Organizing Strategies for Informal Economy Workers

Sri Wulandari 2008

Asian Labour Exchange Asia Monitor Resource Centre

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TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS Introduction: Organizing Strategy for Informal Economy Workers

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Encouraging Union Formation in the Informal Sector: Case studies of Kagad Kach Patra Kasthakari Panchayat (KKPKP), the Scrap Collectors Union in Pune, India, and the Pune City Domestic Workers’ Organization, Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana 7 Community Organizing as a New Strategy

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Advocating Organizing Sub-contracted Cleaning Workers in Hong Kong

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Boxes Informal Economy Capitalist Patriarchy Domestic Work Reproductive Economy Women Waste Pickers in Pune and Pimpi Chinchwad Municipalities Dialogical Action Identifying Waste Pickers’ Problems Three Stages of Strengthening the KKPKP Learning from the KKPKP’s Experience Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana Pune City Strategy of Organizing Domestic Worker Initiatives Let’s Negotiate Learning from Sanghatana’s Experience Informalization Trend in Surabaya Case Study of a Home-based Worker New Pattern of Organizing Strategy Learning from the SBR-Humanika Experience Work Nature of Cleaning Workers in Hong Kong What is Advocacy? Cleaning Workers Union The Outbreak of SARS Objectives of Community Organizing at LWTSE Learning from the SSCWs’ Case Study

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CHAPTER I Introduction: Organizing Strategy for Informal Economy Workers This learning material is based on the combined experiences of the Scrap Collectors Union in Pune, India called Kagad Kach Patra Kasthakari Panchayat (KKPKP), the Sanghatana Domestic Workers Union, India, the Regional Union called Serikat Buruh Regional (SBR) in Surabaya, Indonesia, and the sub-contracted cleaning workers (SCCW) in Hong Kong. From all the case studies it is noticeable that the main problem for informal sector workers is that they are not legally recognized as workers. This situation means that their working conditions are unprotected, and this has become the most challenging issue in organizing this sector of workers. This learning material emphasizes two major topics, namely reproductive economy and capitalist patriarchy. These two subjects will help us better understand the informal sector and other factors that should be considered when organizing workers in this sector. Informal work activities elaborated in this learning material take place in industrialized cities. Most of the workers are women who were forced by conditions such as natural disasters, lack of resources and job opportunities, and poverty to migrate from their villages to industrialized cities. These women workers have to deal with multiple layers of oppression: as women, workers, and the disadvantaged group in the lowest social classes and castes. Another important factor in the success of organizing women workers in the informal sector is the need for the organizers to recognize that it is the patriarchal system that puts women in vulnerable working conditions. This recognition of the patriarchal system helps the organizers to formulate

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Informal Economy • It is not recognized by the state. Labour legislation or law usually does not cover workers in the informal economy. • Activity in the informal economy is often influenced and shaped by socio-cultural relations in society, identity, and economy. • Most informal work is performed by women since they are the most disadvantaged group because of race, caste, geo-politics, and geography. • Women often do not have access to skilled work as they are excluded from the formal sector. • Through the informal economy, capital benefits from the existing structural hierarchy that subordinates women and how the subordination is reproduced. Women have become cheap labour working in vulnerable working conditions in labour intensive employment with no job security. • Workers in the informal economy often work in isolated or dispersed areas that hinder them from organizing themselves.

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steps for organizing and to strengthen the unity between women in unions. Most organizing strategies applied in the case studies are based on the daily experiences of women workers living in gender-biased societies. So the education processes start by collecting their experiences, then classifying the experiences or identifying the oppressive working conditions in order to formulate the steps of action.

Capitalist Patriarchy The term ‘capitalist patriarchy’ is used to elaborate further the correlation between capitalism and patriarchy. Patriarchy does not merely refer to male dominance, as for sure it also refers to the oppression of women. Patriarchal values are deliberately preserved and reproduced to support the capitalist production system. Capitalist patriarchy might take form as discrimination against women workers in the workplace. In some countries, women workers experience wage discrimination because they are not considered as breadwinners. In the case of home-based workers, jobs that are done in the private sphere are attributed as natural work for women. The consequence of this patriarchal value is that home-based women workers and domestic workers are not recognized as workers.

KKPKP and SBR Community Organizing Proponents of neo-liberalism often argue that an informal economy is a people’s initiative aiming to help stabilize the economic system, and this is why they often stress the importance of encouraging small- and medium-enterprises (SME). But they prefer to overlook that the workers in this informal sector are not protected by labour law.

Domestic work is not recognized as work since capitalist patriarchy considers it as a natural task for housewives and it does not produce commodity and surplus values.

In the context of the manufacturing process, informal work is actually an integral part of the formal economy, and because informal workers are not recognized formally, they are essentially a reserve of cheap labourers who earn sub-minimum wages without any benefits or protection.

Capitalist patriarchy also legitimizes the notion that women deserve to be low paid; of course it is the nature of capitalism to maximise profit through the lowest costs of production. So, in many jobs that require intensive labour, most of the workers are women. There are two factors that we should recognize before beginning the organizing work. First, power relations that support capitalist patriarchy. The case studies we are about to focus on make it very obvious that women workers are faced with multi-layer authority that puts them in a subordinate position. Second, gender stereotypes locate men in the public sphere of serious politics and ‘real’ (i.e. paid) work, and women in the family sphere for emotional maintenance and caring (i.e. unpaid) labour (Peterson, 2003). These two factors sustain the oppression of women workers. To organize domestic workers and home-based workers, the organizers must recognize these two factors as a start.

The case studies of KKPKP in Chapter II and SBR in Chapter III clearly show how the informal economy sustains the production process in the formal economy. The informal economy is an important support for the formal sector because of two major factors. First, informal work is labour intensive. Second, in practice, workers in the informal economy are not recognized as workers. The consequence of these two facts is that their rights are completely unprotected by existing labour laws, and this makes it convenient for companies to treat them as cheap labour. These two main characteristics of the informal economy have actually helped contribute much profit to the production process.

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As a result of the Adult Education Department of the Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women’s University in Mumbai, India (SNDT) formulating an intervention to organize waste pickers, the KKPKP was established in Pune, India and drew up a framework to show why waste pickers must be recognized as workers. The framework argues that waste pickers play an important role in the management of state recycled waste because their work involves collecting scrap and selling it to scrap merchants, which clearly is of benefit to states that have no policy for classifying waste. Another argument in the framework is that the scrap is recycled for use as raw materials in the production process.

Domestic Work The traditional ideology of patriarchal states, religions, and families locates women in the privacy of the home as loyal dependents and caring service providers who sustain family life with emotional, sensual, and material labour, and when necessary (or culturally desirable), supplemental earning (Peterson, 2003). This traditional ideology puts men in a higher position as the main breadwinners in families, while the social reproductive work assigned to women is not considered as ‘work’. In today’s situation, policies imposed by structural adjustment programmes such as cutting out public utility subsidies and economic reforms aimed at intensifying industrial competitiveness resulted in the flexibilisation of labour, factory relocation and closures, capital flow motivated by market demand, and advanced information technology have put many poor families in a situation of shrinking economic resources. Women then are disproportionately expected to compensate to absorb the cost of ‘adjustment’ (Peterson, 2003). This ‘feminization of survival’ is a key to analyzing women’s participation in informal activities (Peterson, 2003).

One experience of SBR showed that workers who are informalized because of the introduction of a flexible working system then work in the informal economy. Some of them take jobs as suppliers of product material to factories and the rest work in various informal sectors, for example as street vendors who sell commodities produced by the formal sector. The organizing strategy focused on organizing informal workers who had previously worked in factories and were experienced in organized labour. They used this experience to organize other informal workers in their communities.

Domestic work as work requires the skills of jobs traditionally assigned to women as one of the available options for women to survive. Domestic work is done within a private sphere. It means that a domestic worker is vulnerable to many kinds of exploitation such as unlimited working hours, low wages, intimidation, sexual abuse, and dismissal without prior notice. A domestic worker is usually hired by a rich family to do jobs traditionally assigned to wives and mothers. The wife or mother, somehow, is liberated at the expense of other women’s suffering. This explains the involvement of class, caste, and race in domestic work. Domestic workers usually come from inferior classes, castes, races, and poor states or villages.

