Context Analysis 11: Global Decent Work Programme (Towards Decent Work and more secure jobs) 1.

Introduction

Globalisation of production has implications for labour relations. A growing group of workers nowadays is dependent on insecure work, jobs without contracts, without social security or a living wage and with a lot of uncertainties. Stable contracts with Decent Work become the exception. The expansion and integration of market-based economic policies has driven a worldwide decline in the number of workers in the primary labour market with ‘standard’ employment , (vis-àvis stable, long term employment with a single employer and covered by various legal and social protections). In most countries national legal frameworks governing employment and labour relations are geared to formal employment and standard jobs, leaving a growing number of types of work and workers excluded from basic protections 1 of the law.” Trade unions have a major role to play in improving working conditions of these workers. This is a big challenge because traditionally unions negotiated collective bargaining contracts for workers who are directly employed by companies and covered by labour legislation and social security schemes. This trend creates the need for the trade union movement to find new ways in order to defend the rights of increasingly flexible workers who are in need of more secure and decent jobs. In the programme countries, activities and results are defined in relation to interventions and activities at national level. This programme focuses on international interventions in the area of Decent Work: value chains are increasingly international, companies operate on a global scale, and this requires an international approach in addition to the national programmes.

2. Analysis of target-groups

Objectives & Result Areas

Decent Work (Global)

I. MoFA Policy Priority Result areas (Food Security & Safety and Security)

I.1. Food security: Improved legislation on minimum and living wage I.2. Food security: Increased willingness companies to provide living wage I.3. Security and rule of law: Policies & regulations by authorities to protect TU and Workers' Rights developed & sanctions applied. I.4. Security and rule of law: In case of TU & Workers Rights violations by companies, corrective measures applied II. Capacity Developm ent

II.1. Greater mobilising power TU movement II.2. Greater organisational strength TU movement to achieve collective objectives II.3. Increased recognition of TU movement and insertion in social forums II.4. Greater capacity TU movement to change methods & models to maintain & increase relevance and impact II.5. Greater capacity TU movement to work towards more unified strategies while maintaining diversity in representation III. Decent Work agenda

III.1. New & improved (amendments on) labour, employment & social security legislation, agreements & treaties formulated & implemented. III.2. Mechanisms and forums for tri-partite social dialogue are developed, institutionalized and effective. III.3. Programmes for decent jobs and employment policies by authorities as result of proposals by TU's III.4. Companies provide decent employment, limit use precarious work & provide protection & social security for contract & outsourced workers III.5. Functioning social dialogue with companies at all levels. IV. Informal Economy IV.1. New & improved (amendments on) labour, employment & social security legislation, agreements & treaties formulated & implemented in informal sectors. IV.2. Programmes for decent jobs and employment policies by authorities as result of proposals by TU's in informal sectors. V. Gender V.4. New and improved international agreements and treaties formulated and effectively implemented with clauses that improve women’s position on working and living conditions. V.5. Transnational companies at all levels improve working conditions for women due to trade union partners’ international campaigns V.3. TU Movement is more gender responsive. VI. Local and Dutch Trade Unions’ agendas connected VI.1. Increased commitment of FNV unions for international cooperation in a gender balanced way.

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X X X

X

X

X

Characteristics of insecure work are: 1. No sustainable employment relationship; 2. No or insufficient protection by labour legislation and social protection; 3. Lack of effective institutions dealing with labour market issues (weak or side-lined departments of labour, lack of labour inspection, no effective mediation procedures, weak functioning of labour courts); 4. No or insufficient coverage by Collective Bargaining Agreements; 5. Level of organisation in trade unions is low and often restricted by legislation. Because of the characteristics of insecure work, many workers, though mostly working very long hours are not able to earn a sustainable income to maintain their livelihood and they are often dependent on high risk jobs characterised by: • low health and safety standards; • high vulnerability; • long working hours; • low wages (no living wages); • high levels of insecurity; • no protection in case of job losses, sickness, old age; • hardly possibilities for training or skills development and planning for a better future.

