WORKING PAPERS FOR SHARING COUNTRY EXPERIENCES
Homenet Southeast Asia’s Subregional Workshop on Membership-based Organizing, linking OSH and Fair Trade Concerns

PHILIPPINE COUNTRY REPORT

presented by
patamaba (national nework of informal workers)
16-18 november 2007
amari old airport hotel, don muang
bangkok, thailand

PART ONE             Expanding Influence Towards Representation and Advocacy 

One significant development among homebased and informal workers in the Philippines is the realization of being organized. Their continuing growth and  increase in membership is a manifestation of awareness that indeed they need collective strength for better representation and advocacy.

Grassroots Women On the Lead
PATAMABA is a people’s organization led by grassroots women who sought to empower themselves by founding and running their own organization. Founded in 1989 as the first organization formed by Filipino homebased workers, PATAMABA started out as the Pambansang Tagapag-ugnay ng mga Manggagawa sa Bahay (National Network of Homeworkers). In its May 2003 National Congress, its expanded name was changed to the Pambansang Kalipunan ng mga Manggagawang Impormal (National Network of Informal Workers) to reflect fundamental changes in its targeted membership which now includes, in addition to homeworkers, vendors, small transport operators, construction workers, and young workers. From being primarily a women’s organization (98 percent of the members are women between the ages 18 to 75), it has started its evolution into an organization that seeks to address the concerns and uplift the plight of both female and male works belonging to the informal sector.
The expanding influence among informal workers has been manifested in orientation activities for new members and organizing in other subsectors.  To date, it has a membership of  16,160 in 34 provinces in its formal registry.  The PATAMABA youth sector has been actively recruiting from among their ranks, and has reported a membership of at least 3,000. Training of youth and local leaders is ongoing to facilitate later accession to national leadership positions.

Networking Progress
PATAMABA’s  networking spans a wide range different sectors and groups - from informal ones like street and market vendors to official policy-makers and formal academic institutions. It actively advocates and lobbies for proper legislation to protect the rights of the homeworkers in the Philippines as workers and as women. It is now affiliated to different trade unions and women's organizations with similar values. Moving further towards  group formation and strengthening of mass- based organizations saw the successful launching of  Homenet Philippines in  May  2006, a broad coalition of 23 organizations comprised of homeworkers’ groups and NGOs. The formal launching of  Homenet Philippines advocacy agenda of Homenet Philippines helped to boost the advocacy campaign on ILO Convention 177 and the Magna Carta.

PATAMABA’s regional networking, advocacy and networking is channeled through Homenet Southeast Asia.  Here, common goals include greater visibility, recognition and participation of homebased workers in the ASEAN context ; access to resources and  social protection (including occupational safety and health); and better policies and programs through improved legislation and the ratification of ILO Convention 177 on Home Work.  Coordination with Homenet South Asia  and WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing) has led to an even broader global solidarity anchored on a rights-based approach.

Management and Organization
PATAMABA remains cohesive as an organization while it continues  to grow and increase membership,thereby expanding some degree of influence towards attaining advocacy goals.  Somehow, this can be attributed to the four Organizational Principles/Ethics embodied in its Constitution and By-laws (1989), which officers and members respect and adhere to: Accountability (which makes any officer or member answerable for any action or inaction);  Collective Leadership  (recognizes  process- oriented form of decision making as opposed to individual, unilateral decision making); Transparency (every transaction is open to scrutiny, specially financial matters);  Democratic Centralism (recognizes role of a  leader, who in turn, must be open to suggestions and submits to process-oriented decision making);  and Self-Criticism (ability to reflect on one’s shortcomings, indecision, etc.; outcome redound to group intimacy, personalized relations, improved human relations and open communication with co-members).
In 2002, PATAMABA saw the finalization of its Manual of Operations, in Tagalog and English versions. To this day, the Manual serves the purpose of guiding the organization’s   day to day operations.
As a people’s organization (meaning it is membership-based), PATAMABA  organizes and consolidates homeworkers in the barangay, municipal, provincial, regional and national levels for active membership. Leaders are elected at every level – from the barangay or village, to the municipal, provincial, regional, and national. Council officers are voted upon for organized chapters up to the national level which make up the National Executive Board and the National Coordinating Council. The Congress is the highest policy making body of the organization. Coordinating Council leadership is selected from among former /current leaders.