Domestic Work: Sanghatana Domestic Workers Union, India and the SCCWs, Hong Kong The traditional ideology of patriarchal states, religions, and families locates women in the privacy of the home as loyal dependents and caring service providers who sustain family life with emotional, sensual, and material labour, and when necessary (or culturally desirable), supplemental earning (Peterson, 2003). This traditional ideology puts men in a higher position as the main breadwinners in families, while the social reproductive work as a job assigned to women is not considered as ‘work’.

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In today’s situation, policies imposed by structural adjustment programmes such as cutting out public utility subsidies and economic reforms aimed at intensifying industrial competitiveness resulted in the flexibilisation of labour and factory relocation and closure, while capital flow motivated by market demand and advanced information technology has forced many poor families into a situation of shrinking economic resources. Women then are disproportionately expected to compensate – to absorb the cost of ‘adjustment’ (Peterson, 2003). The resulting ‘feminization of survival’ is crucial in analyzing women’s participation in informal activities (Peterson, 2003). Domestic work, which utilizes the skills of jobs that have been traditionally assigned to women, is one of the available options for women to survive. Domestic work takes place within a private sphere, where domestic workers are vulnerable to many kinds of exploitation such as unlimited working hours, low wages, intimidation, sexual abuse and dismissal without prior notice. A domestic worker is usually hired by a rich family to do jobs traditionally assigned to the wife or the mother, who in some ways, is liberated at the expense of other women’s suffering. This idea introduces the involvement of class, caste, and race in domestic work. Domestic workers usually come from inferior classes, castes, races, and poor states or villages. Sanghatana and SCCW Case Studies Reproductive Economy The case studies of Sanghatana in India (see Chapter II) and the SCCWs in Hong Kong (see Chapter IV) show us the vulnerable working conditions of women working in the domestic sphere.

The reproductive economy is basically the economy of the family and private sphere. It is very important in sustaining the capitalist system, encompassing the social hierarchy, values, and gender dichotomy embedded in daily life. This reproductive economy is often omitted from the productive economy, which is considered as a public and formal sphere involving market exchange and productive work. The distinction between private and public, then, is preserved by the ruling class to exercise its authority in everyday life. The impact is that social reproduction work is never recognized as economic work.

The Sanghatana case study shows us how domestic workers in Pune city formed their union and fought for their rights. Pune city is an industrialized city in Maharashtra State. It has drawn in a huge number of its labour force to strengthen industrialization. Meanwhile industrialization has created a new middle class, a group that is advantaged by industrialization. In the Sanghatana case, middle class families have become the chief employers of domestic workers. Most domestic workers migrated from their villages because of droughts in the 1970s and the lack of job opportunities near home.

In the struggle to demand the recognition of domestic workers, Sanghatana emphasized the rights of domestic workers to negotiate with their employers and also their political rights as workers. They incorporated this strategy into their struggle to put pressure on the state to legislate the recognition of informal workers. In the attempt to break down the capitalist patriarchal tradition, Sanghatana became the backbone of the women workers’ front to spotlight women’s issues starting from domestic and community issues and extending to women’s position in the structural system that has caused the injustices against them. It is also

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interesting to note that Sanghatana prefers to talk in terms of a ‘strategy of organizing’ rather than an ‘organizing strategy’ to make it crystal clear that Sanghatana is a hands-on organization that works with workers as it was initiated by a spontaneous movement of domestic workers in 1980. Meanwhile, SCCWs in Hong Kong were victims of economic restructuring as the management of public housing facilities was gradually privatized. Most of the SCCWs had migrated from mainland China to make a better living in Hong Kong. They were always in a vulnerable position as they were hired by contractor companies that were untouchable by labour laws. The main challenge to organize these workers was that they all worked in isolation, making it difficult for them to link up with other cleaning workers. The Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association (HKWWA), which specializes in organizing women workers who have been marginalized by economic restructuring, applied advocacy strategies that involved all stakeholders in society including students, intellectuals, the media, and public housing residents and communities to organize SCCWs and set up the Cleaning Workers Union (CWU). These advocacy strategies have helped SCCWs to step up the exposure of their issues and working condition to the public. This exposure sparked the anger of society, who demanded that the government intervene to stop the inhumane conditions experienced by SCCWs.

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Chapter II Encouraging Union Formation in the Informal Sector: Case studies of Kagad Kach Patra Kasthakari Panchayat (KKPKP), the Scrap Collectors Union in Pune, India, and the Pune City Domestic Workers’ Organization, Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana Background This chapter elaborates two case studies of organizing informal workers in India. The first case study looks at the KKPKP experience. The formation of KKPKP was initiated by the intervention of the Project for the Empowerment of Women Waste Pickers in the Pune Sub-centre of the Department of Adult and Continuing Education and Extension Work, at the SNDT Women’s University. The initiative was undertaken to promote critical awareness and lifelong learning among waste pickers, and was inspired by Paulo Freire’s method of popular education, which stressed that adult education must be based on the recipients’ personal learning needs. The literacy programme, which became the backbone of the education programme, was not confined merely to learning the letters of the alphabet and words, it encouraged waste pickers to recognize that although in reality they were workers yet formally were not recognized as such by labour laws. Later the SNDT tried to define in detail their framework in which waste pickers are an integral part of the manufacturing process. SNDT also raised the issue of the collective identity of waste pickers, who are all Dalits, the ‘untouchable’ castes, more specifically the Mahar (including Mahars who have converted to Buddhism after 1956, and are now called Neo-Buddhist) and the Matang castes. The term Dalit itself is politically imbued as the oppressed, reflecting the spirit to fight against their oppression. KKPKP was the outcome of a SNDT Women’s University intervention to encourage waste pickers to organize. The organizers used the term ‘empowerment’ in describing their intervention. The second case study is the experience of Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana (Pune City Domestic Workers’ Organization). Sanghatana was born from a spontaneous strike of domestic workers in Pune city in 1980. The organisation emphasizes the term ‘strategy of organizing’ because it was not founded by external agents like non-governmental organizations (NGO) and intellectuals. As an organization that works with workers, and differentiated from an organization working for workers, Sanghatana relies for its struggle on its members who are domestic workers. It is funded by members’ fees and run by domestic workers. Sanghatana is also involved in a front called Shramik Mahila Morcha (Toiling Women’s Front) that made the women’s movement an integral part of the labour movement.

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The KKPKP Case Study Women Waste Pickers in Pune and Pimpi Chinchwad Municipalities

The framework for organizing is that scrap collectors should be recognized as ‘unprotected manual workers’. The concept of ‘being a worker’ is not recognized by the scrap collectors, as they do not think themselves as workers. For them, workers are people who work in government offices and other formal places. So, the first challenge in organizing informal workers is to make scrap collectors recognize themselves as workers.

• Scrap collecting is in the first stage of the recycling sector. It is undertaken by two categories of workers, the waste pickers and itinerant buyers. Waste pickers retrieve paper, plastic, metal, and glass from garbage bins or receptacles that are provided by the municipalities for the disposal of garbage on the street, and from landfill sites where collected garbage is transported and dumped. Itinerant buyers purchase small quantities of scrap from households, offices, shops, and other small commercial establishments.

The term ‘unprotected manual workers’ emerged as it was realised that collecting scrap is an integral part of the production process. Many enterprises use scrap as their raw material such as plastic shreds and granules required for the production of all types of plastic products, parts of industrial and electronic items, packaging material, and consumer goods. Others, who vertically integrate the production process, use scrap to produce commodities like machine parts, glass, plastic containers, and paper.

• 92 percent of waste pickers are women. • Women waste pickers are typically aged 1936, married, and illiterate.

• Women waste pickers aged 36-50 are widows or deserted and illiterate.

• One in five scrap collectors started working when they were children.

• 99 percent of waste pickers are Matang, Mahar, and Neo-Buddhist.

• Scrap collectors migrated from their villages The Learning Process: SNDT University Intervention in Organizing W aste Pickers

because of poverty. The drought in 1972 marks a watershed in the migration of scrap collectors.

Literacy Education as an Entry Point of the Organizing Strategy

• Every third household is headed by a woman. • 10 percent of them live in undeclared slums where the municipal corporation provides absolutely no civic amenities.

The literacy learning process was initiated to organize waste pickers. Most of the learners were adolescent women scrap collectors who were trying to recognize their problems.

Drawing inspiration from Paulo Freire, this learning process encouraged the learners to make their own curriculum based on their own learning needs. At first, many waste pickers did not see the relevance of a literacy programme to their work, and insisted on discussing work related issues. This changed the focus of the intervention as the waste pickers needed a learning process that was practical for them. Nevertheless the changed intervention retained the literacy education and included it as an integral part of reality and problem identification.