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Schurman, S et.al: Trade Union organising in the Informal Economy: a review of literature in Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America and Western, Central and Eastern Europe. Rutgers University, 2012

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The ILO describes the situation of informal workers and entrepreneurs in terms of seven essential securities which are often denied to them: Labour market security, employment security, job security, work security, skill reproduction security, income 2 security and representation security. The target group of this programme is workers without a sustainable employment relationship, insecure workers and own account workers in the informal economy. This is not a homogenous group but it consists of different sub categories: • Flexible workers, with special attention to women and youth; • Migrant workers; • Domestic workers; • Own account workers/self-employed workers. 3

There are two important main international trends that lead to more precarious work relations : The first trend is “precarisation” of jobs that used to be permanent jobs within companies and (state) institutions: Contract and agency labour is increasingly used by companies in their search for lower costs almost everywhere. The number of agency 4 workers has doubled between 1996 and 2006 and trends suggest this has even increased more since. More and more workers are outsourced or nowadays, working for contract and labour agencies, brokers, as day-labourers, seasonal labourers. Many of these workers have no Decent Work conditions. Unions attempt to organise these workers in order to provide them with decent jobs, mainly by negotiating with the labour brokers and multinationals using outsourcing and with (state) institutions about working conditions and terms of employment, also in supply chains. Although many workers do not have a fixed contract anymore, they most of the times do have an employment relationship with an employer. The other trend is that more and more people are dependent on different types of labour as self-employed or own account workers. These workers do not have an employer to negotiate with. These groups, like street-vendors, traders, small producers, are organising themselves in order to fight for better work and living conditions. These groups need a different trade union approach than workers with a relation, though flexible, with an employer. Only a minority of them voluntarily choose for this status. A lot of self-employed are forced into this status by lack of decent jobs. Though the possibility to find a decent job is generaly small for many workers nowadays, this is even more so for women workers, who are even more than men dependent on different types of insecure work. Women have to deal with specific risks when working in difficult circumstances, as for example lack of maternity protection, discrimination, intimidation and sexual harassment. When women are single parents, they have to combine duties at home, at work and the trade union, which requires a gender sensitive approach of the unions. In order to achieve this, women need to acquire a better representation within the unions. Also young workers, as newcomers on the labour market, have little or no access to decent jobs. This access has further deteriorated because of the current global economic crisis. In a lot of newly developed industrial and export processing zones, the majority of the workforce consists of young women. In a lot of cases, when they grow older, these workers get fired and replaced by even younger persons. Reaching out to young workers needs a trade union approach that accommodates the needs and demands of young workers. Migrant workers need special attention because of specific cross-border challenges. It is often not clear under which jurisdiction they fall. In a lot of cases, for example in construction and in domestic work, migrants have to pay a fee to be able to work abroad and are dependent on the employer and/or contractor, which can lead to different levels of bonded labour. To tackle this problem, unions have to work across borders in order to improve conditions in the country of origin as well as in the receiving country. Some GUF’s, like the BWI, have started programmes to organise migrant construction workers across borders. The ITUC facilitates Memoranda of Understanding between unions in receiving and sending countries. This is only the beginning of a strategic shift in approaches of unions from narrow local workplace organising, to incorporating more diverse groups of workers and workplaces, internationally. Domestic workers have successfully organised themselves in national organisations and also have a strong international network. This led to the adoption of a new ILO convention (189) on the rights of domestic workers. The next phase is that nations ratify this convention and then implement it. National domestic worker unions are often structurally weak due to difficulties of organising individual workers in multiple workplaces, and due to problems of dealing with a multitude of employers. The international network can provide support by helping developing national strategies, strives for and helps with ratification of international conventions and facilitates exchange of good practices. Own account workers or self-employed workers in the informal economy are a broad group. Although not all of them can be considered as poor, they are overrepresented amongst the poorest groups in society. Their biggest risk is that they are almost everywhere excluded from social security regulations. Women are overrepresented among the self-employed. Often they choose this work because of lack of opportunities for decent employment. Authorities tend to have a hostile attitude and to 2

