapidly growing numbers of media reporting on the fact that the law has been passed as well as growing coverage of the peaceful protests, met by violence, that took place close to the National Assembly.

National media:

• Violence as Assembly Passes Trade Union Law
• Trade union law passes

International media:

• Radio Free Asia 
• Asia Pacific Daily
• Bangkok Post 
• Reuters 
• Daily Mail (UK) 

See also LICADHO's Facebook. ILO made this statement on the Trade Union Law after the National Assembly's decision.

Open letter to all brands sourcing from Cambodia

Clean Clothes Campaign published an open letter to all brands in Cambodia to publicly support freedom of association and independent unions in Cambodia. We call upon the brands, representatives for H&M, Inditex, C&A, Levi Strauss, Marks & Spencer, Tchibo, Primark and other brands to widely disseminate a public support statement, for a Trade Union Law which fully complies with ILO Conventions 87 and 98 as a condition for future sourcing from the country.

H&M have already issued a statement supporting the demand, as well as Tchibo, hopefully other brands will soon follow.

If you're an individual, please share this post. If you're a member of an organisation, please check whether your organisation can also sign the letter. If so, contact the press contacts below.

Open letter to all brands sourcing from Cambodia:

Dear brands,

As you know the Cambodian government is currently drafting a new Trade Union Law aimed at regulating the Kingdom’s 3,400 trade unions. Concerns around the draft Law are growing as the current proposal is not in compliance with ILO conventions 87 (Freedom of association and protection of the right to organize) and 98 (Right to organize and collective bargaining), both ratified by Cambodia. Based on the recommended amendments of the Joint Committee formed to review the draft law, articles and provisions that infringe freedom of association and trade union autonomy are maintained in the final draft bill. A number of trade unions and human rights organisations have approached the Cambodian Government with their concerns and recommendations to the law.

After the Brussels attack

Several have written to us, to express their horror after the explosions in Brussels, in which two bombs at the airport killed 14 people and wounded around hundred people. It was followed an hour later by a bomb that went off at Maelbeek station, killing at least 20 and again injuring around a hundred people.

As these things are meant to inspire terror, incomprehension and anger in the population, please find below a short text the Christian Movement has released.


Three points.

No more.

Because there are no words for what happened to us the last few days.

Because it is incomprehensible.

Because we are insecure themselves.



We had hoped that this would never happen. That no one would be subjected to barbaric killings on the subway and at the airport. But it happened. And how difficult it may be now to understand or place these attacks, while we are so shocked, silence is today not an option for anyone. We owe it to ourselves to condemn in the strongest possible terms from such cowardly terrorist acts. We express our regrets to the families of the innocent victims, people who simply did their best to make something of their lives and for their loved ones.

 The perpetrators of the attacks and their supporters want to sow fear in our society. But if we are guided by that fear, then we submit and give in to them. Fear also leads to selfishness and hatred, fear leads to a society where we do not want to live.

The perpetrators and their supporters want to make every human and democratic answer to social problems impossible. It is our duty, the duty of people and social organizations, to indeed continue looking for and finding those answers.

We should not be gullible. We should not only look to shape our society in this 'after 22/03', we must seek answers to the question how we deal with the culture of fear that aims to disrupt our society and how we deal with people who, in the name of religion, place themselves outside of society.

 Today it is necessary for everyone, countries, individuals and organizations, to strongly condemn this violence and affirm their belief in democracy and human values. Not only in words but also in deeds and actions through which we unite. Only then, and only together we can shape a society in which violence can claim no place. And only if, and only together, can we keep the dictatorship of fear outside.

India partners launch their study on decent living income in the informal economy

Miss Annelies Maricou, First Secretary for the Belgian Embassy in Delhi,
unveils the study and presents it to M Ranjit Prakash from the ILO,
Project Coordinator - Social Protection

During a reception in Delhi tonight, the WSM partners in India presented their study done on the decent living income in the informal economy in India. You can find the study here.

If the world is increasingly becoming a village, one cannot help but notice that many of the houses in this village are shacks. Made out of left-over materials, they lack solid foundations or leak when it rains. If this village would have 100 citizens, 77 people would have a place to shelter them from the wind and the rain, but 23 would not. 60 would be Asian. One person would be dying of starvation, 15 would be undernourished while 21 would be overweight. A mere 5 out of the 100 would control 32% of the entire world's wealth and 48 would live on less than US$ 2 a day, 20 would live on less than US$ 1 a day.