In terms of organizational management and administration, PATAMABA has eight National Executive Committee members supported by various project funds.  It has a National Council elected every three years during a national congress, and an Executive Committee based in Metro Manila which manages its day-to-day operations. Through its coordinator for organizing, PATAMABA regularly monitors Luzon chapters on a quarterly basis. Due to distance and financial constraints, Visayas and Mindanao (Davao) chapters are visited once a year but leaders are required to submit quarterly reports, and communication is done through the internet or cellular phone. 
A National Congress is held every three years, attended by provincial and regional leaders, who are expected to come up with a 3-year plan. Strategic Planning is undertaken annually, usually scheduled towards end of the year, for assessment, evaluation and planning for next year’s activities. on a provincial and regional

Strategies and Agenda
PATAMABA’s main strategies are: 1) participation in governance and institution building through organizing, coalition building, representation in national, local and international bodies and institutionalizing programs and projects for the informal sector; 2) human development services such as skills training and skills upgrading (production related), capability-building, training on gender awareness, health and reproductive rights, computer literacy and connectivity, workers’ and working children’s rights under the law, participatory research, fieldwork data collection, facilitation and linkages; 3) socio-economic assistance as exemplified by its credit facility program and microfinance, enterprise development, and marketing of homebased products through a showroom and participation in trade fairs and bazaars; 4) networking, advocacy and para-legal work for fair trade, Magna Carta for Informal workers, anti-poverty strategies, and other policy changes, through building partnership with GOand academe.s, NGOs. LGUs, POs, international agencies, trade unions, cooperatives.
PATAMABA keeps on working towards strengthening and maintaining its organized members. It  starts its organizing work at contact building. An integral part of the first phase is the process of community integration and social investigation. The organization’s main strategy in organizing focuses on the homeworkers’ conditions in the context of the global crisis. Awareness-building comes in at almost every phase of organizing. The organizers familiarize themselves with pressing local issues that are then used for establishing core groups, leaders, community mobilizations, community organizations and programs/services. Advocacy campaigns are geared towards lobbying and promotion of homeworkers’ rights, welfare, security and protection. Networking entails linking with different NGOs, Pos for direct or indirect assistance (technical or financial) and/or support services to homebased workers in an effort to break the barriers of access to essential social services, resources and to obtain social protection and workers’ welfare. Networking is aimed at establishing partnerships and affiliation with national and international homeoworkers’ and women’s organizations. Capability building is done through education, seminar workshops, skills training, consultation meetings and awareness raising at the local and national levels. Aside from a newsletter called Bahay Ugnayan, the organization has embarked on development and production of instructional materials called Gabay or Modules on the issues of homeworkers and their need for social protection. PATAMABA’s socio-economic assistance program facilitates access to financial assistance or additional capital in the form of loan with minimal interest to ongoing or existing livelihood projects, development of proposals, feasibility studies, business plans for funding, acquisition of raw materials and market niching of products. PATAMABA also encourages setting up of indigenous social protection schemes for homebased workers like “damayan” and “paluwagan” and other forms of social security.

Included in PATAMABA’s agenda are: 1) recognition and representation of informal workers; 2) access to productive resources; and 3) access to social protection and justice, the components of which are social security (SSS, Philhealth, Red Cross, community based health insurance schemes, alternative and indigeneous schemes such as  damayan and paluwagan), occupational safety and health, local ordinances on workers’ security and protection and asset reform.
Through the years, PATAMABA’s policy advocacy work has occurred at various levels. It has influenced the national anti-poverty policies and programs through its presence and leadership in the Workers in the Informal Sector Council (WISC) of the National Anti Poverty Commission (NAPC). After more than a decade of trying, it has aided in persuading the Social Security System (SSS) to allow self-employed homeworkers to avail of social insurance and to facilitate this process through the automatic Debit Account (ADA) arrangement whereby self-employed SS members can use the facilities of partner banks to make their contributions. 

Relevance in the Context of Globalization
As an organization, PATAMABA continues to be relevant in the current context of globalization, with an increasing number of workers finding refuge in the informal sector. There is conscious effort among PATAMABA leaders in seeking for practical solutions regarding the management of homeworkers’ and informal workers’ time particularly those in the local communities who can hardly cope juggling  organizational  and income generating activities. One solution forwarded to sustain membership was to find ways of balancing  organizational work and economic activities without sacrificing organizational commitment.

Since globalization has caused deepening poverty  where jobs and livelihoods are lost due to the entry of cheaper imports, homeworkers, as well as other informal workers, who are fully aware of this development, are expectedly critical about it.  As a network of homebased and informal workers, PATAMABA  is tasked to lead in setting up mechanisms that will ensure the collective participation of all its members and to establish linkages, both local and international, with various governments, non-government and people’s organizations. The members themselves will work collectively in the determination of appropriate solution to their needs, problems, resource mobilization, planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of various development projects for sustainability and self-reliance. To attain its goals, PATAMABA engages in a variety of programs and activities that encompass organizing; networking and advocacy; capability building through education and training; and socio-economic assistance.

Advocacy Work in Progress

• Enactment of a Magna Carta for the Informal Sector

Beginning as early as 1999, this initiative culminated in the issuance of Administrative Order for the formulation of the Magna Carta. Lobbying efforts from various informal sector groups and women’s organizations saw a ray of hope when legislators picked up the cudgels and filed bills in the House of Representatives for a proposed Magna Carta wich attracted public discussion and debate in mid-2006.
To date, House Bill 1955, known as the Magna Carta for Workers in the Informal Economy, was filed by Rep. Dan Fernandez in the Philippine House of Representatives 2nd week of August. Resulting from  months of advocacy and critiquing spent by PATAMABA and Homenet Philippines, the revised version was filed as HB 1955 and became the subject of a press conference held August 14 at the Sulo Hotel, Quezon City. HB 1955 was based on a previous version filed earlier by Rep. Juan Angara, its main contents were presented to Rep. Fernandez by network members in a dialogue held last week of July.
PATAMABA and Homenet Philippines have been provided technical support by Homenet SEA in writing and subsequent production of the Q and A on HB 1955 for dissemination to informal workers  in the Philippines. The objective is to create awareness on the relevance and contents of the HB 1955. 