The ILC report describes the situation of informal economy workers and entrepreneurs in terms of seven essential securities which are often denied them: labour market security (adequate employment opportunities through high levels of employment ensured by macroeconomic policies); employment security (protection against arbitrary dismissal, regulation on hiring and firing, employment stability compatible with economic dynamism); job security (a niche designated as an occupation or “career”, the opportunity to develop a sense of occupation through enhancing competences); work security (protection against accidents and illness at work, through safety and health regulations, limits on working time etc.); skill reproduction security (widespread opportunities to gain and retain skills, through innovative means as well as apprenticeships and employment training); income security (provision of adequate incomes); and Representation security (protection of collective voice in the labour market through independent trade unions and employers’ organisations and social dialogue institutions). “Decent work and the informal economy. ILC 19th session 2002, report VI.” 3 For reasons of growth of informal economy, see FNV Mondiaal speerpuntnotitie Informele Economie, ‘Versterking van bestaansbasis, weerbaarheid en rechten van werkers in de informele economie’, (relevant Annex 21). 4 ICEM Guide on Contract and Agency labour, 2008, p. 21 • • • • • • •

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chase away city hawkers and street-vendors, while companies, like in telecom and beer brewers, increasingly make use of them. There can also be competition amongst self-employed, because of the overabundance of small artisans, traders, waste pickers and home based producers. Organisations of own account workers can find commonalities and negotiate conditions with local governments, for example for safe, clean and legalised places to produce or sell. They can also lobby for coverage within national social security systems. International policies and programmes on a social protection floor that includes informal workers will benefit these groups. Their organisations have a big demand for international exchange and cooperation. 3.

Problem analysis (micro, meso and macro-level) 5

Some general numbers and facts : • In 2011 225 million workers are unemployed, which are 6.9 % of the global workforce. 27 million lost their jobs as a result of the global economic crisis that started in 2008; • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts negative European growth of 0.5 % in 2012, and only 1.2 % for developed countries in general. Growth in BRICS is also decreasing; in sub-Saharan Africa growth will still be 5 % largely due to favourable market prices for commodities, a reduced debt burden and better economic governance; • Young people are the hardest hit by the jobs crisis. In 2011 75 million (12.7 %) youth in the age of 15-24 were unemployed, 4 million more than in 2007; • 30 percent of all workers, (900 million), are living with their families below the US$2 poverty line. Half of these working poor were living below the US$1.25 extreme poverty-line; • 1.52 billion people are workers in ‘vulnerable employment’: own-account workers and unpaid family workers. This is an increase of 136 million since 2000 and 23 million since 2009; • Exceptions to these general negative global trends are larger emerging economies in Latin America, where job creation is rated above labour force growth; • Women fall into poverty more easily than men: Compared to men they earn less and have less food-security from the perspective of income, have low-paid jobs, low status jobs, more insecure work, represent 60% of the working poor and 6 have less social protection. In most developing countries in the Asian region, a substantial percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP) comes from the informal or ‘secondary’ economy. In Indonesia, 60-70% of all workers work in the informal economy and according to some estimates, India may be as high as 90% of total workforce. In Pakistan, it is estimated that 20 million persons are working in the informal sector, the majority women and children. In Asia, the massive number of workers engaged in the 7 informal economy means that informal and precarious work is perceived as the norm rather than the exception . This programme focuses on international dimensions of precarious and informal work, in addition to projects in programme countries. There are several reasons for this international approach. • The trend of precarisation of jobs is global. Global campaigns and global collective bargaining processes and rights for trade union organisation are needed; • Migrant workers cross borders which makes an international strategy/action necessary; • Need to address insecure work in outsourcing and contract and agency labour with multinational companies; • Labour agencies and brokers have started operating internationally; • Dispute settlement mechanisms like the OECD guidelines, are international as well as policies of institutions like IFI’s and labour clauses in trade agreements. International programmes add value by exchanging information across borders and learning from experiences. (Peer to Peer); • International policies towards regulatory protections will be agreed for informal workers, like the ILO convention for domestic workers. Capacity building in international networks is necessary to influence these policy discussions. Result area Decent Work Under this result area we are focusing on ‘informalised or precarious workers’, on the right of contract and agency workers to organise and join a workplace union, better coverage of contract and agency workers by Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA’s) of internationally operating companies and on increased responsibility of companies for wage and working conditions in their supply chains. Global unions also strive for international dialogue or agreements with multinational companies and encourage affiliated unions to sign Memoranda of Understanding between receiving and sending countries in case of migrant workers. Another focus is on coverage of labour and social security legislation for flexible and contract and agency workers. Nations should ratify ILO conventions like the one for domestic workers. At the international level, this can be supported by (inter)national campaigns and if applicable by (multi-stakeholder) initiatives with companies. FNV and FNV unions have a strong cooperation with GUF’s and ITUC around this issue, especially when Dutch companies are involved. Result area Informal Economy To improve working conditions of own account workers, interventions are needed at different levels: At local level, national and international level. Within this programme the focus is on international aspects. An important international intervention is the international campaign on the Social Protection Floor, which will follow after the adoption of Recommendations on Social Protection at the International Labour Conference June 2012 and more in general joint campaigning for the recognition of the 5

