SHOPHOUSE FACTORIES AND HOMENET

HomeNet Thailand has also been involved with the workers in the garment shophouse who are subcontracted workers . This started during the period of struggling for the recognition of informal sector labour in Thailand, and the founding of Homenet Thailand .After the financial crisis , Homenet Thailand also helped organize the retrenched workers .

The ‘shophouse factory’ otherwise known as a ‘row house factory’, is a familiar scene in Bangkok. These are family homes as well as family business sites, owned by sub-contractors who generally started out as homeworkers themselves. These sub-contractors usually employ their own relatives from their hometowns. Owners and workers live and work in the same place day in and day out. Working hours are as long as 15 a day, wages are low and there is a lack of legal status and job security, but the family ties are strong and these compensate for the disadvantages.

Kinship is a distinctive feature of shophouse factories. It provides a secure family framework. Other advantages include training in the whole process of garment making as opposed to merely sewing parts, and flexibility in working hours – workers enjoy a certain latitude in being able to chat and take short breaks whenever they feel the need to. There is also no compulsory overtime.

Rapid industrialization has effected radical social changes in Thailand. Young people who migrate from rural villages to work in the cities usually become lax about maintaining family ties and traditional values. Shophouse factories provide a welcome solution for rural parents worried about their children working in urban locations. The kinship found in these shophouse establishments provides protection, support and emotional security that the young people would not be able to find working in large factories or other formal organizations.

Although 90 percent of the agricultural workforce and 60 percent of the manufacturing workforce are informal workers, the Thai Government only recognized this important sector in 1987. What prompted this was the rise of the garment industry to the top, becoming Thailand’s best foreign exchange earner, employing 500,000 workers, mainly women. Shophouse factories play a critical role in this lucrative industry. Related to this, the 1995 International Labour Organization's (ILO) World Employment Record showed a big leap in subcontracting in both formal and informal work sectors.

Voting rights in Thailand are only available in the place where one is born or where one owns property. This effectively leaves migrant entrepreneurs and workers out in the cold as far as government services are concerned. To cater to the needs of this ‘invisible’ sector, the Justice and Peace (J&P) Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Thailand, based in Huay Kwang, initiated a series of studies on shophouse factory workers in 1986,. They organized childcare and education services and access to credit union membership. They also arranged for a dialogue between shophouse factory owners and the local government authorities.

A group of subcontractors/factory owners was formed in 1994. This group identified areas of concern, the main one being the need for education and skills training for themselves as well as their workers. J&P responded with non-formal academic and vocational education for these two groups. It also organized workshops on ‘Women in the Informal Sector’ at regional and national levels.

The Soon Klang Thewa (SKT) Community Association established a credit union over 30 years ago for local people in the informal workforce, to be able to earn dividends and to have decent access to funds rather than having to borrow from loan sharks. The credit union operates as a bank and also offers very low-priced shares. Dividends paid out depend on profits made. Shophouse owners and workers have gained membership access to this credit union as a result of J&P’s efforts.

J&P eventually teamed up with other NGOs of similar objectives to form a network to specifically address the needs and problems of informal workers. This network lobbied for the recognition and support of the homebased workforce and finally won the attention of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MOLSW). This led to the landmark formation of the Promotion and Education Centre of Homeworkers in Thailand, otherwise known as HomeNet Thailand, in 1988, with the mission of achieving social and economic security for homebased workers in the country. That HomeNet has made headway in fulfilling its mission is proven in the Eighth National Economic Plan which includes extended social protection for informal workers. HomeNet was also invited to collaborate with government initiatives for the informal sector. Other successes are evident in the adoption of the National Commission on Homeworkers' Development and Protection by the Thai Cabinet in 1998 and the establishment of the Office of Homeworkers Promotion and Protection in 1999.

The financial crises that hit Asia in late 1997 has had serious repercussions on the homebased sector. Reduced orders have forced many rural homeworkers to seek employment in the cities while ironically, retrenched employees seek opportunities in homebased work. HomeNet conducted a study on this subject and drew up recommendations on how to improve the living and working conditions of homebased workers. Homenet is also campaigning for the setting-up of a service centre for homeworkers for information dissemination, legal advice and assistance in obtaining services from government agencies.