On 16 June 2009, Homenet Thailand had a chance to discuss with 13 homeworkers and self-employed persons in the garment business in Bangkok about the current economic crisis. According to them, the economic crunch had made more people become unemployed. And many had turned to home-based work. Among those still working in factories, their dwindling income had forced them to take on extra work, including selling things or working at home. Orders from abroad had been on a decline and meanwhile, some subcontractors had decided to employ migrant workers and give them very low pay. All of these had made job opportunities among homeworkers become more limited and the orders they received were dwindling. Also, they were seeing their wages slashed. They did not have much bargaining power in this situation and risked losing the chance to work if they dared to  bargain. For sewing one boutique shirt, they used to earn 25 baht. Now they receive 20. And if the orders were given out to homeworkers in the province, each HBW there would simply get seven baht per piece. The economic crisis might even bring down the wage to just three baht per piece. Those self-employed who produced to sell suffer from the increased prices of raw material and the slow market. Some orders from abroad had disappeared.

The impacts

        The situation has drastically affected the livelihood of informal workers. Their income has declined and their jobs have  become more uncertain. They have to save as much as they can, and see their food quality deteriorate. Some have to cut down on the pocket money given to their children. Their children may have to take on extra jobs while studying to reduce the burden their parents have to bear. The parents themselves who are homeworkers have to work harder or longer for each day, while getting less pay for each piece. From sewing from morning to  8 pm, now, they cannot stop working before 11 pm or midnight. They do not even get any work to do on certain days, and thus have to find other job opportunities including selling this and that, or doing babysitting, etc. With insufficient income, they have to borrow from non-institutional lenders. In communities where savings groups exist,  the villagers  have more financial flexibility. 

Where is the state? Please help us

        In this situation, everyone suffers from the economic crisis.  The sewing homeworkers and self-employed workers are at the lower end of the production chain.

Their voices are often unheard  by people in society. Their voices often fall on deaf ears. But they  have contributed enormously to the national economy and big businesses,  including the export business. At the same time, they function as consumers who keep money flowing in the economy. The state should thus intervene to support and help them to continue to get jobs and to develop new products with better value added. The public discussion that day ended with the demand for the state to intervene. To help home-based workers (HBWs) to have constant job opportunities, the state should procure products made by the HBW groups including student uniforms, cloth products in hospital such as pillow covers, bedsheets, and patients’ uniform. The self-employed workers need to have more marketing spaces to sell and develop their products and to have access to relevant knowledge including about taxation, management, accounting, etc. They also need better welfare services, including old age person benefit, low-interest loans, etc.        
        HBWs propose that the government intervene to offer them more job opportunities, or to open markets for their products as well as come up with a social welfare package.  They all want the government to consider all these proposals since they have been proven practical. These shall help to elevate economic and social conditions of the workers in a long run

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VOICES FROM INDONESIA

Impacts have varied among homebased workers, as we can see from the following experiences reported in the FGD organized by Homenet  Indonesia in Malang.

Better Local Market Demand:    Not all subcontracted workers reported lower volumes of trade. Indonesian industrial outworkers reported that the volume of their work orders and production had remained unchanged. These HBWs produced badminton rackets and shuttlecocks mostly for the local market, where demand had thus far remained stable.

Fragile equilibrium between  earnings and expenditure:   In Indonesia,  prices rose 15-25 percent for sugar, rice and eggs, 50 percent for gas and 40 percent for public transportation over  the past 12 months. For the respondents who have experienced the double burden of  decreased wages and increased costs, the picture is even more grim.

Discrepancy in Wages:   Indonesian HBWs were being paid IDR 195000/month (UDS20), when their factory counterparts were being paid the minimum wage –IDR 850 000 (USD 85) for the same work.

Increased Indebtedness: HBWs borrow from moneylenders in order to pay for debts piling up from other moneylenders. These interest payments (as much as 30 percent per annum) increased financial pressure and reduced their earnings over the long run.

Specific Demands of HBWs

Subcontracted HBWs (or industrial outworkers) in Indonesia are specifically focused on promoting and enforcing minimum wages for subcontracted workers. Payment of minimum wages to adults will ensure that parents do not need to make their children work, and that these children can attend school, thus, eliminating  child labor.Self-employed HBWs’ most common request was for access to low interest-business loans, in combination with technical and marketing assistance.