Facilitating transitions from the informal to formal economy

Transcription

1 Facilitating transitions from the informal to formal economy September 2016 Bali, Indonesia Presented by Md. Abdul Gofur Organising Secretary Bangladesh Jatiyotabadi Sramik Dal

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3 Informal Sector In Bangladesh: A General Informal sector: Introduction The work which is not covered by the labour law No permanent employment and working condition e.g. Agriculture, Fishery, Domestic Work etc. The Labour Welfare Foundation Act, 2006 provided a clear definition of informal sector, Section 2 (a) - Informal sector means types of non government sector where workers work or condition of work etc. are not recognized or controlled by existing labour law and related policies and where there is very limited scope for employed workers to be organised.

4 Labour Force Survey 2013 : Total Labour Force (Aged 15 to above) Employed population 60.7 Million 58.1 Million Employed in informal sector (87.4% of the total employed population) Ratio between formal and informal sector Informal Sector Employment in Agriculture Informal Sector Employment in Industry Sector 50.8 Million 12.6:87.4 (in percent) 97.9% (of that Sector) 91.4% (of that Sector) Presently there are growing tendency of informalization of the formal sector works through master role, contact service etc.

5 Outsourcing in Bangladesh Police

6 Types of work and employment Agriculture and agro based farms including poultry, diary, plantation etc. Day labour, porter Traditional works including Self-employment (e.g- street vendor). Domestic and home-based works Construction Transport including rickshaw, small local river transport Small enterprises

7 Characteristics of work Family based work. Informal workers tend to be focused on Day to Day struggles for survival and therefore are less inclined for collective actions- to form Union. Informal sector is mobile in respect of place of work and they are highly seasonable.

8 Characteristics of work Self employment (e.g- street vendor). Workers with low level of education. Changing employment. No fixed employer. Intermediate employer (contractor, supplier, outsourcing etc.)

9 Legal Status The principal labour law (The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006) does not define the informal sector. The law mainly covered establishment based workers There are some sectors where the Labour Law does not mention anything e.g. fishing, day labour etc. The law excluded domestic workers, agriculture, small farms less than 5 workers, family business etc. Section 2(32) & 183 of BLA 2006 Group of Establishment (Prothsithanpunja) give scope to the workers of many small enterprises to form union

10 Legal Status The Labour Welfare Foundation Act, 2006 provided a clear definition of informal sector Very weak labour inspection Absence of national minimum wage standard Low drive of organising Some sector have opportunity to form TU, but not protected by other provision of the law.

11 Contribution Covered 87.4 percent of the total employed population. Accommodate huge marginalized people in any crisis moment e.g. retrenched workers, river erosion, disaster etc. A major portion of GDP has been contributed by the informal sector workers. Provide income opportunity for illiterate people, rural women, seasonal unemployed and some times aged people.

12 Vulnerability Lack of employment guarantee and standard working condition Lack of identity and recognition Lack of access to social safety including insurance, unemployment benefit, compensation etc. Threat of climate change and disaster

13 Current livelihood situation of workers and their families No appointment letter; Low wage, there is no fixed wage rate or fixed date of payment; No work, No pay is almost common condition of all the professions under informal sector. Long working hour, Poor working and living conditions; Absence of job or social security; Inadequate health and safety conditions; Low skill and knowledge; Lack of knowledge about OHS, hygiene and other rights; Most of them come from rural background. Informal sector workers can not provide proper foods to their family, even most of them can not afford to send their children to school.

14 Current livelihood situation of workers and their families Child labour is seen in most of the works under informal sector. Accident rate is higher in some sector e.g. construction, rickshaw puller etc. Mostly slum dwellers and lack of access to electricity, gas, sanitation, health support etc. Poor implementation of existing labour law. Government or NGOs do not have wide welfare scheme available for this workers to improve their livelihood and social condition of this workers.

15 Current Situation of trade unions Workers in informal economy are almost unorganised and a few trade unions are there in few sectors, which are working in scattered way. Majority of the informal sector workers are not unionized, even those who are member of unions do not contribute the membership subscription regularly. Leaders of the unions do not have enough capacity and knowledge to effectively run the organization. Most basic unions are dependent on national centre for capacity building support.

16 Current Situation of trade unions Due to absence of full time organizer at union level, their organizing initiative is lower. No long term planning at union level. No scheme available for the welfare of the member of the unions. In most of the cases, the unions do not have practice to collect membership fees.

17 Challenges faced by TU Transient nature itself a challenge. They have no Appointment Card which is by law necessary to form a union. Workers used to change their workplaces frequently. So, it is very difficult to find out them to organise. Most of the workers are not interested to involve with unions. Trade unions do not have enough capacity to organise as well as there is lack of fund to conduct trade union s activities effectively.

18 Challenges faced by TU Members of trade union could not afford membership fee regularly. Most of the unions do not have any secretariat/office. As a result, unions of informal sector are dependent on national federations. Since the size of informal economy in Bangladesh is very vast, addressing the needs of the sectors for formalisation is a great challenge. Similarly organise the unorganise (87.5%) workforce is also a great challenge.

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20 Following four components identified as strategic plan for the betterment of informal sector workers- Legal reform Organising Awareness raising Wage/ allowance

21 Review of Definition of Worker of the Labour law. Decision by the NTUCs and forming team Identifying Limitations/ shortcomings/ barriers of the existing laws. Preparations of recommendations to amend the existing laws and submission to the govt. Lobby/ advocacy/ movement

22 Union meeting/ team formation/ duty assign Area and target group selection Field visit and collection of data & information Personal contact/ communication Group meeting Probable members list preparation Member collection/ form distribution Constitution drafting Meeting, Committee formation and

23 Personal communication/ contact/ door to door visit. Group discussion. Discussion meeting/ study circle. Education- Training activities Rally. Publicity/ publication. Cultural program/ Street drama/ Folk songs. Meeting/ gathering Express solidarity to the workers demands.

24 Collection of information / study on wage from every sector/ working groups. Comparison with the same sectors in different places. Preparation of Recommendation for fixation of minimum wage. Publicity & publication. Lobby/ advocacy and campaign for national minimum wage. for declaring national minimum wage. Establishing welfare fund. Collection of Membership fee /Fund raising.

25 Need to bring a positive shift in the attitude of the government. Need to introduce a feasible wage structure which should be proportionate with working hour and consistent with the work nature of informal workers. Consideration of health hazards and associated risks with work environment must be taken into consideration. A pension-cum-insurance scheme is required which can provide security during their sickness and elderly age.

26 Increase the coverage of Social Safety net for informal workers. Need rehabilitation plan before eviction of the hawkers from footpath. Evicted hawkers might be given loan without interest for setting up a permanent shop. Sramik Kallyan Foundation can expand welfare program for informal workers

27 * CSR can be introduced to rehabilitate evicted hawkers. * ILO Way out of Informality: Formalization of Informal Economy in South Asia Project must continue to cover other sectors also. * There are many informal sectors that are still unaddressed and need to be covered by ILO, ITUC-AP and SARTUC projects for transitioning to formalisation.

28 Thanks Any question please!