The ever increasing urge to earn and spend more money is consuming both people and resources. World Solidarity (WSM) believes that for this village to continue existing and its citizens to live in dignity, these houses should be built on solidarity. Thus, WSM supports five organisations in India, AREDS, CFTUI, CWM, NDWM and YCW to add foundations and bricks to the India house and its social protection and decent work. After all, the only sustainable solution to poverty is that people have decent work and decent incomes.

This study peeks into the many rooms of the Indian house, where the majority of the people work and live, the informal sector, and focuses in ten States on the agriculture, construction and domestic workers. The study looks through questionnaires and focus group discussions at working conditions, how they live, and sometimes barely survive, how they are employed, how they employ themselves, and how they are often either grossly ignored or massively exploited. Led by an esteemed research team, the study was conducted by and through the partners, who felt they could learn as much from this process of conducting such a field study as from the findings it produced. Any advocacy indeed needs to start with and be built on reality. Studies are one way to compile and present data, findings that can be analyzed and argued.

The concept of decent work actively promoted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is based on 4 main principles: freely chosen and productive work (1), with international labour rights (including fundamental labour standards) being observed (2), and a form of work which provides access to social protection (3) and in which workers are listened to through social dialogue (4).

Social protection is thus one of the four main principles of the Decent Work Agenda of the ILO. On the one hand, labour is still the best guarantee against poverty, provided that it is “decent” work obviously. On the other hand, social protection offers the guarantee of a decent standard of living, both in the case of people who have lost all or part of their work income as well as in the case of people who find it difficult or impossible to provide for themselves.

Social protection consists of a whole range of measures of prevention, protection, promotion and transformation or social change, which aim at preventing and reducing social exclusion and inequality as well as poverty and vulnerability.

Globally, especially in developing countries, social protection is reduced to protective and preventive measures. To ensure that a national policy of social protection responds in the most adequate way to the various needs of the different target groups, it is crucial that all relevant stakeholders are involved at all stages, from the early development of the policy to its implementation and monitoring. A structural and dynamic dialogue is a prerequisite to strike the right balance between the different kinds of measures and the most appropriate methods of financing.

We hope this study will provide arguments to lobby in the diversity of India and its national and state level legislation for better minimum wages which allow people to live in dignity, a decent living income.

New edition of W-Connect: positions, testimonies, practices on Labour Migration

Please click here to find the March 2016 edition of W-Connect, which is a first in two aspects. This newsletter has always had as a goal to share experiences between and from the WSM partners in Asia. 

For the first time, it centers around one topic: labour migration, which was prioritized as an important issue to advocate on by the WSM partners in Asia. This edition gathers political agendas, illustrations of where and when these are advocated for, as well as testimonies and practices.

It is also the first time the editorial oversight was given to two members from the Steering Committee, M Ganesh from Nepal and Miss Sulistri from Indonesia. This way of working will also be applied for the upcoming 2016 editions of W-Connect, with the next edition dedicated to decent living income and the last to access to health. Please enjoy reading our work and may it inspire and motivate you!

M Ganesh from Nepal and Miss Sulistri from Indonesia

NGWF press release: Blockade of Bangladesh Ministry of Labour & Employment

NGWF demanded the reinstatement of 73 illegally sacked workers, including 7 union officials of foreign owned Hanwen Bd Ltd. in Ashulia. It also demanded the immediate payment of arrears for the workers of Mahboob Apparels Ltd. (declared closed) under Masihata group and immediate payment of legal compensation of the workers of Amir Sweaters & Apparels Ltd.

By the initiative of National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF), a red-flag demonstration just in front of the National Press Club was held and  a memorandum submitted to the Ministry of Labour & Employment.