Liaison work is continuously undertaken for the conduct of advocacy workshops and dialogues with  key government agencies (DOLE, NAPC-WISC, among others) and other stakeholders through initiatives of PATAMABA and Homenet Philippines for the passage of the Magna Carta for the Informal Sector in the Philippines.

In October 2007, a Magna Carta for the Informal Sector Alliance (MAGCAISA) was formed, comprised of  Alliance of Construction Industry Workers (ACIW), College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) and School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SOLAIR), the latter two are academic institutions of the University of the Philippines. This alliance spearheads the preparation of  a policy agenda for the Magna Carta and will take charge in the conduct of advocacy training for trainors.

Homenet Philippines has made preparatory plans to mark the coalition’s first anniversary celebration scheduled on May 4, 2008.

• Ratification of ILO Convention 177 on Homework (1966)

As early as 1996, there were many stakeholders joining together to collect signatures (almost 100,000) submitted to the Senate. After 1998, NAPC adopted the workers in the informal sector as an advocacy agenda. No support was received from the agencies in charge.

PATAMABA has expressed readiness and the willingness to work side by side with industrial workers in the trade unions and tripartite bodies for representation in pushing Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to start facilitating the ratification of ILO Convention 177.

Homeworker under ILO Convention 177 has its basic characteristics: production making at home owned by the producer; remuneration; and products based on owner’s requirements.

• Revision and implementation of DO No 5 on Homeworkers, and its integration, together with other homebased workers’ concerns, into the Philippine Labor Code

In February 1992, homeworkers, spearheaded by PATAMABA,  succeeded in lobbying for the issuance of DOLE Department Order No 5. There are salient provisions that can be favorable to industrial homeworkers, such as: affirmation to self-organization; immediate payment for homework; registration of HWs organizations, and their employers, contractors and subcontractors; output rates based on time and motion studies, individual/collective agreement between employer and workers, or consultation in a tripartite conference; prohibition in the production of explosives and the like; and designation by DOLE of regional administrators for compliance and complaints.

The said piece of legislation developed policies that could lead to the implementation of ILO Convention once ratified: training on the conduct of time and motion studies; standardized remuneration; new organizing strategies and negotiation in subcontracted agreements.

• Social protection for informal workers through greater protection by the SSS and Philhealth, and support for indigenous, informal workers’ groups initiated  in the communities. 

PATAMABA has been lobbying for the amendment of the SSS Law to allow for informal sector representation in the SSS Commission, and for the expansion of the KASAPI and other Philhealth Programs for the working poor. Also important in addressing illness and maternity is greater coverage of the informal sector by SSS and Philihealth and support for indigenous social protection schemes such as damayan and paluwagan. 

PART TWO            Heightening Group Advocacy Towards an Improved  Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Program for IS Workers
                                   
In general, hazardous working conditions not only harm informal sector workers' health but also decrease the enterprise's productivity and therefore, income. This is attributed to poor health and the inability to work effectively. Awareness of both the adverse long-term effects of poor and hazardous working conditions as well as how to improve workers' protection and business practices in order to increase productivity are very low among the microentrepreneurs, majority of whom comprise the informal sector.

Background on the Philippine Informal Sector
In contrast to formal wage workers, the informal workers have consistently grown throughout the decades and have remained a stubborn feature of Philippine economy, so much so that their activities have gained acceptance as a survival strategy of the poor. As an economic and social group both in the urban and rural areas, the informal sector is composed of a variety of people with different types of work – homeworkers, micro-entrepreneurs, street vendors and peddlers, drivers and operators of taxicabs, jeepneys, tricycles and other public conveyances, petty retailers, barter traders, small-scale construction workers, small-miners, small farmers and fisherfolks. 
There were an estimated 16.169  million or 49.9 percent working Filipinos belonging to the informal sector (NSO, January 2006). Most of these are own account and unpaid family workers. To date,  some 16.212 million or 50.1 percent of the total working population comprise formal sector workers (NSO, January 2006).

The informal sector is characterized by low level of organization; absence of division between labor and capital as factors of production; consisting of household unincorporated enterprises; and labor relations based on casual employment, kinship or personal and social relations rather than formal or contractual arrangements.

Some OSH Concerns in the Informal Sector
The changing and deteriorating nature of work brought about by the pressures of globalization, liberalization of trade and rapid technological progress has pushed more workers to take hazardous and precarious employment. Under such situation, employment becomes a contributory factor to existing vulnerabilities rather than serving as pathway to escape poverty. This trend has resulted, thus far, to inadequate safety and health standards, lack of basic social protection and environmental hazards, particularly manifested in the case of the informal sector.
The occupational safety and health problems of informal sector workers in general vary considerably, in terms of industry and occupation. But they have common roots in problems of poverty, insecurity of land tenure, poor education, low awareness of environmental issues, lack of institutional support, and weak organization.