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Dialogical Action This form of education is based on using education that gives the learner an active role in learning. It has two basic dimensions – reflection and action. Education is the organized, systematized, and developed presentation to the individual of things about which this person wants to know more.

Learning from Collective Identity and its Political Consequences There were two collective identities introduced in this process. The first one was the identity of informal labour as oppressed workers to encourage waste pickers to embrace the values to fight. The second one was an occupational identity to encourage waste pickers to demand their rights from official government authority.

Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian constitution and the leader of Dalits, was a hero to the Mahar caste and Neo-Buddhists. He used the term Dalit to refer to the untouchable castes, the oppressed people. The consequence of this term is that Dalits have political power to fight against oppression as the caste system itself is the challenge of struggle. The intervention introduced this term to unite the waste pickers with a collective identity. An occupational identity was introduced by identifying the work of waste pickers as something useful to society. The organizing process sought a legitimate identity for waste pickers and identified scrap collection as a socially relevant, economically productive, and environmentally beneficial activity. In this learning process, it was decided that mass organization was not only a means of education, but also this aspect encouraged the formation of a waste pickers’ union as a strategy for struggle. Learning to Mobilize around Critical Issues, Organization, and Collective Action a. Collective Action The learning process for waste pickers used the method of dialogical action and conscientization. It was started by the participant groups identifying the most critical issues as a means of education. Informality, created in the participatory method, allowed the waste pickers to give voice to their daily problems. In doing their work, waste pickers have to deal with harassment from various groups, especially the police, municipal authorities, vigilantes, and scrap traders. The forms of harassment vary from verbal to material, such as municipal authorities often forcing the waste pickers to pay money for collecting scrap and physical abuse including being raped. As a reflection upon this reality, the waste pickers’ education tried to answer these problems by training the learner to be assertive and more outspoken in fighting against injustice. As an example, they learned how to argue with police and municipal authorities. In addition, learning to mobilize around critical issues involved three types of learning, which are: b. Collective Mobilizing The first step was collective mobilizing around issues. This necessarily begins with the individual/s speaking out against the perpetrators of injustice, while gaining security from the knowledge that he/she is not alone.

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c. Mobilizing Around Economic Issues Then the next phase was mobilizing around economic issues. This was aimed at improving working conditions for waste pickers. The steps taken in this phase established that scrap collectors are workers who contribute to the recovery of resources, saving costs for the municipalities, and contribute to environmental protection. This included the struggle for recognition of waste pickers as workers. d. Mobilizing Around Political Issues The last one was mobilizing around political issues, which are also a constituent of the strategy of Angamehanati Kasthakari Sangharsha Smiti (Struggle Committee of Manual Workers). Political mobilization includes joining in public rallies, demonstrations, and action. Identifying Waste Pickers’ Problems • Lack of occupational identity; • Harassment by state authorities; • Occupational health; • Exploitation by scrap traders; • Lack of legitimacy, social security, and workers’ benefits.

Union: Mass Organization as a Means of Struggle The KKPKP was set up at the Convention of Scrap Collectors in 1993. It was considered as an ideal organization for waste pickers because they are also workers. The first action taken by the KKPKP was registering all scrap collectors and issuing each a photoidentity. Several demonstrations were conducted in 1993-5 demanding the recognition of waste pickers’ contribution to the management of urban solid waste. The fruit of this struggle was that the Pune Municipal Corporation acceded to the demand in 1995 and the Pimpri Municipal Corporation did the same in 1996. This was a big change of the waste pickers’ stereotypical image in society. The process has also built up the social esteem of waste pickers.

KKPKP Union, Structure, and Organizational Building The KKPKP union embraces the value and principles of honesty, integrity, accountability, equality, secularism, democratic participation, and non violence, all of which are non-negotiable. The union believes in a non-party, secular, and democratic political process. It challenges all inequalities of caste, class, age, geographic region, and gender, and does not affiliate to any political party. The union recruited its membership from specific slums across Pune city where large numbers of scrap collectors reside. From 1998 onwards KKPKP members selected their representatives through an informal election process. The union also implements a specific training programme for its representatives. The training material is field-based, and can be used in practice to deal with waste pickers’ grievances. The members replace those representatives whom they consider to be ineffective with new ones, because there have been instances where representatives have been unresponsive to members’ grievances and others have been involved in financial corruption. Representatives do not receive any remuneration. The operational body of the KKPKP consists of 80 scrap collectors who have been elected to represent members who reside in particular geographical areas of residence. The body meets once a month to deliberate issues and for review, planning, and decision-making.

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2.2. Issues taken up by the KKPKP a. Child Labour, Child Marriage, and Domestic Violence Child labour was widespread as the children of waste pickers joined their parents in the work because the parents did not believe that education could help them. In dealing with this situation, the organizers applied an intervention that led to the elimination of child labour. In 1995, the union adopted the position that child labour had to be eliminated as the children had the right to enjoy a proper education. Between 1989 and 1996, Non Formal Education (NFE) classes were held for children who were too old to enrol at formal schools. This process was not really successful as many children dropped out of the NFE and went to classes that were run by NGOs. Nevertheless after a lobbying process, ever since year 2000 the children of waste pickers have received educational aid under the Central Government aided Scheme of Pre Matric Scholarships to the Children of those Engaged in Unclear Occupations. Regarding the child marriage issue, since the union learned that there was a law against child marriage, representatives used that law to speak against child and forced marriages. Whenever there are requests from members about domestic violence, the union has specific discussions regarding the subject. These discussions are then followed by crisis resolution that often requires a legal intervention.

Three Stages of Strengthening the KKPKP The union has undergone three phases in building a strong organization. First Phase (1993-1996), union members relied on paid staff. Activists and staff were responsible for maintaining contact with members. ‘Activists’ here refers to the initial organizers of the union; they were not waste pickers and are from a different caste. Second phase (1996-2003), there was a greater emphasis on capacitybuilding for Representatives. ‘Representatives’ refers to waste pickers who represented their areas, and who are nowadays responsible for handling any problems like complaints of police harassment, domestic violence, neighbourhood squabbles, and disputes between waste pickers for control over garbage bins in their areas. Nevertheless, they still contact the union when they think it necessary. Third phase, from 2004 the emphasis has been on capacity building of the members themselves.

b. Legal Reform The only existing legislation that covers waste pickers is in the state of Maharashtra in the form of the Maharashtra Mathadi, Hamal and other Unprotected Workers (Regulation of Unemployment and Welfare) Act, 1969. In 1998, 4,000 KKPKP members attended a rally to demand the inclusion of waste pickers in that Act. It was a fruitful action because since then waste pickers have been covered in the labour legislation. But other than this, waste pickers were not recognized in labour legislation. Another effort was the involvement of the KKPKP in formulating the Municipal Solid Waste Handling Rules, 2000 initiated by The Ministry of Environment and Forests. The rules direct municipalities to extend their mandatory responsibility and undertake measures for the doorstep collection of waste and citizen education for source segregation. In some places where the waste pickers are not organized, municipalities contract out this work to local or multinational operators which worsens the conditions for waste pickers.

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Yet, this situation encouraged the KKPKP to transform the status of the occupation from scavenging to service provision. The KKPKP does not function as a contractor but promotes the service. It collects scrap for sale and helps the municipality to recycle organic garbage. This system provides more access for waste pickers, and means that it helps waste pickers improve their working conditions as well as their earnings. This is the fruit of their struggle for recognition as workers. c. Economic Issues • Credit Co-operatives Saving linked to a credit co-operative was formally registered in October 1997. The governing board of this co-operative are scrap collectors. It has 1,740 members who formulated the lending rules. The members also set up loan priorities, for obtaining education and medical treatment. Savings are collected twice a month at two locations where this credit co-operative is operating. • Insurance There are two insurance schemes that have been introduced for waste pickers. These schemes are life and medical insurance. A group life insurance system was introduced in November 1998 in collaboration with the Life Insurance Corporation of India. Enrolment is optional and members have to pay their own premiums. As an outcome of lobbying and advocacy efforts, the Pune Municipal Corporation was the first municipality in the country that provided for the annual payment of a medical insurance premium for all members of the union within its jurisdiction, effective from January 2003. d. Cultural Renewal The KKPKP union also promotes the values that are against the preservation of cultural processes that subordinate women, children, and waste pickers in general. It has unique ways to address an alternative to the prevailing sociocultural process. • Community Wedding Celebration The community wedding celebration was started in 1998. Couples intending to be married must be of legally stipulated ages for marriage. The wedding must be low budget since everyone shares in its cost. • Theatre with a Difference This theatre was created to address the working conditions and other problems of waste pickers. On 25 March 2001 two hundred waste pickers and two hundred other citizens and media personnel watched performances of two plays about waste pickers’ problems. The first play was the dramatization of the lives of a Brazilian woman and her daughter who were rag pickers. It was performed by professional actresses who were also mother and daughter. The second play was performed by five waste pickers. Its script, about waste pickers’ life experiences, was written by a professional film-maker. These two performances managed to capture the hearts of the audience, and also played a perfect role in bridging communications between waste pickers and the rest of society.

