Prepared by:
DR.HESTI R.WIJAYA, BRAWIJAYA UNIVERSITY
CECILIA SUSILORETNO, HOMENET INDONESIA
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Indonesian Homebased Wokers |
Like the rest of the world population. Indonesian women home-based workers suffer from the negative impact of free trade and globalization ruled by WTO. Directly and indirectly, their rights as workers particularly the economic and social rights of women home-workers is obscured.
In the sticky on going economic crisis in the country, the liberalization policies contributes to the intensity of poverty, economic insecurity and the persistence of gender inequality as exploitation to women home-based remains.
Homenet Indonesia come the latest than Homenet Thailand and Patamaba under OXFAM Hongkong Project. It is not easy to learn the free trade issues, although the women home-workers perceive that the issues are similar to their long existing issues.
As one of the developing countries with heavy foreign debts, Indonesia is in compliance with the World Bank/IMF rules of structural adjustment program that covers :
- Deregulation
- Privatization
- Increasing tax
- Tighten the government social spending
- Devaluation
- Removal of government subsidy.
These measures are implemented to enable the indebted country to repay the debt plus the interest. Free trade and trade liberalization becomes the choice, especially that it is considered similar path with WTO policies.
Signatory to the 1994 Marakesh agreement that become under the World Trade Organization (WTO) management, basically all of the trade barriers between the trading countries are removed. The trade liberalization spirit has been strengthened, along with the development program of the country, expecting capital investment of the Multi National Corporations and Transnational Corporations. The invitation well match the believe of the MNCs & TNCs that Indonesia is a heaven for the lowest production cost and therefore promising high profit, in the area of agriculture, non-agriculture and services.
The home-based workers are on the production system when the value chains production system is employed, outsourcing labour and the putting out system involve home-workers. The outsourcing system has become popular, in Indonesia when it is securely entered into the latest labour law, Law no 23 year 2003 permitting the practice of putting-out system.
The Indonesian economic crises since 1997 which has been ongoing to date related directly and indirectly with the free trade, globalization and the effort of the country to repay the foreign debt at the same time to keep the development programs going. The currency rate of the Indonesian Rupiah has been stable at 500% of the pre-crises currency/exchange rate, and only in the second semester of 2006 it impressed to 400% rate pre crises currency exchange rate. Survival means are sought by the home-workers to keep the life going. Among the home-workers and the NGO partners, it is not easy to find path, as all of the above mentioned.
- Impact of Free Trade as felt by the Home-based Workers
Employing an indepth discussion method, the East Javanese Home-based workers observed a number of impact
- Sharp growing of informal workers from approximated 15% in 1995 to be estimated 68% in 2005 (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2006), originating from the following category due to :
- The retrenched formal workers from the time of economic crisis under 2 reasons :
- Closures of companies due to bankcruptcy
- Rationalization of workers
- The young labor force that may be categorized as follows :
- The new generation of labor force
- the school-dropout young people and children since the time of economic crises, and later because the government policies to cut education spending and removal of subsidy.
For the home-based workers, this phenomenon results in :
- strong competition among workers and informal work opportunities
- irregularities
- mushrooming outsourcing employment
- lack of workers protection and no social security to workers
- employer – employee relationship further disadvantaging workers.
- Feminization of informal workers
Feminization of workers in the informal economy, is very much related to the gender ideology that dictates :
- women to stay home even for income earning activities
- women are responsible for household chorus
- women extended function of reproductive function to child care
- women are only secondary income earner while men are the bread winner
- as second class workers difficult to compete with men in the formal employment
As a result, the women home-based workers, be it the women workers in the putting-out system and the self-employed women workers find it difficult to improve their economic and living condition.
- Competition occurs in various ways beyond the workers issues.
Amazingly, the competition is felt more and more intense day by day for various reasons both at the domestic level and at the global level.
As an example, the domestic competition strongly felt when the retrenched formal -workers flocking into the informal economy to make their living during the height of the economic crises. The sudden rushed of new job entrees as informal workers threatening the existing self-employed women home-based workers.
As for the home-workers in the putting out system, the competition has result in the following problems:
- smaller quantity of orders
- irregular orders
- lost of orders
- no raise of the piece rate.
