World Solidarity

This policy paper on domestic work has been written by World Solidarity, and the Belgian trade union ACV CSC Food and Services. It served as lobby instrument in the run up to and during the International Labour Conference of 2010 and 2011, when domestic work was on the agenda. In this paper we list the problems and challenges domestic workers face, elaborate on certain case studies in India, Nigeru, Peru and Belgium. At the end policy recommendations are formulated in order to improve the situation of domestic workers. (2011, 34 pages)

This policy paper is written by the Garment network. It is used as a lobby instrument in order to improve the situation of Asian Garment workers, working with short-term contracts. It lists the different problems related to short-term employment, elaborates on the national legislation in Cambodia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka and ends with concrete policy recommendations for national and international policymakers. In the coming years, at least until 2013, the workers’ organisations involved in the Garment network will try to put short-term employment on the agenda of the ASEAN and the Asian Development Bank; at international level the International Labour Organisation, the international trade union federation of textile (ITGLWF) and the ASEAN-EU (ASEM) Summit will be targeted (2011, 22 pages).

Upon request by our Cambodian partner organisations C.CAWDU and CLC’s, we (World Solidarity, ACV-CSC and Clean Clothes Campaign) have been writing protest letters to denounce the lack of respect for the Cambodian workers and trade unions’ labour rights. This action has proven to be successful! Thanks to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), ACV-CSC and World Solidarity, the large number of unjust dismissals and the arrest of Sous Chanta (June 2011) were put on the agenda of the annual International Labour Organisation’s Conference. In the Committee on the Application of Standards, the Cambodian government was twice called to account because it did not comply with the international labour convention on freedom of association. For more information about the protest letters and the discussion on this topic in Geneva, see the next page.

From October 4 to 6, 2011, the garment federations C.CAWDU Cambodia, Garteks Indonesia, NGWF Bangladesh, NGWU Nepal and the Belgian NGO World Solidarity joined forces in a garment network workshop in Bangkok, Thailand. Purpose of the event was to discuss the situation in the Asian garment industry and the actions of garment federations to address the problems of these workers.

This fall, Luc Cortebeeck -president of the Belgian trade union ACV-CSC- will take on a topjob at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). In June, he was elected as chair of the workers group. This makes him automatically vice-president of the  ILO Governing Body. His mission? Reinforce the social dimension of the world economy by linking the ILO-work to other powerful organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). World Solidarity wishes him succes!

On October 7, the World Day of Decent Work (WDDW), many organisations and trade unions mobilise all over the world to stand up for decent work. More than 644 actions took place in more than 91 countries (see www.wddw.org).

This year, the WDDW concentrated on precarious work. Typically, precarious employment refers to non-permanent, temporary, casual, insecure and contingent forms of work.

World Solidarity also undertook action on this day. In Belgium, we went to the Indian Embassy and to the Ministry of Work (Ms. Milquet), together with the trade unions, the NGO umbrella organisation 11.11.11, and Oxfam.