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Conclusion The KKPKP’s organizing strategy was an intervention programme devised by the SNDT Women’s University with a framework stressing that waste pickers are also workers who have the right to be covered and recognized by labour legislation. In encouraging the recognition, the intervention focused on empowering waste pickers as workers, a group (the oppressed), and members of society.

Learning from the KKPKP’s Experience • Based on your experience, what are the working conditions of waste pickers?

• What factors encourage waste pickers to migrate from their hometown?

• What are the problems that have been identified?

To achieve its goal, the KKPKP does not confine itself to immediate issues, it also encourages the members to embrace a culture of democratic processes, equality among members, and financial transparency. The union uses existing symbols and rituals that are familiar to the members in order to stimulate their way of thinking about society. It also encourages members to be proud of their collective identity as Dalits. The KKPKP recognizes the role of the media and wider networks in advocating their issues.

• Does labour law/legislation in your country cover and recognize waste pickers?

• In some countries, waste pickers are considered as urban poor so the organizing strategy is more focused on their rights as marginalized poor. What is your experience?

• What is the learning process required in your organizing strategy? We can link this up with problems that we have identified.

The most important element that this case study demonstrates is that the learning process conducted for waste pickers is based on their learning needs. The outcome of this learning process was the solution of problems that are encountered in their working environment. We should understand this case study in the context of how all learning has changed the mindset of waste pickers so that they are capable of identifying the issues around which they can formulate strategies and long term plans to sustain the union and its membership.

Pune City Domestic Workers’ Organization in India This case study was based on the experiences of organizing domestic workers by the Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana (Pune City Domestic Workers’ Organization). This learning material is based on a research paper by Sujatha Gothoskar, ‘New Initiatives in Organizing Strategy in the Informal Economy: Case Study of Domestic Workers’Organizing’(see http://www.wiego.org/publications/Gothoskar%20%20 New%20initiatives%20in%20organizing%20strategy%20in%20the%20informal%20economy%20 INDIA.pdf). There are several factors driving the increase in the number of domestic workers in India. The first factor is the social and economic changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization in the 1980s. These changes have increased the opportunities for middle and upper class women to obtain a higher education and consequently better career prospects. Yet this situation did not change the division

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of labour in the household. Meanwhile, industrialization followed by the ‘green revolution’, which increased the use of agricultural technology and mechanization and resulted in a reduction of the need for agricultural workers, especially women agricultural workers. This in turn encouraged women workers to migrate from village to urban areas. The second factor is that modern agriculture has deprived tribal women of natural resources. This then forces them to shift to urban centres where their lack of exposure to urban life and lack of access to skills and education force them into low paid domestic work. The third factor is the caste system in India. Women in the low castes are illiterate because of restricted access to education. Lack of education, low position in society legitimized by religion, and being subordinated in gender hierarchies force women to become workers with nonmarketable skills. The survival effort due to poverty also constitutes the main driving force for women in families of factory workers, rickshaw drivers, construction workers, and other low paid workers to work as domestic workers. The fourth factor is that the domestic sphere is the only choice available since women from remote areas and poor families do not have adequate access of information on job possibilities in the formal sectors. The domestic sphere is also considered as a safe place to work since it limits the mobility of women.

Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana (PSMS) PSMS or Sanghatana, was founded in 1980. It was born from the spontaneous strike of women domestic workers in Pune in February 1980 as solidarity responded to Khandarebai, a domestic worker in Pune who was terminated by her employer because she did not report for duties due to illness and domestic problems The Khandarebai case triggered the anger of domestic workers who spontaneously decided to gather on the street. Besides this case they also raised the wage issue because while the inflation rate had risen, they had received no wage increase. This action was followed by a strike. The striking domestic workers provoked attention from women’s organizations and left-oriented trade union activists who came to help the domestic workers to set up a team, formulate demands, and over the years, establish a well knit organization that was a trade union.

A ‘Strategy of Organizing’, as opposed to an ‘Organizing Strategy’ There are some specific features of Sanghatana as an organization that fully depend on the collective strength of its members. Sujatha Gothoskar argues that there are two different kinds of organization - those working for domestic workers and those working with domestic workers. Sanghatana’s focus is on the strategy of organizing as it is a genuine domestic workers’ organization born out of a massive strike and the domestic workers sought the help and guidance of a left-oriented trade union, women’s organization, and political party. In the process, Sanghatana develops as an organization that works with workers in the sense that Sanghatana was founded by workers, all the programmes and strategies are formulated by workers, and it also organizes other workers to join the organization.

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Three Phases in the Strategy of Organizing Pune City Pune city is the second largest city (after Mumbai) in Maharashtra state, which is an industrially advanced state in western India. Pune’s well developed industries include engineering and automobiles. The economic boom has attracted the migration of both professional and cheap labour to the city. The boom also created a new middle class working in the public and private sectors. There also has been an increase of educated women with jobs in services and manufacturing. The middle class and educated women have become the chief employers of domestic workers in the city. At the same time, the division of labour at household level has not undergone any significant change. The wives, who traditionally in a patriarchal society do the household work, must find a substitute for this role. Other factors that encourage women to migrate to the cities are natural disasters and lack of job opportunities. These women constitute the bulk of cheap labour working in the informal sector that includes domestic work. Meanwhile, industrial law does not consider domestic workers as workers so they do not enjoy basic labour rights. Another issue is that domestic workers work according to rules and regulations set in a domestic sphere, which is often untouchable by law and this often puts domestic workers in a very vulnerable position. They are also easily exposed to various forms of abuse by employers.

A spontaneous action led first to awarenessraising and then to the building of a team spirit and a realization of the importance of becoming unionized. Khandarebai, a dismissed domestic worker, shared her problem with other domestic workers in Pune. This triggered anger among domestic workers. They spontaneously decided to have a strike against her dismissal. This spontaneity became an organizing embryo with the help of activists from left-oriented trade unions and women’s organizations. They helped the domestic workers formulate their demands, related them to the wider movement, and followed this by organizing work. First Phase – Following the Spontaneous Strike: Recognizing Issues and Domestic Workers as Workers The first phase of this process is to hold meetings attended by domestic workers. During the first spontaneous strike in 1980, women domestic workers had meetings everyday. These meetings became a training ground for domestic workers as this was the first time they were able to express their anguish and aspirations. These meetings allowed them to share their issues. This sharing process encouraged many other domestic workers to recognize their own issues, recognition of which was very important in building their personal critical awareness. So instead of reacting emotionally, they acted rationally to achieve better working conditions. Domestic workers often cried in the meetings when their friends were narrating their experiences. The dialogue that emerged at the meetings created a horizontal relationship among domestic workers, and resulted in empathy for each other’s problems. This encouraged the formulation of issues. The dialogue in the meetings quickly transformed naive rebellion into critical action.

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Second Phase – Recognition as Workers: Legal Recognition and Protection

Strategy of Organizing

Sanghatana approached the state to demand active protection for domestic workers. In the 1980s Sanghatana tried addressing the Maharashtra government about the issues concerning domestic workers, and in 1990 prepared a bill aimed at protection for domestic workers. The bill covered provisions for: • An eight-hour working day with 224 hours per month (28 days’ work); • Minimumwage; • Paid leave; • Bonus; • Gratuity; • Provident Fund; and • Machinery to implement these provisions.