But the culprits of competition have advanced beyond the home-workers’ imagination, such as :
- flood of cheap second-hand clothes smuggled from Malaysia and other countries
- impact of new garments imported from China with lower price than the domestic production
- Women displacing technology such as new technological change that has taken place in the garment sector in the form of :
- Computerized embroidery sowing machine
- Modern and advanced technology sowing machine
- Cheaper food import/agriculture product import that substituted or marginalized home-workers
- American based franchised food companies such as Mc Donald, Kentucky Fried Chicken, AW, to mention several that take over the local food industries of the home-based workers.
- Import of cheap household utensils made of plastics
- Various domestic plastic products.
Thus, product substitution of the home-workers products take place. The free entry of non-agriculture goods and agriculture product have hard hit the livelihood of HWPRI (The Association of the Indonesian Women home-workers) members.
For example :
- 3 groups of garment workers in Tulungagung East Java lost orders and became jobless. They quit from HWPRI as they realize that no longer they are categorized as home-workers in the putting-out system. In fact, they are the ultimate victim of free trade.
- 2 HWPRI groups of embroidery in Sidoarjo, East Java have gone with the changing of computerized embroidery sowing machine
- The bra producers, small enterprises in Bukit-Tinggi, West Sumatra, fell drastically from employing around 100 – 150 home-workers up to 3 – 5 years ago. Now, as the market capacity to absorb the market fell due to bra cheap import from China, the enterprise shrink drastically to only employment of 5 – 10 home-workers only. With globalization respect to local product diminished. The preferable choice is the foreign goods. The globalization has impacted the young generation. The foreign goods are considered more attractive than the local goods, and valued as “gaul”, meaning really meet the trend of the current taste of the modern young generation.
- Floor mats made-of “mendong” (grass family – locally grown), and that made of “pandan”, from the pandanous family – also locally grown by the women farmers, are no longer produced. It cannot compete with plastic – machine woven floor-mats produced by the domestic factories. Meanwhile, floormats and carpet imported. Around 200 women home workers in Malang, East Java, lost job, declining the number of HWPRI members when they left the village in search of other means of employment. Some of them remain jobless patiently, surrendering their life to religion, as they witness the dilapidation of wooden-weaving mendong machine.
Traditional Bamboo-made kitchen utensils and various household bamboo made furniture disappearing from Bantul and Sleman, Yogyakarta, since they loss competition with the plastic-based substitute of kitchen utensils and plastics furniture.
The number of HWPRI members in Yogyakarta dropped drastically to around 60%, not only due to competition with plastic goods, but also :
- The replacement of handwriting batik industry involving long value-chains of women home-workers, into factory-made batik printing which process is shorter and simpler, and thus its price is cheaper than the traditional handwriting batik. These cheap batik product this way well match with the decrease of the buying capacity of the Indonesians. Even the government movement to “Love Batik” and the success of “enforcing” batik as official/school uniform and working uniform, it does not give better employment opportunity to the women home-workers in the putting-out systems. They lost job as home-workers. Large number of them seeking new employment in the informal employment, mostly still in the realm of home-based work.
- High-cost economy of imported materials
Leather-handicraft production in the form of traditional shadow puppet and its miniature, bookmarks, lamp shade, traditional ladies’ fan, etc dropped drastically when the cost of imported stuff for tanning rose sharply that makes it impossible to buy for supplies. In addition, the slaughter of cattle fell because of the fall of real income of the inhabitants. The imported feeding for cattle fattening cost a fortune with the fell of the Indonesian currency rates to the USD, beyond the buying capacity of the local producers. Inventive, but, indeed sad to observe that to survive, the work the lather has been substituted with cartoon.
In Bukit-Tinggi, West Sumatra, the Sister Cities program of Bukit Tinggi with a city in Malaysia facilitates entry and traveling from the Malaysian side. The economic activities booming. However in the case of women home-workers production system, the analysis indicates that the Malaysian employers are the side who benefits higher. The job offer through traditional hand needle Minangkabau embroidery to the women home-workers only to be paid with the “market price” of piece rate work with income earning monthly between 25% - 33,3% (or one fourth to one-third) of the Minimum Regional Wage. Upon visit to Malaysia, the dress are sold at high price. Compared to the eye-soring and back-breaking contribution of the home-workers, cost of the piece-rate which is equivalent of USD 50 cts – 60 cts a day was, indeed, not fair.
