Mayeng's Secret: PROFILE OF A MODEL HOMEWORKER LEADER

· REALIZING HER DREAM TO FINALLY OWN A HOUSE (LUCIA ALMAZAN STORY)

 

FROM SEWER TO LEADER

The Story of Antonina C. Tina

Antonina C. Tina is currently the National Coordinator of PATAMABA. She is 58 years old and married, with two children. Antonina started homeworking as a sewer at the age of 15. She is still one today. Here she shares her story:

My mother was a homeworker and my father, a farm tenant. I had only two years of formal schooling.

I started working on a farm at about the age of ten or eleven, after my father's death. I planted rice. I also had to help gather grass for the horses. I would earn five to ten centavos for a day's work and I would give them to my mother. I often cried at night out of self-pity and pity for my brothers and sisters. Every day, we had to work just to stay alive.

I was 15 when I learned to sew so that I could help my mother support the family. In my first months of work, I earned about 8 to 10 pesos a week After subtracting the cost of thread and machine rental, I was left with five pesos a week. After a few years, the piece rate went up slightly, but so did the cost of thread and machine rental. So, in effect, my earnings did not increase at all.

My lack of education proved to be a setback in finding a job and even for homework contracts. I remember my subcontractor telling me to measure something to be sewn, in centimetres. With much pain in my heart, I would ask my nieces who had attended school, "What is a centimetre?" That is why I always tell my children to study hard. I promise them, "We will send you to school for as long as we can…" and I tell my daughter, "Do not be just a sewer, nothing will happen to your life. "

I often complained that the payment for my sewing did not seem fair compensation for my efforts. In 1978, I had a problem with my subcontractor. After I had finished the sewing assignment she had given me, she promised to pay me the following week because she said that she herself had not been paid by her own subcontractor. Many weeks passed but I still was not paid. I got tired of trying to collect my money.

Because of this incident, I decided to work for another subcontractor. I asked her to give me a written document stating when I would get paid and how much the payment would be for sewing the materials I got. As a result, many other sewers befriended me - they thought that what I had done was good and would be favourable to them as well. They persuaded me to be their leader. I began to get materials to be sewn by them, and they were happy that they did not have to wait too long to get paid.

I became a provincial leader of a rural women's organization called KaBaPa. As president of the Bulacan provincial chapter during the Marcos martial law period, I would organize women homeworkers even from far-flung mountainous areas. We would leave the town at nine in the morning and walk for five hours on narrow trails over hills and plains to our destination. We even had to cross a river without a boat. Once, some army soldiers followed us and questioned us while we were meeting with some rural women at night. They pointed their guns at us. Although I was afraid that they would shoot us all, I gathered the courage to explain that we were not doing anything illegal - we had to meet in the evening because the women were busy attending to their swidden farming and potato planting in the hills during the day. When the soldiers asked for our names, I also asked for theirs. I showed them our organization's registration papers and they left.

Despite such difficulties, we felt good that people believed in us and were moving ahead because of us. All our fatigue disappeared the moment the women arrived, carrying their children and their gas lamps even if it was close to midnight. I was the only woman who spoke before the town mayor and other male officials on the situation of the women in the mountain villages. They asked me where I came from and why I was so concerned with the problems of mountain dwellers. I explained I that belonged to an organization which was dedicated to helping rural women. With our intervention, the town had a bridge built so that the women could bring their products down to the town to sell.

When the bridge was inaugurated, the mayor was happy - he asked that pictures be taken of the women using the bridge with their wares carried on their heads. He also praised me, saying I was like the heroine Gabriela Silang who was not afraid to face men. I used to tell my mother that even if I died struggling for the interests of women, it would be all right because she would have something to be proud of - she would look happy to hear me talking like this.

As a provincial leader, I faced other challenges. In the beginning, I did not find it hard to adjust to my fellow leaders because we were all at the same level. Later on, however, some women who had finished high school and college joined as leaders. I felt inadequate during meetings because of my low level of education. But I convinced myself that a leader should not be afraid of such things. During meetings, I requested everyone to speak in Tagalog because I could answer anything they asked in Tagalog, but I could not really manage English. Just the same, I was able to preside over meetings without my companions losing confidence in my ability. I also made sure that I did everything I said I would do.

In 1987, we formed a group of sewers into the San Francisco Women's Cooperative, but after a while, we had to stop because we did not have a big market. Each of us would sew 10 to 50 pieces of garments a day. Our target market was just the neighbouring villages. We did not anticipate that those who bought our goods today would not buy them again tomorrow. Garments were not like food. We had to stop production and wait for our products to be sold. But we still had to eat. Eventually, we decided to move our remaining funds to palay (grains) trading.

Nevertheless, we learned a lot from this experience. We saw the need to really study the market before going into production, to keep track of design trends, and to produce high-quality products at reasonable cost.

In 1989, organizing efforts on homeworkers at national level began in earnest. I was one of those being asked to lead in this. I accepted without hesitation even though I was fearful that my limited knowledge and experience at the provincial level might be insufficient for national level involvement. But I took it as a challenge. I was driven by the conviction that even if our generation of homeworkers was not able to reap the fruits of our efforts, at least our struggles would ensure that our children would.

As a homeworker leader, I gained more courage in complaining to my subcontractor, especially when the rate was so low. At that time, I was frequently away attending homeworkers' seminars and organizing garment workers in our area. Soon, I began to notice that my subcontractor no longer wanted to give me any orders. She just kept promising that she would but she never did. She even owed me 500 pesos for work I had already submitted. I learned from friends in neighboring villages that she was giving work to homeworkers even in far flung areas. I then realized that what she had told me about having limited orders was not true. At first, I felt hurt, sad and disappointed because my sewing was important to my family financially - it had helped us a lot. But then, I decided to focus my energies on full-time organizing. I told myself, it was not the end - "there is tomorrow; there is hope".

Although I lost my job because of the organization, I also gained a lot from my involvement. What I did not know before, I came to know. I realized that there were many homeworkers just like me who wanted to escape from an exploitative system. I saw how government people were ready to assist us, especially those from the Department of Labour and Employment who never seemed to get tired of helping. It gave me the determination to go on. I came to know of organizations ready to help out in training, marketing, product development, and credit extension, and worked with them to improve the lot of local homeworkers.

That was many years ago. But my mission still continues to this day. Now I am 58 years old and the National Coordinator of PATAMABA, the national network for homeworkers, which was formed in 1989.

Because of PATAMABA, I have been able to travel to foreign lands I never dreamed I would visit. In the beginning, I had my fears, too. The first time I boarded an airplane for Bangkok, I felt that old inadequacy because of my low education level. But once in Bangkok, I was happy to see so many people ready to support homeworkers, and to respect me as a person. In India, I realized that homeworkers can accomplish a lot for so long as they believe in their organization. There, even illiterate women were able to set up a bank. In the Philippines, most homeworkers can at least read and write. We can do as much, even more.

I believe that it is only through an organization that homeworkers can attain social protection. Together, we can bargain for higher wages. We can ask for social security, for assistance when we give birth, or when we get sick due to our work. We can have more education and training. I experienced a lot of pain because of my lack of formal schooling. I do not want the younger homeworkers to experience the same pain.

I am happy that we now have Department Order No. 5, a law which protects homeworkers' rights to a just wage and immediate payment. It's a start.

It is difficult to be a leader in an organization. I do not expect material gain as a reward for my efforts and involvement. All I want is change for the better in the condition of homeworkers. That would be like giving me a crown.