Source: Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a deeper jobs crisis. ILO Annual Report, January 2012 (http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/globalemployment-trends/WCMS_171571/lang--en/index.htm). See Beleidsnotitie Gender FNV Mondiaal (Relevant Annexes 2) 7 Viajar, V. in Schurman et al. 2012 6

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rights for self-employed. Also joint action is planned in the light of big events, such as the Olympic Games or big football tournaments, in order to safeguard the rights of street-vendors and other self-employed during these events, and the rights and living wage of workers in the supply chain of sport brands. FNV unions will support different campaigns and participate actively in the ILO discussion on the Social Protection Floor. Another important aspect is international learning and exchange of expertise of own account workers organisations. Result area Gender As the majority of insecure workers are women, a gender balanced approach is a precondition to reach results for informalised and own account workers. Enhanced mainstreaming is necessary. We developed specific gender outcomes as part of this programme. Women also need support in gender specific issues like maternity leave and sexual harassment and, for example, health and safety requirements need to be more gender sensitive.

4. Context analysis

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Social security at ILO At the International Labour Conference of the ILO in June 2012 a recommendation on the ‘Social Protection Floor’ will be discussed. The ‘Social Protection Floor’ is a global approach promoting integrated strategies for providing access to essential social services and income security for all. The Social Protection Floor promotes the access to essential social security transfers and social services in the areas of health, water and sanitation, education, food, housing, life and asset-savings information. It emphasises the need to implement comprehensive, coherent and coordinated social protection and employment policies to guarantee services and social transfers across the life cycle, paying particular attention to the vulnerable groups. The international trade union movement is lobbying as well to put ‘insecure work’ in the ILC conference in the coming years. Challenges for trade unions: Collective bargaining suffers from the increasing globalisation of companies. In some (mainly European) countries national rules determine robust collective bargaining structures, but fundamental freedom of association is denied for subsidiaries of the same multinationals in other countries. Negotiating a minimum wage level with the government, or having a dialogue on labour legislation amendments misses its impact when the majority of workers is not covered by this kind of arrangements. Partly as a result of informalisation of labour, trade unions are losing a lot of members; the imbalance in workers power is greater than ever. Globally concerted campaigns and global trade union collaboration pushing for global collective bargaining processes and global rights for trade union organisation are needed, in order to countervail the on-going race to the bottom. Unions are developing new ways in organising the most vulnerable workers. The Global Decent Work programme is open to: GUF’s, ITUC, ITUC regional organisations, international network organisations, international research organisations. Global Unions Federations have different roles to play: to support their national affiliates in organising, also through international exchange activities, renewal of the unions, promote and improve gender policies, coordinate international action, negotiate with international companies and employer organisations, lobby and dialogue at international level with international institutions. Campaigning and having a dialogue at international level can’t be done without the GUF’s and ITUC and it’s regional organisations. StreetNet has a valuable experience in organising self employed workers like street vendors, city hawkers, waste pickers. The international network provides the affiliated organisations at national level with experience and knowledge but is also very important as spokesperson for the own account workers in the international arena.

Organisation

type

sector

Observations

ITUC ITUC regional organisations

International trade union confederation

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Important for the role ITUC plays in international institutions like the ILO and in its facilitation of MoUs between union in receiving and sending countries

BWI

Global Union Federation

Construction and wood & forestry

Active in construction, international agreements with global companies, active in migration projects.