• Low Priority of Health and Safety

Health and safety attains a very low priority among informal sector workers, including those in the Philippines. Understandably, having job is more important than other concerns as feeding the family or having food on the table is of utmost concern.

• Lack of awareness/compliance with OSH standards

Among developing countries in general, compliance with occupational safety and health standards are not strictly adhered to nor enforced, thus, exposing informal workers to the risks and dangers in the workplace. 
This situation has been evident in the Philippines, as Dr. Dulce P. Estrella-Gust, Executive Director,  Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC)  observed,  that “the OSH protection gap of the disadvantaged workers in the informal economy went largely unrecorded and unattended, for a number of reasons: OSH standards were only compulsory for formal sector establishments; there was no inspection for enterprises that employed less than 10 workers and there was no mandatory reporting of accidents or injuries. Owners, managers and workers were largely unaware of work-related risks and preventive measures; the availability and use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and first aid kits was the exception rather than the rule.”(ILAPI Colloquium on Workers’ Protection in the Informal Economy Occupational Safety and Health (OSH),  July 3, 2006).

• Lack of Distinction Between Living and Working Space

Among the informals, there is no clear distinction between living and workplace, which complicates the problem and exposes ot6her family members. Usually, informal sector workers operate from their home, which also double as the workplace.  Among PATAMABA members, women’s microenterprise, and women homeworkers who do subcontracted work in the confines of their home are common examples. Since women‘s options are focused on work that allows them to combine both reproductive and productive endeavors, their unpaid work within the household is considered equally important as their earnings. Under this circumstance, the distinction between working and living conditions often becomes blurred.  Vulnerability to diseases and poor health result from a combination of undesirable living and working conditions. Majority of them live in poor areas that lack basic health and welfare services, where work is often carried out in an unhealthy and unsafe environment.
Further, the absence of the  right to ownership practically translates to not having the access to sanitary facilities, permanent and suitable working environments, potable water or electricity, as these services are provided only to lawful land owners. More often than not, informal workers are not covered by existing occupational safety and health (OSH) regulations or by regulatory standards implemented by local governments.

• Work-related Injuries and Health Problems  

The interaction between occupational hazards and poor living conditions can exacerbate workers’ health problems. This is exemplified by the effects of poor working practices and poor working conditions, usually present among microenterprises. The most prevalent problems identified in ad-hoc surveys carried out by the ILO among selected countries that include the Philippines were: poor lighting, lack of ventilation, excessive heat, poor housekeeping, inadequate work space and working tools, lack of protective equipment, exposure to hazardous chemicals and dusts and long hours of work. The most prevalent health impairments were musculo-skeletal disorders and low back pain; allergic reactions and other respiratory disorders; physical strain, fatigue and stress. Injuries with tools were also frequent.
The case of the fashion accessories production in Laray, Cebu as experienced by PATAMABA producers/homeworkers can be cited here. Occupational Safety and Health machines used in the manufacture of fashion accessories are dangerous and could harm adult and child workers whose fingers could be cut, pierced, or sliced at the slightest lack of attention. No masks are usually worn by cutters and grinders/polishers of shells and beads, nor by those who handle the chemicals involved in shell bead making.

• Child Labor and Environmental Abuse

The fashion accessories industry cited  above is one example of a production process that easily absorbs child labor. While it may not be the main cause for a child to drop out of school, it is among the factors that determine how a child’s time can be used, and how skilled a child can become. This has been one of the major concerns of the ILO and Unicef.
Furthermore, lack of awareness on environmental issues is very evident, as in abuse of the environment through unrestrained extraction of natural raw materials (shells and wood) and of the pollution caused by their processing in the community.
Since fashion accessories production is export-oriented, subcontracted work is the usual arrangement in the placement of orders. The production process also wreaks havoc in the home, and pollutes, and cramps the already small and crowded home.  It would appear that the stresses the workers have, especially children and women, doing multiple work, like trying to earn income, performing household duties, child care, and other activities like studying and keeping up with family obligations, combined with a polluted environment (especially in the areas where shell and wood are cut, ground and polished, and the air is full of fine powder-dust), can (especially during peak season) have a negative impact on the health of workers and their community at large.

• Effects on Productivity

Hazardous working conditions not only harm informal sector workers' health but also decrease the enterprise's productivity and therefore income.  This is due to poor health and the inability to work effectively. Awareness both of the adverse long-term effects of poor and hazardous working conditions as well as of how to improve workers' protection and business practices in order to increase productivity are very low among the micro-entrepreneurs.

