VIENTIANE 2008:
THAILAND
SOLIDARITY ECONOMY
IN THE CONTEXT OF HOMENET THAILAND
Somkid duangngern
Foundation for Labor and Employment Promotion (FLEP)
Background
The US financial crisis has led to economic regression, increase in unemployment rates and inflation. An export led economy like that of Thailand’s will certainly suffer from the ramifications as consumers in richer countries will have less money to spend at their disposal, at the same time that spending and consumption of goods in developing nations declines and dwindles. The Industrial Council of Thailand forecasted that around 700,000 to 1 million workers in export based industries in the country will lose their jobs in the early part of 2009. Meanwhile, those in the labor academics averred that there will be 2 million jobless persons. Many of these displaced workers will be thrown into the informal economy.
It is worrisome that the homebased and self employed informal workers who are at the very end of the employment chain continue to suffer the most from exploitation - being paid much less than the minimum wages, having to endure long working hours, exposed to occupational risks, and other dangers without social safety nets and legal protection at that. They also have to partially shoulder production costs including water, electricity, materials/machine costs. With the global economic onslaught, the situation of informal workers will even be gloomier. Meanwhile, the State has not been vocal regarding its stand to address unemployment and the potential influx of laid off workers into the informal economy which will result to higher forms of competition in the labor market.
The present employment and production trend is predominantly governed by globalized and liberalized market mechanisms. Informal workers may have some access to work opportunities but they do not have the power to bargain for fair wages and improved working conditions to enhance their quality of life. Under such system, workers’ dignity and their economic and social rights are not respected at all.
A better alternative should be provided to enhance the work and livelihood of informal workers. ‘Solidarity economy’ is based on mutual help. Its primary goal is not profitability but to serve the producer, consumer and community. It strives to strengthen and increase the bargaining power of vulnerable groups through democratic means, and by allowing the participation of stakeholders.
Because it interweaves participatory approaches to assist workers in more ways than one, ‘solidarity economy’ can combat the issues of liberalization and globalization and other related crises.
Homenet Thailand has been doing its best to create a solidarity economy through the strengthening and networking of HBWs at various levels and collaboration with other networks. It aims to empower and increase the bargaining power of HBWs and other informal workers in Thailand.
Networking at Community Level
Homebased workers in Thailand formed themselves into groups and collectively organized production activities and allocated resources. Here, the emphasis was not on profit alone but on self-reliance and mutual help among the members as well. One example is the Muslim veil production group in Rattaphum district, Songkla province in the South, which has 30 members, with each one contributing 100 baht for the procurement of materials such as thread, fabric rolls and beads. Members are provided with travel allowance to cover for expenses incurred when picking up raw materials and bringing the finished products to an agreed place.
Examples of social welfare groups are the weaving group in Banthi district, Lamphun province in the North, with 700 members; and the informal workers in Tambon Klongree, Songkla province with some 500 members. The monthly savings of these groups are set aside to provide for their needs concerning welfare, birth related expenses, disability, death, jobless compensation, etc. There are also groups that follow the tenet of “strengthening business through production and marketing activities while also providing social welfare for their members”. The latter is practiced by “PraePun” and “PanMai” traditional cloth weavers’ groups in the northeast of Thailand.
Networking at Regional and National Levels
Each HBW group links as a network of informal workers at the regional level in five regions. The goal is to empower members to help them realize the issues and to forge solutions concerning their labor rights. Each network has four representatives to sit as members of the executive board for the national informal workers network.
The national informal workers’ network carries out advocacy and campaigns to make voices heard in public and to encourage state agencies to pay serious attention to the issues faced by informal workers through adoption of laws and policies for social security and legal protection of labor rights. There are 151 groups under the national network of informal workers, including 6,637 female and male members, who are engaged in 40 different types of occupations. The network has already began expansion to other informal workers in other sub-sectors including domestic workers, contract farmers, service sector workers, and motorcycle/taxi drivers, by extending cooperation and mutual assistance schemes.
Networking at the community, regional and national levels and the linkages between the grassroots groups and regional groups has been effective in responding to the needs of members so far. However, at the national level, relationship and linkaging is largely dependent on the committees and leaders who have better access to information and understanding of laws and policies. A general majority of the membership still have difficulty accessing information and various resources.
Collaboration at the Southeast Asian Level
Homenet Thailand succeeded in building linkages with HBW organizations in the Philippines, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia. However, many collaborations among HBWs networks in Southeast Asia were made through exchanges and exposure trips. Activities leading to the enhancement of laws and policies for informal workers at the subregional level have been quite limited.
Challenges Ahead
Homenet Thailand has laid out an action plan in pursuance of ‘solidarity economy’:
- Membership-based organizing for informal workers
HomeNet Thailand intends to build an organization with structure and operations that really emanate from the ground. Each member will have to share 10 baht as annual fee and must participate in the creation of an economic and welfare system. Thus far, the rules have been set up using membership-based approaches and should be implemented in full scale by early 2009.
Members will be encouraged to work jointly in setting the network’s direction, laying down rules and principles based on democracy, and disseminating knowledge and information as well as resources to all the sectors concerned.
- Building linkage among employers, producers and consumers
HomeNet Thailand plans to create an alternative form of economic relations focusing on the fair trade framework. Campaigns will promote the principles of fair trade deemed beneficial to both producers and consumers alike. This will help transform the conventional exploitative employment system by introducing ethical production principles such as non-exploitative working standards, environment friendly production processes and quality products at fair prices. Campaigns will be launched soon to reiterate the advocacy on decent work standards.
- Strengthening collaboration with HBW networks in Southeast Asia
HomeNet Thailand will strengthen ties with HBW networks in Southeast Asia to advocate for better laws and policies to protect informal sector workers including occupational health and safety, social safety nets, issuance of labor laws, and the ratification of the ILO Convention on Home Work (C177).
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