GUF

Chemical, garments, extractives, services, metal. education

Active in supply chains of multinational companies

IndustriALL

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EI

GUF

PSI

GUF

IUF

GUF

Food, domestic work

StreetNet

International

Own account workers

Active in child labour campaign. Partner of Stop Child Labour Campaign Public services. Active in projects improving the rights of outsourced public service workers and of migrants. Active in informalised agricultural workers and coordinating the domestic work campaign Very active international network of street vendors, city

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The information is based on international reports, country context analyses conducted by and for FNV Mondiaal, and interviews with Kwasi Adu-Amankwah (ITUC-Africa), Tos Anonuevo (BWI), Victor Baez (TUCA, Trade Union Confederation of the Americas), Barbro Budin (IUF), Sharan Burrow (General Secretary ITUC), Ronald de Leij (DECP), Sue Longley (IUF), Fernando Lopes (IMF), Suzanna Miller (IMF), and Ambet Yuson (general secretary BWI). 9 During its Founding Congress which takes place 18-20 juni 2012 in Kopenhagen the new Global Union Federation IndustriALL will be established. This new organization will bring together affiliates of IMF, ITGWLF and ICEM.

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ALRN

network Research Organisation

Research (Africa)

hawkers, waste pickers. Research on social security, precarisation, flexibilisation, sustainable employment.

SWOT table of international trade unions organisations and international network organisations: Strengths Weaknesses • Long tradition in international organisation and unique platform • Trade unions worldwide are losing membership for unions’ policy development because of informalisation. This weakens the international structures while the demand increases • Global coverage • Broad knowledge of their respective sectors worldwide and the • Translocation to lower income countries implies lower membership contributions and lower income for unions companies and supply chains. • Budget and capacity are too small to counteract the • Cooperation of GUF’s is growing, 4 market sector GUF’s growing challenges merged: IndustriALL • Unions not always trusted by informalised and informal • Good lobby capabilities of GUF’s and ITUC in ILO and UN workers institutions. • Unions tend to remain organising formal workers and to • Growing capacity and vision on organising own account neglect the informal and insecure workers. workers and precarious workers. Development of new organising tools and strategies. • Cooperation PSI, BWI, UNI on migration in Asia Opportunities Threats • Growing possibilities of internet and social media for • Flexibilisation of labour is the new norm and hard to international cooperation and campaigning tackle. • Growing attention for Corporate Social Responsibility en the • Trade union rights violations in some countries. role of multinationals and brands • Legal barriers to organise contract workers. Restricted • Rising attention to social security for all and for insecure work rights to organise in Export processing zones in international forums • Flexible workers are hard to organise • Growing regulations and clauses for worker rights in policies of international institutions like IFI’s, trade agreements etc.

5. Stakeholder analysis Other possible relevant international actors with whom co-operation will be sought are presented in the following summary table: Actor Intervention areas and partners ILO Development of policies and recommendations on insecure work and social protection for all. GURN (Global Union Research on Decent Work and flexibilisation, migration. Research Network) IDH Cooperation on supply chains of multinational companies mainly with headquarter in the Netherlands FWF Cooperation within garment sector IFI’s Cooperation in the framework of IFI criteria on labour rights in infrastructure projects PSD platform Promoting Decent Work and supply chain responsibility in PSD instruments. Participation in PSD working group on international corporate social responsibility (IMVO) CSR Platform NL Promote focus on flexibilisation ant the relation with CSR instruments Global forum on Cooperation in the field of migration migration and development Migrant Forum Asia Cooperation in the field of migration CNV Cooperation/coordination (possibly StreetNet, domestic work, Fair Wear Foundation, CSR platform), ITUC. SSO’s (trade unions Cooperation, and/or co-financing with ‘Nordic’ SSO’s. support organisations in Nordic countries) More information on stakeholders and complementarity is provided in official Annex 3.5.