• Subsectoral Concerns

Homenet Philippines conducted  a focus group discussion among its members (July 10, 2007) where subsectoral concerns emerged  pointing to the need for a subsectoral, target-specific approach to OSH and social protection. Among the concerns are: 1) vendors suffer from lack of toilets, unsanitary environment and heavy weights; 2) non-corporate construction workers lack safety belts and other personal protective equipment (PPE), tools and tasks are based on male standards; 3) drivers suffer from heat, leading to sterility, and pollution leading to respiratory ailments; 4) small banca operators lack life vests; 5) waste recyclers are exposed to sharp objects, health hazards, hospital and other harmful waste; 6) small scale miners are vulnerable to dust and harmful chemicals as well as lack of oxygen, and do not have PPEs; 7)guest relations officers or GROs suffer from sexual harassment, exposure to AIDS and other STDs, lack of reproductive health awareness and facilities.

Occupational Safety and Health Standards in the Philippines
The right of all workers to humane conditions of work is guaranteed in Art. XIII, Sec. 3 of the Constitution. In implementing this mandate, the Labor Code envisions two types of health and safety rules, those applicable generally and those with specific application depending on the nature of occupation.  The general requirements for enterprises are prescribed under Books III and IV of the Labor Code which regulate, among others, working hours, provision of safety gear, clinics, and access to hospitals or medical centers.

On an occupational basis, the minimum conditions of health and safety are prescribed in the Manual on Occupational Safety and Health Standards. These standards apply to particular occupations as determined by the inherent differences and risks in given work environments , for instance, RA 8558, takes into account the health hazards associated with underground mining operations.

Articles 162 to 165 of the Labor Code outline the responsibilities of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in ensuring occupational health and safety of workers.  The DOLE administers and enforces safety and health standards mainly through the inspectorate system. The Secretary of Labor and Employment has the power to order the stoppage of work or suspension of operations of an establishment when non-compliance with the law or implementing rules and regulations poses grave and imminent danger to the health and safety of workers.

The occupational safety and health provisions of the Labor Code are applicable only to workers falling within an employer-employee relationship. Thus, workers in the informal sector are excluded from the coverage of the Labor Code.

OSH protection in the Philippines is an area with strict standards but widely varying degrees of compliance. The special OSH hazards and needs of women are reflected in Philippines labor law (Philippine Labor Code, Article 132) with regard to maternity, reproduction, ergonomics, rest facilities, etc. These provisions echo relevant international guidelines by the ILO and UN, which recognizes the right of women to OSH protection at work in order to safeguard their reproductive roles and emphasize the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of pregnancy, maternity or marital status.
Concern for the vulnerability of women to OSH-related hazards and discrimination has led to research, policy review and improved access to services for women at work. Recognizing the enormity of gender related OSH and equality issues, a Conference Resolution called for special attention to the OSH needs and requirements of women workers in the context of the on-going review of the Philippine Labor Code, and urged the effective enforcement of laws and policies on OSH and the sensitizing of policy makers, as well as employers’ and workers’ organization to the special needs of women. The Resolution also advocated special protection for female child works and young women workers in line with the Convention on the rights of the Child and ILO Convention 182 on Worst Forms of Child Labor.
The DOLE , like all government agencies, is required to allocate 5 percent of its budget resources for gender mainstreaming activities.

While progress has been made in recent years in terms of OSH protection of workers in the formal sector, the situation remains precarious for vulnerable groups in the ever growing informal sector – including large numbers of women, young workers and child laborers –are exposed to wide range of hazards, to exploitation and discrimination. Discrimination against these groups of workers in terms of prevention and access to health services exist in the areas of legislation, social protection, occupational safety and health services.

In terms of coverage and implementation the OSH Standards has limitations: only the formal establishments have compulsory coverage;  no inspection for enterprises with less than 10 workers; inadequacy in  mandatory reporting of accidents and injuries; lack of awareness of risk and prevention measures among owner/managers; availability and use of PPEs and first aid kits are the exception rather than the rule

Some OSH Interventions
There have been well-meaning interventions in the field of occupational safety and health meant to assist the informal workers so that they can rise from their plight, enable them to work together to improve their situation and empower themselves at the same time. These interventions have, directly or indirectly, facilitated the sector’s access to productive resources, introduced the concept and importance of improving working conditions and attaining healthy workplaces and extending social protection.
Many of these were results of cooperative endeavor among development agencies such as the ILO, government and public offices, the academe, and long years of advocacy on the part of informal workers’ groups, such as the PATAMABA (National Network of Informal Workers in the Philippines), Homenet Philippines, a broad coalition of 23 organizations comprised of homeworkers’ groups and NGOs working with homeworkers and informal sector groups, and Homenet Southeast Asia.

To date, the Philippine government through the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), has issued a policy directive for the inclusion of OSH Awareness in LGU Plan (2003). As reported by the DOLE-BRW under the DOLE-ILO-UNDP Project on the promotion of the informal sector, the LGUs have incorporated OSH activities in most their plans.