Similarly is order from Chinese traders. The product was exported to China, and re-enter to Indonesia with much higher price than that marketed at the local shop.
- No transparencies, no-negotiation, no dialog between women workers and the Indonesian sub-contractors. Simply, a form of instructional dictatorship – whether take it or leave it. Little of any that has been done that bearing fruit of success. One of the sub-contractors who have been empowered to run dialog with the orders only end with no more contract as no respect and no quality dialog, while other sub-contractors eagerly accepting the injurious term of contract. The earlier said that the work is harder because the Malaysian materials is much finer than the Indonesian materials. Thus the degree of difficulty to handle the materials is much higher. With the same piece rate, exploitation has been experienced by the home-workers.
- Easy access of going in and out the country allowing “export” of homeworkers products to other countries such as ready made garment to the Philippines, Aroma therapy materials from Bali to develop countries such as European countries and Australia.
- Last but not the least important
The home-workers in East Java come to a unanimous decisions that very unfair trade/free trade is exactly the same as what the have experienced in the home-working system. To mention several these are :
- No dialogue, no respect, no transparencies at all with the home-workers. Almost similar every where, on almost all sector – “…. take it or leave it! If you don’t take, surely there are others eager to take it ….”
- Work opportunity for the home-workers within free trade are no better term of contract than what they usually do, e.g. :
- The piece rate much less than the equivalent minimum regional wage
- women is perceived as 2nd class citizen
- With the MNC’s & TNC’s employing outsourcing, as experience by the Bantar Gebang – Bekasi, West Java home-workers, the work is short term only, as short as 2 – 3 subcontracts. No long term relationships has been established. The subcontractors often disappeared without saying goodbye with the home workers remain unpaid
- No social security, neither, social protection
- No job promotion
- Piece rate/payment is not fair at all, judged from the standard regional wage rate.
- It maintains the persistence of gender inequality, working conditions usually far from a healthy standard practices, over working place crowded, filthy, unsafe, uncomfortable, insufficient light, lack of ventilation
- Child labour is often inevitable when mother works in the home
- In addition, for the self-employed women home-workers, the product usually paid unfairly, there is little if any equal status/transparently between the producer and the trading/partner, lack of capital even if there are job orders, lacking capacities to develop their small business, lack of attention to the issue of health and safety issues, as well as deterioration of environment
- Related to environment, the women home workers observe than even the MNCs and TNCs also do not care about environment degradation when profit making is the focus of the business.
It is clear that there are black marketing aspects such as second hand clothing smuggled from the richer neighing country to Indonesia and the non standard practice of taking the product to other countries are classified as black economy. This is strengthening further the black economy of the putting out production system not easy to measure. Feminist Economist attention to measure it is very much needed.
- What has been done by the home-based workers toward free trade ?
Various responses observed are listed as follows :
- Awareness raising on the need to address fair trade
This has been done limited only to :
- HWPRI leaders of East Java and next is that peer training with the funding source of the Oxfam Hongkong.
- Home-workers and sub-contractors of the hand-needle embroidery in West Sumatra, with funding support from FNV/UNIFEM project.
- Negotiating for better piece rate to after fairer wage equivalent.
Since early period of the grass-roots organizing in the 90’s, negotiating capacity for fair wage has been listed is the main activities among others. Models of ways to be paid with higher piece-rate have been sought and developed. To mention are experiencing producing by the group, through capacity building and improved skills, lobbying capacity of individual home-workers to the direct employer she work for.
- Social security benefits and social protection
Obtaining social security as workers in the formal employment has been sought in the 90’s to no success. As an alternative, indigenous social protection has been developed. These are including :
- Social welfare scheme
- Health scheme
- Economic scheme
- Organization and Network scheme.
Among all cases, the health security scheme collapsed during the economic crisis when medicine and health care have been exorbitantly high.
Benefits successfully pursued are :
- Vacation leave
- Maternity leave and benefits
- Sick leave
- Hari Raya benefits
- Hari Raya leave
Still in Tulungagung, to obtain 3 days extra Hari Raya leave, a worker went into a solo strike. Benefits which are available automatically for the informal works have been fight for by the women home-workers.