Speakers stated that involvement with trade union is the fundamental & legal right of the workers. Despite this, frequent violations are happening. The workers of foreign owned Hanwen Bd Ltd. formed a trade union on October 9, 2015. After that, on January 9, 12 & March 10 of 2016, the management illegally sacked 73 workers including 7 trade union officials. In this context, a memorandum was submitted to the Ministry of Labour & Employment by the initiative of NGWF on January 17, 2016 and a human chain formed on February 11, 2016, followed by another human chain seeking the intervention of the Prime Minister on February 16, 2016. But still, no initiative has been taken to reinstate the 42 workers. Moreover, 30 more workers have been sacked on March 10, 2016.

On March 3, 2016, without any prior notice, the management of Mahboob Apparels Ltd., Ashulia paid the workers two months of basic wage, kept their signature on resign-paper & expelled them from the factory. But they did not pay any service benefit & legal payment (on accounts of termination) to the workers.  On February 9, 2016, without any prior notice, the management of Amir Sweaters & Apparels Ltd. declared the factory closed. But they did not pay any arrears & legal compensation of the workers.

The speakers demanded the immediate reinstatement of 73 workers, payment of arrears to the factory workers of Mahboob Apparels Ltd. and payment of legal compensation to the factory workers of Amir Sweaters & Apparels Ltd.

After the rally, a procession headed for the Ministry of Labour & Employment was stopped by police. Afterwards, the memorandum was submitted by 6 persons including Ms. Shafiea Parvin (General Secretary), Ms. Nurun Nahar (Vice-President), Arifa Akter (Central Leader), Shah Alam (Worker, Hanwen BD Ltd.), Mohiuddin (Mahboob Apparels Ltd.), Rashida Begum (Amir Sweaters & Apparels Ltd.).
Amirul Haque Amin,
NGWF
President

Statistics on Labor Migration within the Asia-Pacific Region

Source: Red Cross Red Crescent Manila Conference on Labor Migration 2015 / Manila, Philippines / 12-13 May 2015

Happy International Women's Day!

WSM is currently preparing its next five year programme, and for the first time, all results to achieve will have to specify how many women will be included. Let us set ambitious but realistic goals!

Nearly a quarter of a billion more women are in the global workforce today than a decade ago. In several countries, more women are now going to university than men but - crucially - this is not necessarily translating into more women occupying skilled roles or leadership positions.

Women are only now earning the amount that men did in 2006: a global average of just over €10,400 compared with €19,200) paid to men. The gender pay gap is worse for mothers, and it only grows with age. At the current rate the gender gap is closing, women will get equal pay… in 118 years!

Do India’s trade unions have it in them to resist a labour blitz?

The Hindu Times just published a very interesting article and analysis on India's labour problem. Read the introduction here and follow the link to the full article here.

As the NDA government leans towards industrialists by scripting reforms that would legalise and expand contract labour, the big question is: do India’s trade unions have it in them to resist this imminent legislative blitz?

On February 24, the RSS-affiliated central trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) will hold a nationwide protest against the NDA government’s labour law reforms. On March 10, all the 11 central trade union organisations (CTUOs), including the BMS, will observe a national protest day. And in end-March, they are planning a mass convention on labour policies to mobilise workers. All this comes in the wake of a 15-point pre-Budget memorandum of demands that the CTUOs had submitted to the Union Finance Minister in January.

India’s ‘labour problem’
Ask any top executive from India Inc. and he would tell you that India has a labour problem. And the International Labour Organisation (ILO) would agree. So here’s a quick but unconventional overview of India’s ‘labour problem’.

There are eight core ILO Conventions against forced labour (also known, in less euphemistic times, as slavery). India refuses to ratify four of those: C87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention); C98 (the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention); C138 (Minimum Age Convention), and C182 (Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention). India also refuses to ratify another major convention, C131, or the Minimum Wage Fixing Convention. These refusals in themselves present a succinct picture of the status of, as well as the state’s attitude to, labour welfare in India.

The Annual Global Rights Index, published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), rates 141 countries on 97 indicators derived from ILO standards. The rating is on a scale of 1 to 5-plus, based on the degree of respect accorded to workers’ rights. In 2015, India had a rating of 5, the second-worst category. It denotes “no guarantee of rights”. Despite being a constitutional democracy, on the matter of worker rights, India is in the same club as Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar, all dictatorships.

So yes, India certainly has a labour problem. And a reform of the present labour regime is a must. But what form should this reform take?

Follow the link to the full article here.