Smaller-scale surveys have provided useful information on the hazards faced by different groups of informal sector workers.  For example, ILO-sponsored research in the Philippines entitled A National Survey of Working Children, conducted by the National Statistical Office with assistance from the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), has helped in defining hazardous work for children, taking into account both work intensity and the level of safety of the tasks performed by children (working environment, materials and tools and equipment). Another Survey on Homeworkers in Metro Manila, also carried out by the National Statistical Office, provided information on work-related injuries and illnesses of that important group of informal sector workers. Still another small study carried out for the ILO's Interdepartmental Project on the Urban Informal Sector, among retaso (garment factory remnants) workers, found that heat was the most prevalent problem, followed by poor lighting, chemical hazards and ergonomic problems and fatigue. The ILO supports a follow-up research to these surveys, focusing on occupational safety and health and working conditions in the informal sector.

The current Executive Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Center in Manila, Dr. Estrella-Gust, who is a leading international expert on safety and health in the informal sector, was closely involved in the above initiative.  The Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) was mandated to provide OSH services to all workers but its resources originated almost entirely from compulsory contributions from the formal sector which was, hence, also the primary beneficiary of its services. Over the past years the OSHC had been active in awareness raising for OSH in the informal sector through advocacy in radio and TV programs, training and technical assistance. Inter-agency consultations, research and pilot had broadened the understanding of OSH needs in urban and rural settings and set the stage for wider national application. OSHC was taking a lead role in the ASEAN OSHNet, a network of national OSH institutions in South-East Asia.

OSH services for the informal economy figured in the National OSH Profile and proposed national OSH plan 2007-1010, spearheaded by Occupational Safety and Health Center in Manila. Subject to availability of funding, OSHC stood ready to assist in progressively expanding OSH services in cooperation with other stakeholders in the public and private sectors. There was identifiable need and scope for tailor-made packages including training, IEC campaigns, advocacy through the media/LGUs, integration of OSH in the school curricula, creation of OSH units in LGUs and integration of  OSH in primary health care.

Towards an Improved OSH and Social Protection Program
The informal sector has evidently been in dire need of effective safety and health measures intended to protect them as workers. Limited or lack of necessary attention to the situation has been aggravated by the informal workers’ lack of awareness, technical means and resources to implement health and safety measures for themselves. To date, poor working environment,  unsatisfactory welfare facilities, as well as practically non-existent occupational health services are causing human and material losses. Already, this situation spells burden on the productivity of national economies, impairs health and general well-being as well as the quality of life of informal workers and their families. The protection of the health and welfare of informal sector workers keeps on nagging as a challenge, that equally calls for an  integrated approach towards health promotion, social protection and creation of quality employment. All of these must therefore factored in,  if the idea is to come up with a strategy to  advance the working conditions, and subsequently, the living environment of the poor.

Recent developments in the Philippines show that workers in the informal sector now have a greater chance of articulating their issues, given the mandate to participate in decision making in national and local bodies, specifically through the Workers in the Informal Sector Council (WISC) of the NAPC, where a PATAMABA leader sits.  Be that as it may,  they are still very much in need of pivotal support, specially in the area where they can be  protected by responsive policies and laws that will make their working environment facilitative and conducive to do good business, that eventually, will contribute to an improved living standard.

With appropriate support, informal sector workers can move from a situation of mere survival to a stronger economic position, thus, enhancing their contribution to economic growth and social integration, as well as their participation in the improvement of their own working and living conditions. In order to raise the productivity of informal sector workers it is necessary to develop measures which effectively combine services to enable them to increase their income, and services to assist them in protecting their health and improving their working conditions.  For its part, PATAMABA Angono Chapter, through its enterprise group, Women in the Informal Sector Enterprise (WISE), has entered into an agreement with the Women’s Institute for Sustainable Economic Action (WISE-ACT) to  undertake Plant and Product Assessment (PPA) in its Production Center based in San Vicente, Angono, Rizal. From 2006 to 2007, both parties worked towards: facilitating conduct of baseline research; intervention on the development of non-food and food products; conduct of skills training for upgrading product quality, good manufacturing practices, financial recording, market research, label design/packaging etc.; and ensuring a gender-sensitive production site. 
Protective approaches, as the ILO believes, and as what PATAMABA has chosen to adhere to, can dramatically reduce the pernicious effects of work related hazards on informal sector workers because they perform safer tasks under healthy and protected conditions. Alongside is the necessity of introducing innovative means to prevent occupational accidents and diseases and environmental hazards through cost-effective and sustainable measures at the worksite level.

Advancing occupational safety and health concerns in the informal sector  therefore calls for a multi-pronged action, where,  first, the needs of particular groups of workers, in view of the size and scope of the informal sector and the very wide range of occupational safety and health problems confronting workers in different activities, must be well targeted.  This acknowledges  the   organizational efforts of the informal sector since it adheres to the principle that the workers themselves are the means that will bring about changes in their working and living conditions. The key in approaches must be simple, action-oriented programs that focus on the priorities of informal sector workers.

