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.