In India several domestic workers’ organizations began as NGOs or were even church-based. Sanghatana is different. It was born out of a massive strike which was followed by help and guidance from leftoriented trade unions, women’s organizations, and a political party. That is why Sanghatana’s strategies were more militant and struggle oriented. As part of the struggle strategy, Sanghatana addressed the state, which refused to recognize domestic workers as workers. Striking is also an effective strategy to raise certain issues depending on the needs of workers. Sanghatana is also aware that the domestic worker movement is part of a social movement from which it should not be isolated. Building alliances with wider movement groups and approaching the media are also strategies for campaigning and winning some issues.

During the 1990s, Sanghatana and other groups from Bombay and other surrounding towns worked together in demanding that the Maharashtra government pass a law to protect domestic workers. In 2002, several domestic workers organized a big demonstration in Sanghatana also had an ideological learning process as it put the emphasis on domestic Maharashtra. At that time the government workers as toilers. Toiling put domestic promised to enact the already existing Maharashtra workers in the front line of women’s Mathadi, Hamal, and Other Manual Workers liberation. (Regulation of Employment and Welfare) Act, 1969. Yet it was an empty promise so in 2005, a group of domestic workers organized the second large demonstration. Their demands were: • Enact legislation along the lines of the Mathadi and Hamal Act; • Constitute a separate Labour Commissioner and a special department for domestic workers; • Entitle domestic workers to protection on issues like minimum wage, paid holiday, other leave, bonus, gratuity, provident fund, health insurance, and maternity leave; • Start a pension scheme for domestic workers that would entitle domestic workers to a sum of 3, 000 rupees per month on retirement; • Healthcare facilities. Sanghatana continues struggling by addressing the state for protection and recognition of domestic workers.

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Domestic Worker Initiatives Subsequent to strikes in 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996 domestic workers gained much progress in their struggle. The Maharashtra government finally was forced to appoint a study group to consider the workers’ demands. Sanghatana was represented in this study group. Even though it came to nothing, it still proved how the strikes addressing the state could force it to take action. Because the government approach was not successful, Sanghatana decided to enforce wage revision and other benefits. It published a rate card describing how much money must be paid for each type of work. The amount of payment also depends on the number in the employer’s family. This rate card is renewed every four years. Sanghatana campaigned for this rate card through publications and rallies. A big rally in New Delhi demanding the enforcement of rate cards attracted attention from other unorganized informal workers and trade unions. In Maharashtra state, Sanghatana put pressure on the government to at least apply the Hamal-Mathadi Act 1969 . This act was also a fruit of a head load workers’ struggle in Pune in 1956 and is considered as legislation that can cover informal workers. When there is still an ongoing struggle with the government approach, Sanghatana members take further initiative to negotiate with their employers.

Self Recognition as Workers Another crucial process was for the workers to actually recognize themselves as workers. This recognition raised the importance of building a network with other unorganized workers. The Pune Shahar Molkarin Sanghatana then joined hands with a large organization of unorganized workers known as ‘Angamehanati Kasthakari Sangharsha Smiti’ (Struggle Committee of Manual Workers). This collaboration raised the level of the struggle from local to national. Third Phase: Ideological Phase of Sanghatana to Broaden the Scope of the Movement and Involve the Community Sanghatana stresses the importance of an ideological process in the women workers’ struggle. Sanghatana believes that it is only the toiling section of women who can carry the true message of women’s liberation. The domestic worker whose life is one of ceaseless toil, both at work and at home, with home life often made even more difficult by a drunken husband, is in the forefront of the struggle for women’s liberation. The practice of this ideological concept is in the establishment of the Shramik Mahila Morcha (Toiling Women’s Front). Morcha, initially, was Stree Mukhi Marich (Women’s Liberation Forum) that was formed in 1987 by domestic worker activists and Stree Atyachar Virodi Manch (Forum Against the Oppression of Women). Later it took the form of the Morcha (Front) with domestic workers as its backbone. The Front deals with the issues that domestic workers and their family members face as women. Morcha activists run counselling offices in slum areas to help women workers and community members to deal with domestic problems especially domestic violence. This is an effort to link up personal or domestic issues with structural problems. The domestic issues are not considered to be private or isolated issues. They are impacts caused by structural problems.

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The general work of this front is aimed to build a link between the women’s and labour movements. In other words, these two are integral parts of the overall movement.

Let’s Negotiate Individual Negotiation Many domestic workers are accused of theft. Sanghatana has lawyers that give workers legal help and demand explanations from the police.

Bridging the Movement of Domestic Workers with Community Problems In daily life, domestic workers have to deal with the rising price of daily needs, the cutting of Collective Negotiation public utility subsidies, and domestic violence from During the 1980 strike, employers asked drunkard husbands. They have to work hard to domestic workers what their demands support their families. At the same time they have were. Domestic workers drafted a form of questions on what work they must do, to face problems owing to the lack of access for the number of family members, the poor to natural resources such as land. Most payments, and a benefits system. domestic workers live in slum areas where they 200 employers filled out the form and often encounter oppression from local mafia and deposited them with the union. This form slum landlords. Sanghatana leaders investigated acted as a contract for the job description. problems faced by the community who live in the slums. They learned that hooligans in these areas Domestic Workers’ dignity extracted money from poor people, yet, these Domestic workers also learned to regain hooligans who act as landlords did not provide their dignity that had been confiscated by any facilities for the community. They just took their employers and state apparatus like police. They now dare to report any advantage of the powerless. What Sanghatana did abuse committed by employers to the was to encourage women in the community to take police. action against these hooligans who constantly threatened the community. The strategy was ‘no man will do the talking’. Usually hooligans picked a man from the area to fight with them. Nevertheless, the domestic workers and other women living in that area decided that they themselves would unite in a collective action to face the hooligan threats. Men were forbidden to be involved in the action. This strategy worked out well. Now they no longer pay as tenants to these ‘informal’ landlords. Fourth Phase: Sustaining the Organization In sustaining the operational organization, Sanghatana relies on the commitment of its members. The organization is run by domestic workers and funded by a membership fee, which is 10 rupees per member per year. This proves the independence of Sanghatana as a genuine domestic workers’ organization.

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Conclusion Learning from Sanghatana’s Experience

In organizing domestic workers Sanghatana questions the strategy of organizing and working with workers. They do not assume that all organizing strategies are necessarily in the interests of workers. They instead seek ways in which the affected workers themselves determine their strategies. Thus Sanghatana can be seen as a genuine organization born out of a massive strike of domestic workers. In many countries, domestic workers experience a common problem of not being recognized as workers. As a result of this key fact, the impacts upon them are that they are underpaid, vulnerably exposed to any hazard owing to the nature of work, and they do not have job security. But domestic workers’ problems are not only confined to the workplace. In their slum residences, they still have to deal with drunken husbands and hooligans claiming to be landlords. Even the unmarried carry the burden of feeding theirfamilies.

Sanghatana is a progressive domestic workers’ union. It does not only organize domestic workers to unionize but also builds political awareness of domestic workers as toiling women, and part of the working class. This political and critical awareness successfully broadened the issues of domestic workers, so they were not confined to the realm of the workplace. Sanghatana also targeted state and community in their struggle.

• Do you have experience of the steps for organizing domestic workers?

• Do you also target the state and its regulations to demand the recognition of domestic workers? Can we share those experiences? The first strike and organizing steps of Sanghatana was triggered by the case of Khandarebai. This sparked a flame of struggle for domestic workers in Pune city and quickly spread to other cities. Such a thing might not happen in other countries. Unlike factory workers, domestic workers are not concentrated in one workplace. They also do not have fixed working hours. They work in isolated places under direct surveillance by the employer.

It is interesting how Sanghatana came up with initiatives that make workers have bargaining power against their employer despite the nonexistence of fixed state regulations that protect domestic workers. The negotiating ability of domestic workers has raised each domestic worker’s consciousness as a worker who has the political power to stand up to an employer.

• Based on this situation, what are your strategies to organize domestic workers?

At a more advanced level, Sanghatana also has awareness as part of a wider movement by actively involving in the Morcha (Toiling Women’s Front). In the Morcha, the issues of women workers are not confined solely to the working place but also include their households and environment. The approach is not only counselling but also organizing in the community on the basis that their problems are caused by the impact of structural problems.