- Safety and healthy working conditions
Action to improve safety and healthy working conditions has been implemented in Malang, Tulungagung and Sidoarjo, East Java. To describe, home as the work-place of the home-workers were re-arranged or reorganized for better lighting, better work place arrangement, safer and more comfortable one. Health protection equipment and cleanliness are also trained to the home-workers.
Gender awareness raising has been conducted in almost all of thewomen home-workers’ group. Practicing gender equality has been advised at the individual level, household level and at the working place, particularly related with employer – employee relationship.
This has not been an easy issue to be addressed. It seems natural find that when mother works the children initially copy catting. Later, the mother it helpful when the child help her especially when she is heavily laden with work. The culture has been use to institutionalized the rule of children helping parent. For the child only the work is unpaid but also performed as labour of love. Among the producers of the ready made food/snacks, it has been almost habitual or customs that children have become street traders of the mothers product.
Other reasons is that children have nimble hood fingers that result in better product than adult. Program to stop child labour employment and unpaid child labour only successful under special, focused project such as done by YPSI in Tangerang, Banten, and Jakarta.
This has been done in selected areas when the environment is in danger due to polluting agents. In Klaten, Central java, and Yogyakarta, water waste of Batik colouring should treated properly, so as not to be thrown directly to the river. This was done also to the home-workers in Malang for water waste of “mendong” colouring for floor mats hand weaving.
This action is not easy to undertake. Aon group production have been powerful to fight for fairer price, as experience by home-workers group in the garment industry of Tulungagung, embroidery in Sidoarjo and thread-based product in Pasuruan, East Java. Better product quality often works to fight for fairer price. As shown by the home-workers from Sidoarjo, with the collapse of traditional industry of embroidered sowing machine, only those who are skillfull to produce finest embroidery maintain is her order from hot couture boutique with piece rate equivalent to minimum wage or a little over it. Still we believe that the price unfair for them particularly when we observed that the product a bridal dress, beautiful and very costly one even by the middle class people standard.
Dialogue and negotiation between individual home-workers and the employer only possible when they have lobbying skill started with assertive training. This is not easy for the women home-based workers who have been dictated by gender ideology “not to confront” and “must obey” attitude.
- Respect and good acceptance to local culture
Globalization creating devastation of cultural identity and tradition. The development has been perceived as modernization and westernization. Against the strong wave of cheap second hand clothing, the women embroiderers, the Moslem Tunic, and the batik based garment producer persistently keep the production going. Search of market to absorb the product should be done seriously at all possible market beyond retail shop. For example the alternative market is searched for embroidered batik uniform to offices, schools, religious groups, women’s organization, etc.
In the food industry to stop the consumption of Western Chiky snacks food, etc introduced by the MNCs/TNCs, the home-workers keep producing traditional and nutrious snacks long has gone, such as palm sugar coated nuts.
So far accountability has been advocated through the related government offices such as Industry and Trade who are responsible for free trade and globalization. Support in the form of capital provision to expand business, skill training and product exhibition for home-workers product have been obtained
Learning from the Indonesian home-based workers it has been concluded that :
- Free trade issues are identical twin with home-based workers issues. Thus addressing the home-base workers issues are addressing in free-trade issues
- However to identify isolatedly the impact of free trade and globalization requires special studies involving sectors and selection of geographical areas
- The women home-based workers strongly felt that campaigning the home-workers issues are easier than campaigning for the free trade issues.
- Wordings and terminology such as tariff, Multi-National Companies, trade barriers are not closely grounded within the reach of knowledge and understanding of simple women home-workers. Unless it is clearly physically observed by them, as the case of second hand imported clothes for example, it is not easy to raise awareness on the issues. Their needs are :
- Easy and simple training modules for the peer training
- Intensive capacity building by NGO partner.
- Toward advocacy at the government level and at the world level, alliance with NGO partners and Trade Unions concern with this issues are paramount important.
- A serious attention should be given by the feminist Economist to discover the method measuring all of the invisibilities within the economy related to home-based workers. Equally import is related other Economic lost related to smuggling in both the second hand products and new products currently in the black whole of the informality.
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