Secondly, particular attention must be paid to awareness-raising to fuel heightened interest  by informal sector workers themselves, by governmental and non-governmental organizations in the occupational safety and health problems confronting informal sector workers. This must be complemented by tailor-made packages including training, IEC campaigns, advocacy through the media/LGUs, integration of OSH in the school curricula, creation of OSH units in LGUs and integration of  OSH in primary health care. 
Thirdly,  technical guidance that is adapted to the situation, problems and needs of informal sector workers or of particular groups of informal sector workers must be developed. This will in turn promote the effective use of action-oriented programs, which the the informal sector operators and workers themselves must form or conceptualize. This is the reason for developing their confidence so that they will feel fully equipped to tackle their own problems.

Finally, legislation and enforcement relating to occupational safety and health and working conditions need to be implemented and applied in accordance with the protective measures specified in international labor standards and national laws and regulations. 

PART THREE            Seeking  New Possibilities for Advancing  
OSH and Fair Trade Concerns
 

A safe and healthy working environment must be of foremost concern, among the informal workers in general, and the women homeworkers in particular. As their adaptive ways will enable them as producers/workers to take part in a trading partnership, the complementation of occupational safety and health with fair trade standards, will work to their advantage. Testimonials  have pointed out that strict adherence to fair trade standards, specially the improvement of living and working conditions,  led to greater economic stability among workers and their families. Fair trade advocacy in tandem with OSH concerns, can create a model that will strengthen communities, and empower the people to take care of themselves and their work. 

Organizing for Cooperative Ventures and Advocacy Work 
 There is a manifestation of growing awareness among the informals that indeed they need collective strength for better representation and advocacy. Although a significant percentage of Philippine informal workers are already organized, this is not as widespread in proportion to their continuing growth.  Needless to say, the constraint is even greater among women whose multiple responsibilities leave them hardly any time to be part of an organization. Such situation aggravates their “muted” voices in advancing and asserting for rights to the resources that will get them out of poverty.

 What women need is an enabling strategy that will allow them to engage in cooperative ventures and participate in advocacy reforms within the community. The formation of group enterprise and cooperatives by PATAMABA women is worth mentioning because these economic activities aimed to address the need for alternative livelihood in lieu of the dwindling resources and lack of opportunities. For example, the successful implementation of PATAMABA’s indigenous Paluwagan and Damayan social protection scheme is an innovative example of social kinship that was forged out of mutual support for one another, not merely a form of monetary incentive that has arisen out of the relationship.

The idea of a social enterprise comes to mind in an attempt to address the requirements of a    women’s organization  to engage in alternative forms of trading – an activity that is not centrally motivated by profit  yet responds to poor women’s attainment of economic empowerment where reciprocity, trust, mutual support and community involvement  reign.  The women infused local and indigenous practices and time-tested experiences into the system.  Indeed,  efforts can be more meaningful if done in a participative fashion; a sense of ownership and belongingness will surely abound if everyone  participates.

 “Tangkilikan” (Mutual Support) Movement in the Local Community

Reeling from the economic downturn, women homebased workers feel that they need to develop at present a strong marketing network that will complement their livelihood activities. To really make a difference, they have to promote trade among themselves, and between themselves and other consumer groups. 

Spearheaded by PATAMABA at the community level, homebased workers and other workers in the informal economy, have heeded the call of “tangkilikan” and other mutual support movements. Infusing the “tangkilikan” concept in attaining mutual support among the group enterprises was well received in the PATAMABA communities, with social marketing as the key factor.  For example,  group enterprise formation in PATAMABA Angono chapter,  reflects the importance of “tangkilikan” within the community and supplemented as well by proper networking. As the duly recognized voice of informal workers in the locality, PATAMABA Angono receives full backing and support from the Angono Informal Sector Task Force. Angono producsts such as bedroom slippers, candle wax, detergents, powdered candy (polvoron from vegetops) and fashion accessories are patronized by members and community residents alike. In the case of PATAMABA Balingasa chapter (National Capital Region), the Oxfam enterprise development grant initially facilitated the formation of a group enterprise with diversified product line - production and marketing of school uniforms, fashion accessories and beaded apparels and the Budbod Sustansya Project (powdered vegetops mixture). Further networking with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) made possible the sourcing of an additional P1 million grant in 2006 for a three-year project, that includes provision for bakery expansion, now being patronized by loyal customers, young and old alike.
The group enterprises mentioned above had been the subject of field visitation during the 2006 Subregional Workshop on Fair Trade and Marketing held in Manila. Evaluation from the participants (from Homenets Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, PATAMABA and Fair Trade groups from Vietnam, Cambodia, Timor Leste) drew varied reactions and recommendations to further improve the working environment of both areas in order  to boost productivity of workers. Since then, the Angono Chapter has undertaken Plant and  Product Assessment (PPA) while Balingasa has embarked in microfinancing for added capital to enhance product diversification.