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Chapter III Community Organizing as a New Strategy

Informalization Trend in Surabaya

Surabaya, the capital of East Java province, and its surrounding cities in Indonesia are famous for their history of the workers’ movement. In 1993, a woman worker named Marsinah was brutally assassinated by the military for initiating worker organizing in Sidoarjo, a small city near Surabaya. The repressive New Order regime (under Suharto) at that time forced Indonesian workers to apply an underground strategy to organize workers and set up independent unions. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, workers’ resistance was confined to the workplace, demanding the fulfilment of basic rights. But the strategy shifted in the mid-1990s as workers dared to organize demonstrations outside factories demanding basic rights and raising political issues. Then the political reform that took place in 1998 (post-Suharto) brought about a new type of resistance. The political situation by this time was considered more democratic as it allowed workers to set up independent unions openly. Nevertheless, the political reform was accompanied by labour market flexibility policies as a package of political reform imposed by International Monetary Fund. The challenge to the workers’ movement now is not only how to set up and strengthen independent unions but also how to deal with the massive informalization process that is occurring in the workplace, as well as how to organize workers who become informalized. The case study that follows shows how SBR (Regional Labour Union)–Humanika (an NGO) organizes informal workers in Surabaya.

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Informalization of the workforce in Surabaya, East Java, has taken place since the 1990s. The process of informalization is often followed by the relocation of the factory to the area outside Surabaya. The employer’s main objective for this relocation is to seek an area with the lowest living costs. This is due to a regulation that the minimum wage must be adjusted to the relative living cost in many areas in Indonesia. Informalization has relocated a big number of workforces to homebased industry. Most workers refuse to be relocated in new factories outside Surabaya, arguing that transportation costs would exceed the amount of their minimum wage. Based on a survey that NGO Humanika conducted in Surabaya in 2003, 73.17 percent of home-based workers used to work in factories. Home-based industry itself is actually part of the manufacturing process since it supplies semi-raw materials to be processed into goods. This production surely benefits industry as the company does not have to pay minimum wages or guarantee any rights for home-based workers.

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The Experience of SBR in Surabaya Case Study of a Home-based Worker

Case Study of Informalization at PT RSI In 2004, PT RSI, a factory producing plastic in Surabaya, relocated the factory to Bangil, an area outside Surabaya. This was followed by the relocation of its workers. The permanent workers who had worked for 15-20 years were offered relocation with the same status as permanent workers. The employer then gave a second offer to permanent workers who had worked for less than 15 years. The employer also promised them the same status as permanent workers, but only 40 workers accepted this offer. Those who refused to be relocated were forced to resign. PT RSI itself in practice has recruited contract workers since 1998, on three-month contracts. Then when the contract ended the workers had two weeks off before reapplying for the job. In 2005, RSI constructed three other factories in East Java. The practice taking place at PT RSI in Surabaya is similar to the practice in every industrial area in Indonesia. In recruiting contract workers, the employer may use the service of middlemen from the local authorities, for example officers from the Military District Command (Kodim). Another way of recruiting contract workers is for the employer to use the service of an agency. Workers recruited through these middlemen are required to pay a fee of 600,000 rupiah (US$60). The overall impact of the case taking place at RSI then was many workers, mostly women, chose to resign.

Here is a case of a woman worker who resigned from PT RSI and became the supplier of semi-raw materials to a company. Yet Sugiharti has to do at least two jobs on the side to earn the equivalent of the minimum wage. After working for 15 years at PT RSI she decided to resign because of her double burden as a worker and a housewife. If she had accepted the offer then she would have had no time for house chores, which would have made her feel irresponsible to her family. So she now has to do three kinds of work to earn a living. She has a small shop at home selling daily goods and at the same time she receives orders from a company making artificial flowers. In the afternoon she has to go to Rungkut bus terminal where she has a small kiosk selling cooking oil. Her total daily working time is 16.5 hours. Every month, from those three jobs, she earns 300,000 rupiah (US$33) which is only 46 percent of the minimum wage she earned as a worker, which was 648,000 rupiah (US$72). Many workers also experienced this due to flexibilisation of the workforce, as they too were forced to become home-based workers. Yet, they face so many obstacles in doing the work. This situation requires the strategy of organizing within the community.

Community Organizing as a Strategy Approaching the Local W omen’s Organization The first strategy applied by SBR was to approach the existing local organization called the PKK (Pembinaan Kesejahteraan Keluarga, the Family Welfare Organization). This organization was founded by the New Order regime in every region of Indonesia. The PKK was founded to legitimize the subordination of women, and its hierarchy even reaches as far as the smallest areas as an extension of state policy on women.

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New Pattern of Organizing Strategy SBR emphasizes a new pattern of organizing strategy that is community organizing. It also mentions that during the New Order regime unions worked closely with NGOs as a cover for the workers’ movement. After political reform in 1998, the network between SBR and the NGO still exists and in 2002 the network set up an organization, the Indonesia Labour Movement Syndicate (SGBI), which was intended to formalize the union-NGO network at national level as it also involved other trade unions that worked closely with NGOs. In East Java, at provincial level, in 2002, the East Java Labour Council (DJBT) was set up as a part of SGBI.

Nevertheless SBR used this as an opportunity to organize women in community. Woman labour activists who had undergone community organizer training then approached the PKK to organize home-based women workers. They modified the PKK programmes in some ways. The programmes were no longer an extension of government policies, but were modified to aim at collective work in supporting the members of the community. The programme has been given the catchy name Kampung Buruh (Labour Kampong or Labour Village). In this village, women collectively solve their daily problems like hygiene to avoid contagious illnesses. They also have a savings programme so that whenever someone in the village needs medical treatment, the money can be used to pay the medical fees. Organizing Dismissed W orkers

The second strategy is to organize the street vendors. Male workers who were dismissed from On a practical level, DJBT raises the factory usually earn a living by becoming street provincial level workers’ issues while vendors. Yet, they have to face neighbourhood thugs SGBI works at national level. who collect protection money from them. Another SBR, as part of both DJBT and SGBI, issue is forced displacement committed by the local recognizes the importance of authority. These two issues then become entry community organizing especially points for organizing. The founding of a street organizing workers who were vendors’ association was then followed by several dismissed and then work in the rounds of negotiations with the local authority. Two informal sector. negotiated issues ended in agreement for a space This has become the new pattern of to carry out the business and for a mechanism to organizing strategy. pay tax to the official authority so that they no longer pay money to the neighbourhood thugs. The street vendors promised to clean up their space after closing the kiosk so that the local authority cannot displace them for lack of cleanliness. This process shows the importance of organizing dismissed workers who now occupy jobs in the informal sector. Basically these workers have a movement background at their workplaces to ensure they are familiar with political issues in the community. This makes organizing work easier as these workers also organize other informal workers who have never worked in factories. The dismissed workers are also more experienced in negotiation with the authorities of the community.

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Conclusion Learning from the SBR-Humanika Experience

There are several lessons that can be drawn from the SBR-Humanika experience.

The community-based organizing strategy applied by SBR in Surabaya focuses on home-based workers who used to work in factories. Sugiharti’s case clearly shows how she was removed from the formal sector yet her work is still an integral part of the production process.

First, the informalization in the formal sector has forced formal workers to take jobs in the informal sector. The workers have to do more than one job to earn the amount of money equivalent to the minimum wage. Not only must they work harder, but they also no longer have the benefits and security of formal workers. As shown in the case study, some informal work they do is supplying semi-raw materials for factories.

Do you have similar experiences? From those experiences, can we elaborate how multi-layer production occurs and how it benefits employers? The dismissed workers performing informal work, e.g. street vendors, also have to deal with the authorities and they use their activist background to organize and negotiate. What about your experience?

Second, the main challenge is how to organize dismissed workers. This has raised the awareness that the scope of organizing is no longer confined to the factory level, as it also has to involve the community. It is interesting to notice how SBR used the PKK to organize women in the community. Third, in building the alliance, SBR-Humanika worked with other union-NGO networks to maintain and restructure the underground organizing work that was implemented during the repressive New Order regime in Indonesia. Nevertheless, they realize that the organizing strategy has required a new pattern because in spite of the political reform in 1998, workers have to deal with informalization in the formal sector.

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Chapter IV Advocating Organizing Sub-contracted Cleaning Workers in Hong Kong Background This is a case study of the experience of the Hong Kong Women Workers’ Association (HKWWA) in organizing sub-contracted cleaning workers (SCCW) in public housing areas in Hong Kong. The HKWWA was founded in 1989 as a response to economic restructuring that had a negative impact upon women workers.

Work Nature of Cleaning Workers in Hong Kong • Isolated working place; • Workers are not concentrated in one working place;

• Workers are inexperienced in organizing work;

• Workers are migrants from mainland China.

