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We Demand Employment, Equal Labour Standards and Participation in Decision Making for All Women Workers
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This is Topic: Formal Sector Following are the News Items published under this Topic.
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Urgent Appeals: Updates_Union busting by Body Fashion, Triumph International Limited Thailand Published Friday, August 22, 2008 - 03:54 AM
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652 Reads
One week after the dismissal of Ms. Jitra, the president of Triumph International Labour Union Thailand, workers were able to negotiate with the regional representative of Triumph International Limited in a tripartite meeting. However, this meeting on August 9 had made little progress. On August 11, the union again called for a strike. About 1000 workers, one third of the company�s labour force, blocked the entrance of the factory. Hundreds of workers blocked the industrial zone intersection. They demanded Body Fashion, Triumph International�s manufacturing arm, reinstate union president Ms. Jitra Kotchadej, refrain from taking legal and disciplinary action against striking workers and remove company executives who tried to disrupt union activities. Facing the continuous strike, the company threatened the workers that they would fire all current workers and start new recruitment.
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Letters: Open Letter to ASEAN Leaders on the EU-ASEAN FTA Published Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 08:30 PM
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2191 Reads
A Call to ASEAN Leaders regarding the proposed EU-ASEAN Free TradeAgreement negotiations
To the ASEAN Leaders and the ASEAN Secretariat:The undersigned civil society movements and organisations from ASEANwish to express their strong concerns about the proposed EU-ASEAN FreeTrade Agreement (FTA) slated to be concluded within the next two years.We are aware that the trade negotiations are already ongoing, and theseare done without prior meaningful public consultation, either withelected representatives or civil society in any of the countriesconcerned. Any agreement as far-reaching in its consequences and asbroad in scope as the proposed EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement shouldinvolve at the very least a wide-ranging and on-going consultationprocess, in addition to full disclosure of all texts being considered.We view access to information and process as vital components for themeaningful participation of civilsociety in all stages of the discussion. We view with concern as well that in processes that are being opened tocivil society, for instance, the Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment(SIA), organizations' contribution in the consultation is being limitedby the frame of only looking for mitigating and "flanking" measures,andnot addressing the fundamental issues that govern any free tradeagreement. We believe that the voice of the sectors in any trade negotiations andagreements is particularly important in the light of the experience withexisting EU FTAs where significant negative outcomes have occurred whilemany of the promised benefits have failed to materialise. For example,assessments of the EU-Mexico Global Agreement show a doubling ofMexico's trade deficit with the EU since the FTA came into force. Andcontrary to the predicted benefits to employment and labour conditionssince the signing of the EU-Mexico Agreement unemployment has risen andworkers are increasingly facing precarious labour conditions andtemporary employment contracts, below-standard wages and no socialsecurity. While foreign investments have increased, this has resultedmainly in foreign takeovers of domestic industries, without generatingadditional employment or increases in remuneration.The EU-ASEAN FTA negotiations are happening at a time when the ASEANregion is facing food, fuel, environment and employment crises. Thesecrises have exposed the weaknesses of the policy of trade liberalizationpursued by countries across the region and the cornerstone of theprocess of ASEAN economic integration. There have been calls forgovernments to revisit trade and development policies in the wake of thecrisis. Unfortunately, instead of a strong critique of the existing freetrade policies, the calls forreform tend to move towards more of the same market-oriented reforms. As a result of this continued push for the same market-driven economyand aggressive liberalization, farmers continue to be threatened withland conversion, shifting from planting food to cash crops andproduction of biofuels or converting irrigated lands to accommodate realestate development; fishers' fishing area are encroached upon by bigcommercial corporations and continued importation of cheap fish productscontinue to threaten their livelihood; indigenous peoples continue to bedisplaced from their lands in the name of extractive industries likemining; workers'tenure continue to be threatened, if not, altogether