The economic activities pursued by PATAMABA have undeniably been of assistance in easing the adverse effects of globalization and the attendant unbridled liberalization which has affected many members.  Local chapter producers in  pilot areas benefited from the Oxfam project as recipients as well as participants in market research study, product development, capacity-building on enterprise development, and lobbying, advocacy and networking capability development using a gender perspective. Their  exposure to marketing activities brought significant improvement in  their skills in marketing and infused some flexibility for adopting new techniques in buying and selling in accordance with marketing trends.  In addition,  PATAMABA was able to test the potential and bright prospect of developing e-commerce through the website.  Maximizing the use of  this current trend helped boost the marketing of products done by members at the local sites. Showcasing and selling homeworkers’ products through the website has been proven to be more cost effective. 

Creating New Possibilities
Organizations of homebased workers and other women workers in the informal economy now feel the need to focus on global advocacy for better terms of trade. This viewpoint goes hand in hand with ongoing efforts by social movements and civil society groups to recast international trade policies to defend the interests and promote the welfare of the most vulnerable and marginalized, Through this exposure, PATAMABA leaders have evolved their own conception of fair trade, that they relentlessly advocate in various forms of campaigns for changes at the macro and micro levels of the economy, in collaboration with trade unions, business groups, and civil society organizations.
Meanwhile, women homeworkers and other workers in the informal economy continue to feel the pangs of import liberalization and dumping of foreign goods in the local market. That despite all the effort, still, they face difficulties trying to neutralize the negative effects on their livelihood and income. What they need is sustainable economic activities and a fair market for their products. This will enable them to sustain their needs for social security and protection towards living a decent life.

Are the homeworkers and informal sector workers willing to take on the challenge of  finding new ways that will effectively enable them to increase their income and productivity, recognize and respect their participation, while at the same time given the opportunity to  avail of  services that can assist in protecting their health and improving their working conditions?

It would be interesting to be part of this conversation that will introduce us to the concept of  Solidarity Economy.    

Countries like France and Canada  adopt the term “social economy”, instead of  “solidarity economy”, the latter being more widely used in Latin America, the area where it actually originated. This began as an attempt to connect and radicalize an already-powerful third sector of cooperative and community-based initiatives. Many of these alternative economic practices had emerged during the 1980s and 1990s as survival-based responses to the effects of corporate globalization. As they grew in strength and made connections, the idea of a solidarity economy began to emerge as a sensible strategy to pursue in the name of cooperative, non-capitalist development. (www.zmag.org/carolase.htm).

As further explained by Benjamin R. Quinones Jr. in his introduction to the Asian Forum:
Both perspectives share similar basic principles: 1) the objective is to serve its members or the community, instead of simply striving for financial profit; 2) the economic enterprise is autonomous of the State; 3) in its statute and code of conduct, a democratic decision-making process is established that implies the necessary participation of users and workers; 4) it gives priority to people and work over capital in the distribution of revenue and surplus; and 5) its activities are based on principles of participation, empowerment and individual and collective responsibility.

At present, Asia is host to new economic practices that have flourished in the contemporary era. There is a growing interest in them especially among those who are looking for alternative to the current global economic system which has deepened the wedge between the haves and the have-nots, and further alienated those who are already marginalized. 

Just recently (October 2007), the  Philippines was venue of the Asian Forum for Solidarity Economy Conference attended by foreign delegates from twenty six countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. By way of promoting the concept to the Philippines, solidarity economy was believed to be one of the solutions to uplift the quality of life of Filipinos because it assures that each person will be benefited as it is people-oriented, unlike the present market economy which is centrally focused on profits.
The Coalition of Socially Responsible SMEs in Asia (CSRSME Asia) defines Solidarity Economy as “ a people and eco- centered governance of the production, financing, distribution and consumption of goods and services in order to generate sustainable conditions for self-managed development of each and every member of societies, the peoples and the planet.”

Perhaps the best way to explain is to cite examples of solidarity economy organizations:
 Fair trade organizations form part of the solidarity economy as their aim is to express practical solidarity with farmers in the developing world by paying them fair prices for their produce. Self-help organizations also form part of the solidarity economy as members support each other in dealing with their problems as a practical form of solidarity. Trade unionsare often considered a key part of the solidarity economy as they are based on the principle of solidarity between workers. Cooperatives form part of the solidarity economy if their aims include a commitment to solidarity in some form. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarity_economy):
As succinctly described in another source:

Solidarity economy designates all production, distribution and consumption activities that contribute to the democratization of the economy based on citizen commitments both at a local and global level. Solidarity economy is a dynamics of reciprocity and solidarity which links individual interests to the collective interest. In this sense, solidarity economy is not a sector of the economy, but a transversal approach that includes initiatives in all sectors of the economy. It is about ethical consumption, women’s initiatives, community and ecological agriculture, social money, ethical financing, fair trade, community services, appropriate and democratized technology and social forms of ownership and management of assets and of developmental activities.

Solidarity economy is a strong tool of empowerment and social change that starts from the initiatives of responsible citizens that want to keep control of the way they are producing, consuming, saving, investing, exchanging. It is a model of community-based and locally-based people’s economy. We may even call it grassroots economy. It constructs a sustainable development from civil society taking State policies and resources only as complementary to their own actions and resources. It makes economy accountable with ethical standards. (http://www.zmag.org/carolase.htm)

So are we ready to embark on this new possibility?