There are four dimensions to HKWWA’s work: a) Organizing women workers and setting up a cooperative for unemployed women workers; b) Advocating policy and legislation change; c) Conducting educational work to enhance awareness of workers; and d) Conducting the research necessary to launch a campaign about the issues of women workers.

Working Relations of Cleaning Workers • The Hong Kong government has adopted a non-interventionist policy with the principle of ‘keeping minimal government but a large market’.

• Sub-contract cleaning workers in the service sector are one of the direct results of the impact of the government’s noninterventionist policy to maximize the role of the private sector in public services.

In the 1990s Hong Kong shifted its productive economy from manufacturing to being a financial and sourcing hub. Consequently this was followed by massive capital flight to countries that provide cheap labour, paying less than the legal minimum wage. This meant that the displaced Hong Kong women workers constituted a pool of reserve labour that could be used to fill positions in the service sector.

• The Housing Authority, a semi-governmental body that plans public housing estates outsources cleaning services to service providers. The workers are bound to the contract provided by contractor. The contract does not provide clauses that protect their rights.

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The service sector divides into two major types. One is related to producers’ services, such as export/import trade, and financial and logistical services. The other concerns consumer services relating to the domestic consumption market, such as retail and wholesale businesses, and community and personal services. Workers employed in the second type are manual workers dubbed as semi-skilled or unskilled workers who are of course low paid. These jobs are mostly filled by women workers who were displaced due to the closure of their factories or who migrated from mainland China seeking better standards of living. The other trends of neo-liberalism sweeping through Hong Kong are privatization and contracting out. The analysis of the case study of the SCCW argues that the two main strategies adopted by the Hong Kong government are privatization of public services and deregulation of the market. The former strategy is to minimize the responsibilities of the government by means of outsourcing and commercializing public services and goods. The latter strategy is to diminish state intervention in the market including labour protection provisions. SCCWs work as janitors on public housing estates in Hong Kong. Public housing was initially constructed by the government to shelter the surviving victims of the huge fire at the Shek Kip Mei squatter camp that left 53,000 people homeless in 1953. Nevertheless it has turned out to be the only affordable housing for low income families. Public housing estates are managed by the HousingAuthority (HA), a semi-governmental body responsible for planning the public housing estates. The executive body and the management of public housing estates are run by the Housing Department (HD). The estate management, maintenance, and cleaning services have for many years been outsourced to private property management agencies (PMA), after the HA contracted out the management and outsourced the cleaning service to service providers. This is encouraged by an ideology of maximizing the involvement of the private sector in public services. Most SCCWs migrated from mainland China and are now middle-aged. Some of them are housewives. Being newcomers and having very limited job opportunities effectively forced them to take jobs as janitors, jobs that are not highly regarded by Hong Kong citizens. The SCCWs have to work long hours for low pay. The Hong Kong government even claimed that they could employ these janitors on the lowest wages since the fragmented nature of the job fits in with the daily schedule of housewives. Every janitor is responsible for one single block or area, and has to work in isolation, which makes it difficult for these workers to engage in collective action. The clauses of the tender contract for the outsourcing company ensure only sanitary quality. There is only one clause stating that the tendering company should not breach labour law, yet even this clause exists only on paper, because in practice the front line government officials, who have daily contacts with the janitors and are supposed to expose any wrongdoings committed by the contractor, cannot do much to report any such breaches, and some contractors even go so far as to bribe the officials to settle any problems.

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Advocating SCCWs What is Advocacy? Value of Cleaning W orkers to Humanity Advocacy means any activity intended to raise consciousness among decision-makers and the general public about an issue or a disadvantaged group, with a view to bringing about changes in policy and improvements in the situation.

The main factor for successfully raising consciousness to encourage the struggle to win SCCW objectives is to involve the general public and members of the community. Although subcontracting has obviously separated SCCWs from their rights, the workers have managed to maintain a high quality service for housing residents. Acting as organizer for the janitors, the HKWWA implemented four dimensions of work, which were:

(Child Domestic Workers: Finding a Voice, a Handbook on Advocacy, Maggie Black, AntiSlavery International, 2002)

a) Mobilizing workers to effectively involve themselves in mass activities like signing petitions, meeting with residents, and campaigns in the media. b) Mobilizing residents to support the struggle of the SCCW as a contribution to improving standards of hygiene. c) Mobilizing local forces in the community, such as district councillors, resident communities, and resident groups. d) Cultivating pressure in the general public by forging alliances with other social pressure groups. Main SCCW Organizing Strategies Personal Approach through Regular Visits The use of personal and regular visits is a very important strategy to build trust between the organizer and the SCCWs. This strategy also builds the confidence of SCCWs who work in isolated areas, as it is a very effective way of convincing them that they are not alone.

Organizing SCCWs • Approach and mobilize SCCWs • Arouse social concern among • SCCWsFormation of the Cleaning Workers

Union (CWU) These regular visits were aimed at allowing the HKWWA to become acquainted with the SCCWs, to build up a network among them, to identify the issues that could motivate collective actions, as well as to promote their self awareness as women and as workers. Due to the nature of work, based on HKWWA experiences, it is easier to organize SCCWs when the cleaning contractor fails to win a new contract. When SCCWs no longer have an enforcable contract, the employers’ control over them can no longer be maintained.

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Forging Alliances The strategy of Forging Alliances includes involving the general public who are public housing estate residents, and of the mass media raising the issue of disadvantaged group. In this case the SCCWs were considered to be invisible and appealed to the public by using the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Hong Kong in the middle of 2003. Alliances with many groups were set up to support the newborn Cleaning W orkers Union (CWU), which had been established to alleviate one of the limitations of the HKWWA in labour disputes. a. Involvement of Volunteers in Education Programmes As CWU members, SCCWs have difficulty in carrying out organizing work due to the nature of their work. The solution to this problem is to organize volunteers from residents especially H K W WA members who are also public housing estate residents and concern groups, such as the Grassroots Concern Group (GCG), a university student group from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, to expand the organizing work. The HKWWA organized volunteers who were university students and public housing estate residents. The volunteers then attended a training programme about the contract system and its intrinsic shortcomings. The training was also aimed at raising consciousness by enhancing the sensitivity of participants towards the SCCWs’ problems, such as the fear of losing their jobs and a feeling of inferiority. The trainees then paid visits to SCCWs in order to gain a deeper understanding of their problems. Meanwhile, HKWWA members who were also public housing estate residents linked them up with SCCWs by emphasizing that as residents they were concerned about improving the quality of service that must be accompanied by job security for SCCWs and at the same time HKWWA members are also workers who want to express their solidarity with SCCWs.

Cleaning Workers Union (CWU) Since SCCWs work in isolation, many of them have never imagined that they have the power to act collectively against breaches of labour law committed by contractors. Substantial involvement in labour dispute encourages them to fight for their rights and cultivate a sense of collectiveness. Involvement in a labour dispute is in the form of taking the dispute to the labour court, appeal to the Housing Authority, other government intervention, proper monitoring, and negotiating collectively with contractors. The strategy of involvement played a determining role in encouraging SCCWs to unionize. Trade unions in Hong Kong only have limited legal status. One function of a trade union is to represent distressed workers in the Labour Court or Labour Tribunal. SCCWs were not unionized until 2001 when they brought a dispute to the Labour Tribunal. Then they realized the importance of being unionized. The shortcoming of the HKWWA in not being a union came to the surface when they were deeply involved in the labour dispute. As a result, the CWU was set up.

b. Formation of the Concern Group There are two objectives for this concern group. The first objective is to push the Housing Authority to remedy and strengthen the monitoring system to safeguard workers’ rights; the second is to set up a minimum wage system to apply a brake on falling wages.

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The concern group is comprised of Oxfam Hong Kong, students, intellectuals, the CWU, and contract workers from many trade unions. The concern group constitutes social power for SCCWs, including security guards, to demand their rights from the government, which in this case is represented by the Housing Authority.

The Outbreak of SARS The outbreak of SARS in 2003 led the GCG to conduct a survey on public housing estates. The findings were shocking since they showed that SCCWs were not equipped with the protective equipment necessary for doing the work. Their work was also intensified without extra payment while the government allocated a budget for additional sanitary work. Once the findings were released, they provoked the anger of society, which opened its eyes to the poor working conditions of SCCWs. Facing harsh criticism from many sectors the government made a statement that deprivation of any protective gear would be subject to severe punishment, and stringent measures would be taken to ensure strict measurement at district level.

c. Optimizing the Role of the Mass Media The role of the media in exposing the grievances of SCCWs was very important because it put pressure on the government about what was happening to SCCWs. This opened the way for SCCWs to speak up at the negotiation table with the government. This process bypassed the employer and the contractor company and was proven very effective as it also raised the dignity and bargaining power of SCCWs.