gone, and thosethat continue to work have to deal with cheap wages in unsafe workingconditions; and the burden of women, who bear the brunt of jobinsecurity, low-productivity and limited resource-allocation for basicsocial services is exacerbated by further deregulation, liberalizationand privatization as these FTAs push for opening up markets ingovernment procurement and public utilities.In this light, the undersigned civil society organisations are highlyconcerned that:Your browser may not support display of this image. The EU appears to bepromoting anti-development policies with its push to incorporate thecontroversial Singapore issues already rejected at the WTO by variousASEAN members;Your browser may not support display of this image. The vastsocio-economic disparities in ASEAN are not being taken into account asthe EU is demanding full reciprocity and maximum frontloading ofcommitments without meaningful special and differential treatment beyondmere transition periods - which even the WTO allows;Your browser may not support display of this image. The liberalisationof services at a WTO-plus level, given the dominance of EU servicescompanies, will tend to outcompete ASEAN services providers;* The accompanying limitations on the ability of nationalgovernmentsto regulate in the public interest will jeopardise access to essentialservices, and have far-reaching implications for the poor and ruralpopulations in both regions. Experiences with previous FTAs and ourreading of EU policy heightens our concern that services negotiationswill include essential services and public utilities like water, health,education, public transport, culture, etc.; * Any EU-ASEAN FTA will leave the ASEAN countries worse off thanthecurrent GSP treatment, while demanding from these asymmetrical partnersextensive WTO-plus liberalisation without allowing adequate specialsafeguard measures; * Any EU-ASEAN FTA in these directions that pushes ASEAN to focusmoreon primary products as its major export in exchange for developing itscapacity in manufacturing and processed products will render ASEANeconomies to backtrack on its industrialization drive; Your browser may not support display of this image. EU requirements thatASEAN substantially lower its tariffs will result in a significant lossof revenue to developing countries which can not easily raise similarfunds from other taxation sources;Your browser may not support display of this image. The EU's highpriority on access to raw materials as expressed in its key documentsetting out the future direction of its trade policy - 'Global Europe:Competing in the World' - will seriously undermine ASEAN countries'capacity to maintain sovereignty over their natural resources, includingrestrictions on exports, investment and intellectual property rights;Your browser may not support display of this image. The EU will push formarket access commitments with regard to government procurement, whichwill encroach on vital policy space needed for equitable wealthredistribution and social coherence necessary for nation-building;Your browser may not support display of this image.Intellectual propertyprotection is already reducing access to affordable medicine andeducation in developing countries; and that the EU will require ASEANcountries to join additional intellectual property treaties, which willfurther increase the level of intellectual property protection - to thedetriment of the right to health, education and other basic humanrights.Given the above, the undersigned civil society groups from ASEAN comingtogether in the Southeast Asian Peoples Caucus on EU-ASEAN FTA held inQuezon City, Philippines on 23 - 24 June 2008, call on the leaders ofASEAN:
1. To place people's needs and rights at the heart of any economicdevelopment including trade arrangements through instituting andpracticing political accountability on all economic decision-makingprocesses, including bringing in civil society to participate as a fullstakeholder, in order to arrive at equitable and sustainable
developmentand trade systems;
2. To provide access to information and process both at theregionaland national levels by making all documents relevant to the EU-ASEAN FTAnegotiations available to the public (including but not limited to thefollowing: a) Terms of Reference and negotiating framework/ mandate;drafts of the proposed agreement; studies and memoranda with regard tospecific areas of negotiation or sectors under consideration, etc.);
3. To create mandatory spaces for public scrutiny of agreements,andinputs to the negotiation process through a) reporting by and peopleinterface with Joint Committee Meetings and negotiation rounds; b) broadconsultation at the national, sectoral, and regional levels on thesubstance of the negotiation;
4. To ensure that voices of the sectors both at the national andregional levels are reflected in the official reports and presented bythe negotiators to
