The ANRSP meets in Manila

Almost fifty participants, members of the Asia Network on the Right to Social Protection (ANRSP) gathered for six days in Manila to discuss the issues decent living income and social protection. With the input from various international experts, like from the ILO, WageIndicator, ITUC and ITUC Asia Pacific, as well as from experiences in the Philippines regarding the state of the health system, two members from each of the eighteen WSM partners from the six Asia countries agreed on elements to be included in a living wage, compared methodologies and applied them in their national context and found current minimum wages largely insufficient.
A common position on minimum living wage was drafted by the steering committee members, before the participants went on field visits organized by the WSM Filippino partners to a jeepney union and two public hospitals.

Before the second half of the meeting, which focused on social protection, started,  OKRA from Belgium and GK from Bangladesh jointly facilitated a session on the impact of elderly in society and the links it has with social protection. The two other networks in Asia focusing on social protection, the Network for Transformative Social Protection and the Asia Round Table on SP also explained their priorities and how we could complement each other’s work. At the end, plans for the international network on the right to social protection were also discussed as well as the action plan for the years to come and where the network would be advocating. Participants afterwards expressed a 84% satisfaction of the content and how useful it was for them, stating it “helps me a lot to understand the various issues affecting the lives of the people especially in terms of SP and DLI. It helps me to see the whole picture of what kind of SP we have in Asia.”

Amussol: informal workers have access to social security in the Dominican Republic!

Let's share an update on some of the recent achievements in other regions where WSM supports networks on the right to social protection. 

The Dominican trade union ‘CASC’ is a long-standing partner of World Solidarity (WSM), the ACV-CSC trade union and the Christian Mutuality, three organisations from the Christian labour movement in Belgium.

In this thematic brochure, we took an interest in AMUSSOL, a mutual association set up in 2005 by CASC. It allows men and women workers in the informal economy to access social protection, a right that is not guaranteed by the Dominican state for this part of the population.

The mutual association serves as a ‘virtual employer’ for these men and women workers in the informal economy. Affiliates pay their monthly fee to AMUSSOL, which channels it to the national Social Security Treasury.
Therefore, more than 60,000 men and women workers of the country are entitled to a family health coverage, workplace accident allowances and a pension.

The initiative is a great example of the transformative power of a social movement that uses its expertise to change the existing system. By enabling men and women informal workers to access the social security scheme, AMUSSOL has developed good practices in the field of the extension of social protection, bringing greater fairness in the Dominican society. At the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the initiative has inspired the development of the standard-setting system concerning social protection floors (with the adoption in 2012 of Recommendation 202) and the transition from the informal to the formal economy (with the adoption in 2015 of Recommendation 204). AMUSSOL and CASC have played a major role in the negotiations that led to the adoption of both standards.

And what about the future? Ideally, the Dominican Government should eventually settle this question of access to social security for all, pushed in the back a.o. by CASC and AMUSSOL, which are asking for the compliance with international labour standards such as ILO Recommendations 202 and 204. AMUSSOL could thus keep on serving as a transmission belt between the organisations of workers in the informal economy and the official social security system. It would allow to keep an effective control, the ownership by all beneficiaries and, consequently, a broad support for the system.

We hope you enjoy reading it here when we put the spotlight on an initiative that has already allowed around 60,000 people to gain access to social protection.

The WSM Asia Newsletter on Social Protection

Please find here the archives of the WSM Asia newsletter, W-Connect, dealing with Social Protection and Labour Rights issues in Asia.

• Looking back at 2023
• When COVID underlines the importance of social protection, November 2021
• November 2021: South Asia update
• June 2020 what difference did 2019 make
• April 2020 Asia and WSM partners in times of Corona
• June 2019 what difference does a year make: 2018
• October 2018 Asia takes Belgium by storm
• June 2018 on #MeToo at the ILO, Bangladesh and taking positions
• June 2017 on impact 2014-2016 programme
• December 2016 on Access to Health
• June 2016 on Decent Living Income
• March 2016 on Labour Migration
• Sept. 2015
• Feb. 2015
• October 2014
• June 2014
• December 2013
• June 2013
• December 2012

This WSM Asia newsletter is published twice a year. Compiled by WSM, it stimulates the exchange and sharing between the partners and informs relevant third parties of the program on Social Protection in Asia.

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