The concern group then investigated the working conditions of SCCWs. The report was completed with comments from intellectuals involved in the concern group. The media then exposed the grievances of SCCWs even though workers used their pseudonym. The resulting press release was very fruitful as it opened a way for SCCWs to have direct negotiations with high ranking officials, as the government could no longer deny breaches of labour law were rampant. The situation gave SCCWs moral support as well as social recognition and improved their image in society.

Community Approach The community approach is based on an organizing experience at the Lower W ong Tai Sin Estate (LWTSE). The experience is very interesting as HKWWA raised the moral values of society. Sub-contracting cleaning work followed by job insecurity and poor working conditions were considered as the cause of an erosion of moral values in society. Unlike the broader social alliances, the community approach emphasized a person-to-person relationship between SCCWs and residents who HKWWA believes should not be anonymous masses, but instead they should mutually support each other. This strategy was supported by the fact that the residents are also working class people. Another strategy was that strengthening the community would put more pressure on authorities like district councillors and quasi-administrative bodies, like the Mutual Aid Committee (MAC) and the Estate Management Advisory Council (EMAC). In Hong Kong public embarrassment is taboo for government officials so pressure from the community is an effective strategy for confronting the government with social problems.

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Organizing Methodology Objectives of Community The policy of enforcing privatization has Organizing at LWTSE dismantled government responsibilities to protect its citizens. The experience of the HKWWA has Creating a common identity between led it to argue that a further consequence of the community and SCCWs Common identity as grassroots workers can dismantling these government responsibilities build empathy and compassion among each through privatization and the contracting out other. system have eroded the moral values upheld by Enhancing the awareness of both society. The maximization of profit and efficiency residents and SCCWs to recognize are contrary to moral values like justice, morality, the negative effects of the and accountability. Based on this argument, in its privatization of public housing campaign the HKWWAencourages the community The interests of residents and SCCWs are not to uphold those values and denounce privatization contradictory as consumers and service and the contracting out system by supporting the providers, but as citizens who all have a say in struggle of the SCCWs. Community living in public the management of public services. housing estates is considered as an asset that can support SCCWs. The emphasis is that the community and the SCCWs work in the same places and so the community is also in touch personally with SCCWs. The LWTSE is located near an industrial district, with housing occupied mostly by workers who earn very low wages. Some steps of the organizing strategy were applied by the CWU. As mentioned before, the nature of SCCWs’ work is totally different from manufacturing work since they work in isolated areas and so they cannot interact with other SCCWs. Many of them do not realize that they share common problems with other SCCWs, so a process must be adopted to link up this commonality. The strategy has two processes: First Process: Investigating Problems Experienced by SCCWs and Building Trust Between Workers and Organizers Students from the GCG conducted in-depth interviews with SCCWs about their personal and working conditions. The interviews were conducted in such a way that brought a sense of collectivity and consciousness-raising among workers. Most of these workers are from rural areas in mainland China. They had no previous experience of collective action or collective bargaining so in this initial stage organizers played the role of a bridge to link up workers with each other. The in-depth interviews were then analysed to extract some common issues experienced by SCCWs that arose. Then, it was considered as an initial involvement for workers to inform the organizing process. In these in-depth interviews workers explained about their poor working conditions, employment patterns, and their personal feelings as workers. Then the students designed leaflets about a campaign for distribution among residents. The aim of this leaflet was to build solidarity between workers and residents. Through the leaflets, residents, who mostly work at factories, no longer consider SCCWs merely as service providers, but also as workers striving for their rights.

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The second involvement of workers was in bringing their issues to the wider public. The CWU exposed the fact that SCCWs were paid lower than the amount of wage guaranteed by the companies in employment contracts. The workers were so outraged that they were willing to talk to the media about this issue. The mass media coverage of this issue revealed to the public how unscrupulous employers benefited themselves at the expense of workers. The next involvement was to participate in meetings with residents to tell their stories.

Learning from the SCCWs’ Case Study • The case study of SCCWs’ organizing in Hong Kong focuses on organizing cleaning workers hired through sub-contract companies. As explained above, most of the workers are poor housewives who migrated from China to seek a better living standard. Yet, the sub-contract company does not guarantee the right of workers. Even the government claimed that the workers should get the lowest wage since their working schedule was the daily schedule of housewives. This situation has really put women workers in a subordinate position with very vulnerable working conditions and poor job security.

Second Process: Building Solidarity and Working Class Identity among Residents There were two tactics to involve residents in the SCCWs’ struggle.

Do you have similar experience in your country?

First tactic: Using the hygiene issue as an entry point for organizing residents, because hygiene and cleanliness were major concerns of the residents, especially after the outbreak of SARS in 2003. The outbreak of SARS encouraged the emergence of consciousness among residents that a high standard of hygiene could be achieved only if the rights of SCCWs were guaranteed. Only when the contractors treat their employees fairly in terms of wages, working hours, workload, and rest days, can a high standard of hygiene in the community be maintained.

• The organizing strategy applied in this case was quiet successful. One of the success factors was that the organizers raised the campaign to society, showing that practicing the contract working system is against the values of humanity. In that way they tried to elicit the involvement of society to support the struggle of SCCWs. At the same time, the HKWWA also organize other groups like student groups to become involved in workers struggle. What do you think about this experience?

Second Tactic: Raising an identity as working class people was important because many LWTSE residents work as restaurant cleaners, domestic helpers, the unemployed, housewives, and so forth. Organizers also conducted some events to encourage residents to become involved in the SCCWs’ struggle, including a street exhibition to disseminate information on their poor working conditions and collecting signatures of residents to fight against the unjust working system. The process was fruitful since the residents have now explicitly shown their support for the SCCWs’ struggle.

Does your local community support the struggle against the contract system?

• The HKWWA was also actively involved in the labour dispute. This turned out to be an important entry point to raise the collective strength of SCCWs who work in isolated areas. It was also a strategic step to unionize. What is your experience of building a union for sub-contract workers working in other service sectors?

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Conclusion The key to organizing SCCWs in public housing estates in Hong Kong was the involvement of the residents who are mainly working class. In organizing SCCWs by involving the community, the HKWWA engendered good moral values that had been destroyed by the neo-liberal value of gaining profit at the expense of workers. The acceleration of privatization has become a collective issue for the working class in Hong Kong, because if the divestment of parking facilities materializes as the government intends, then there will be many workers on public housing estates losing their jobs. One of the main concerns is how to push forward the state to protect its citizens. Since public embarrassment is considered unbearable for government officials then the act of raising the issue through the media with the support of the community and other supporting groups such as students and any other concern groups is the best way to campaign and publicize the issue. Revelation of the fact that their wages were being corrupted by the sub-contract company triggered the anger of SCCWs so that they dared to inform the public of their poor working conditions. Nevertheless, there are many challenges ahead like how to involve local authorities so that they support the struggle of SCCWs. But the case has proven that a common identity among SCCWs and public housing estate residents has become the source of strength to fight against injustice. Regarding community-based organizing, the HKWWA is optimistic that this strategy will remain an effective way of organizing casualized workers who are always in temporary positions and in danger of being excluded from the labour market. In Hong Kong, the challenge in organizing SCCWs has become bigger because of the Tenant Purchase Scheme (TPS) system. TPS is part of the HA’s policy of privatization, which encourages the tenants to buy the properties that they live in at a low price. The TPS rules that if a tenant has more income than the amount required for someone to rent a place in public housing then she/ he must buy the place. Gradually the TPS will hand over the responsibilities of the public housing estates to individual owners, which will have a great impact on SCCWs’ job security and wage system. In this case, it is very important to maintain and broaden the alliance in the community, NGOs, and SCCWs in dealing with multi-layered issues that include privatization, the casualized working system, the elimination of access to public utility-like housing, and the improvement of working conditions.

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References Black, Maggie 2002, Child Domestic Workers: Finding a Voice, a Handbook on Advocacy, UK, London:Anti-Slavery International. Peterson, V Spike 2003, A Critical Rewriting of Global Political Economy: Integrating Reproductive, Productive and Virtual Economies, UK, London: Routledge.

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