the relevant discussion forums and negotiations;We believe that only through a people-centered economy and practice ofdemocracy can the ASEAN peoples and economies reach its full potentialand reap the benefits of an equitable and empowering development.The undersigned,EU-ASEAN FTA Campaign Network Indonesia (Institute for Global Justice, KASBI (Carrefour Trade Union )Malaysia (Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization (MSN), NationalUnion of Bank Employees-Malaysia, National Union of Drink IndustryWorkers)Thailand ( FTA Watch-Thailand, Alternative Agriculture Network, Assemblyof the Poor, Consumer Federation of Thailand, People Living with HIVNetwork)Vietnam (Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation, Vietnam GeneralConfederation of Labour, National Committee for the Advancement of Womenin Vietnam, Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers)Philippines (EU-ASEAN Campaign Network - Alab Katipunan, Alliance ofProgressive Labor, Aniban ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, Action andSolidarity for the Empowerment of Teachers, Alyansa Tigil Mina,Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines, Bukluranng Manggagawang Pilipino, Coalition Against Trafficking of Women, CentroSaka, Inc., Freedom from Debt Coalition, Focus on the Global South,International Gender Trade Network-Asia, Institute for opularDemocracy, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission, JubileeSouth-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development, Kalayaan, Kalipunanng Maliliit na Magninyog ng Pilipinas, Kilusang Kababaihang Mangingisda,Kilusang Mangingisda, Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya, Kongreso ngPagkakaisa ng Maralitang Tagalunsod, Koalisyon Pabahay ng Pilipinas,Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan-Friends ofthe Earth, Manggagawa para sa Kalayaan ng Bayan, Makabayang Alyansa ngMagbubukid ng Pilipinas, Manggagawaing Kababaihang Mithi ay Paglaya,Migrant Forum in Asia, Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan,Partido ng Manggagawa, SANLAKAS, Task Force Food Sovereignty, Triple11-Pilipinas, Welga ng Kababaihan, WomanHealth Philippines, World Marchof Women, Zone One Tondo Organization, Confederation of IndependentUnions, Integrated Rural Development Foundation, League of Urban Poorfor Action, Teachers Dignity Coalition, Philippine Nurses' Association)
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Statements: ASIAN WOMEN WORKERS� DECLARATION ON FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS (FTAs) Published Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 12:33 AM
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2567 Reads
We, delegates to the Regional Conference on �Informalisation of Work Through Free Trade Agreements: Eroding Labour Rights", organised by the Committee for Asian Women, gathered in Bangkok on June 19 and 20, 2008 reassert our opposition to globalised poverty as facilitated by the same trade infrastructures that have resulted in today�s food crisis. We make this statement in the face of yet another crisis, which is an indication that unfettered free trade is failing.
There is increasing and irrefutable evidence that free trade deals devalue and homogenise cultures, stunt economic development, displace communities and are major drivers of increasing rural and urban poverty. Women are disproportionately affected.
Asian governments need to be alert to mounting unrest as many of the social and economic gains made over the past decades are now threatened by the consequences of FTAs. The European Union- ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, and the Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) Agreements by the World Trade Organization constitute such instruments of deprivation of decent livelihood that have affected workers in Asia and much of the global south.
FTAs have facilitated corporate profitability to undermine nation�s right to self determination and sovereignty. FTAs have eroded the autonomy of national governments to promote and sustain appropriate economic development models, which prioritise education, income, food and health security for its peoples. Driven by global competitiveness, FTAs are at odds with Asian cultural cohesiveness, instead requiring removal of state support to national industries, social services and genuine agrarian reform. Farmers and local enterprises are unable to compete in the global economy.
As a result women workers are forced to accept wage cuts, informalised work, loss of trade union rights and degraded conditions of work. Privatisation of public services has multiplied the burdens of women. Another consequence is growing violence against women within and outside of the work place.
Despoliation and dislocation of rural communities and destruction of the natural environment in the wake of FTAs has exacerbated trafficking and coerced migration particularly of women.
FTAs have promulgated unjust trading system, through processes which are non-transparent, favouring rich countries and their corporations, which are unaccountable.
We demand that Asian governments promote local economies for more sustainable development, and direct public funds to social development and public infrastructure.