6. Analysis of the context-relevance of the proposed programme As said, the focus in this programme is at the international level, which are complementary to activities in programme countries. Organising precarious workers in unions and capacity building of own account workers organisations at local level are covered in the programme countries. The projects under this programme are not focusing on capacity development of international TU organisations as such but at capacity development of their members, through their international bodies. Because of that FNV Mondiaal didn’t develop outcomes and output on capacity building. In case that in the future a project of a GUF will be supported directly in the area of capacity building of the GUF itself, or if support to a single GUF is above € 500.000 annually, outcomes and outputs will be developed for capacity development, which will be monitored by using the CIVICUS and 5-C models:

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The Outcome areas in the Global Programme are summarised in the table below:

Objectives/Results III. Decent Work agenda III.1. New and improved (amendments on) labour, employment and social security, international agreements and treaties formulated and effectively implemented. III.4. Companies at international level (public and private) provide decent employment and limit the use of precarious work and provide protection and social security for contract and outsourced workers

III.5. Functioning social dialogue with companies at international level. IV. Informal Economy IV.1. New and improved (amendments on) labour, employment and social security legislation, international agreements and treaties formulated and effectively implemented in informal sectors V. Gender V.1. New and improved international agreements and treaties formulated and effectively implemented with clauses that improve women’s position on working and living conditions. V.2. Transnational companies at all levels improve working conditions for women due to trade union partners’ international campaigns

Link with context analysis • The ILO agenda is very important for improved international treaties, conventions and recommendations as guiding principles for nations to develop local legislation. (See page 3 problem analysis, page 4 Social security) • Next to states that have the duty to protect, companies have the duty to respect fundamental rights. At international level agreements can be negotiated with multinational companies. The companies also have responsibilities towards their supply chain and for the precarisation of jobs. (see page 2 international trends, and result area Decent Work page 3) • At international level agreements can be reached for outsourced workers and to remedy precarious work. (page 2 under trends, page 3 result area Decent Work) • At international level agreements can be negotiated with multinational companies to improve working conditions for outsourced workers. (page 2 under trends, page 3 result area Decent Work) • The ILO agenda is very important for improved international treaties, conventions and recommendations as guiding principles for nations to develop local legislation, especially for informal workers, like domestic workers. (See page 2 domestic workers, problem analysis, page 4 social security) • In international agreements a gender focus should be incorporated in order to be effective for the majority of the insecure workers who are women. The Domestic work ratification campaign focuses mainly on women. See for gender: analysis of target group (p. 2) problem analysis (p. 3) result area gender (p. 3) • In agreements with companies clauses for women should be incorporated in order to be effective for the majority of the workers who are women. See for gender: analysis of target group (p.1) problem analysis (p. 3) result area gender (p. 3)

VI. Local and Dutch Trade Unions’ agendas connected VI.1 Increased commitment of FNV unions for • international cooperation and stronger linkages between FNV and local partners in a gender balanced way

FNV unions play an important role in campaigns of GUF’s towards Dutch companies and their supply chain in order to counteract further precarisation. (p. 3 Decent Work). Also FNV and FNV unions contribute to negotiations and debates in for example the ILO on the Social Protection Floor. (p. 3 social protection).

SWOT analysis of the Global programme on Insecure Work Strengths • Relevant experiences in place which can be further developed and strengthened • Relevant networks in place • Increased priority on the trade union agenda • Cooperation at all levels (national, regional, international) • Cooperation with relevant other organisations and international institutions like OECD, ILO, IFI’s. • Active participation in multi-stakeholder initiatives like IDH, Fair Wear Foundation. • Active participation of FNV union, (for example FNV Bondgenoten in the Domestic Workers campaign) Opportunities • ILO convention on Domestic workers in place • Social Protection Floor at the agenda of ILO • Labour clauses in IFI’s • Growing attention to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and supply chains • Economic growth in some countries • Ruggie Framework includes the supply chain of MNC’s

• • • •

Weaknesses National unions depend upon the support of their GUF or upon international trade union solidarity in order to conduct international campaigns or programmes Global Unions have low capacity (income and staff) compared to the challenges faced PME and learning mechanisms of some GUF’s need further improvement. Unions tend to remain organising formal workers and to neglect the informal and insecure workers.

Threats • Economic crisis hampers the possibilities to improve working conditions • Barriers to organise workers in trade unions • Growth of (illegal) migration • Emergence of multinationals from countries not abiding to ILO or OECD fundamental standards

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