We demand that the poor in our countries not be further impoverished and indebted by greater dependency on external markets, vulnerability to speculative finance capital, leading to price increases, especially in essential needs like food, education, health care and housing. We call for an end to land appropriation especially agricultural and arable land from the poor for purposes of setting up special economic zones and factories.
We unequivocally reject the establishment of FTZs within which trade union and labour rights are suspended. All Asian Governments must ratify and enforce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), ILO Core Labour Standards and other international instruments.
We strongly urge sovereign governments to resist the pressure from international corporations and international financial institutions to sign onto FTAs on dubious promises of growth, development and poverty reduction.
We demand a moratorium on existing trade agreements and reject any new unequal bilateral and regional trade agreements, particularly in view of climate change and rising energy prices which are incompatible with international transport of goods.
We hereby renew our commitment to actively support and acknowledge the courage and determination of the people and social movements of Asia and the global south in pursuit of better working and living conditions for women workers.
Adopted by delegates of regional conference on �Informalisation of Work Through Free Trade Agreements: Eroding Labour Rights", organised by the Committee for Asian Women, in Bangkok on June 19 and 20, 2008.
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Download the Declaration here
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Letters: Stop Violating Labour Laws in Pakistan Published Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 10:13 PM
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2163 Reads
To
The Prime Minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister Secretariat, Islamabad
Chief Minister of Punjab
Chief Minister House, Lahore-Pakistan
Mr. Ashraf Sohna
Provincial Minister of Labour , Civil Secretariat-Punjab
Lahore, Pakistan
Fax:: 92-42- 9211580
Secretary Labor Punjab
Civil Secretariat �Punjab, 2 Bank Road, Old P & D Building
Lahore Pakistan
Fax: 92-42-9211580
Subject : STOP Violation of Labour Laws in SVA Ruba Electronics Factory
Dear Minister,
We would like to draw your attention to the plight of workers in the �SVA Ruba Electronic Factory� which is a Joint Venture of China in Pakistan. The factory is located on Raiwind Road, Thokar Niaz Beg, Lahore. 150 workers of which 70 are women and 80 are men work in the factory
The situation of workers in SVA Ruba Electronic is miserable. 90% workers have no appointment letters, they get less than minimum wages, have to do forced overtime. The management is violating labor laws and using terror tactics and resorting to violence against workers especially women workers.
On various instances in the month of May the factory management has locked workers either in the factory or out of the factory. Workers demanding their rights have been threatened by goons and thrown out of the factory. When the workers formed a union named �SVA Ruba Electronics Employees Union� and submitted an application to the Registrar of union in National Industrial Relation Commission (NIRC), the Chairman of NIRC gave the workers a �Stay Order� and instructed the management to not terminate any workers. Despite this order workers have been locked out of the factory and have been protesting in the hot sun for their jobs.
As Asian women workers movement, Committee for Asian Women joins Women Working Organisation (WWO) and All Pakistan Trade Union Federation and the workers of SVA Ruba factory in their struggle for their rights.
We forcefully call on you to meet the following demands:
� Immediately Reinstate Waheed Ul Haq
� Increase workers salary
� Recognize SVA Ruba Workers Union
� Stop Violating ILO Convention 98 and 87
Signed,
Lucia V Jayaseelan
Executive Coordinator
Committee for Asian Women
386/58 Soi Ratchadapisek 42,
Ladyao, Chatujak, Bangkok 10900
THAILAND
http://www.cawinfo.org
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Campaign: Domestic Workers Are Workers
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Coming CAW Events Regional Conference on Domestic Workers
26-27 August 2008
Bangkok, Thailand |
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CAW Secretariat Executive Coordinator- Lucia V Jayaseelan
Programme Coordinator- Deepa Bharathi
Programme Officer- Niza Concepcion
Information Communication and Media Officer- Juliette Lee
Publication, Resource Centre and Thai Liaison Officer- Patima Kalumpakorn (Pui)
Book-keeper / Administration Assistant- Suneerat Sangthong (Tuk)
Finance Consultant- Leong Mee Nan (Mei Yun)
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