DECENT WORK AND THE INFORMAL ECONOMY

The Protection of Performers and their Rights in Asia – Assessment

ConferenceFIM & FIA

Bangkok, 14-16 December 2007

Elsa Ramos-CarboneSenior Specialist for Workers’ Activities, ILO

Bangkok

Contents of presentation

• Background on the ILO

• Informal Economy

• Challenges for Asia

• Challenges for FIM and FIA

******

• Some points for discussion

1919

Universal and lasting peacecan be established only if it isbased upon social justice ”Constitution of the ILO

The Principle of Tripartism

ILO CONSTITUTION

Means Of Action

Core Labour Standards• Freedom of Association and Right to

Organise Convention -No.87-(1944)• Right to Organise and Collective

Bargaining Convention -No. 98( 1949)• Forced Labour Convention -No.29 (1930)• Abolition of Forced Labour Convention -

No.105 (1956)

Core Labour Standards• Equal Remuneration Convention-No.100

(1951)• Discrimination Convention-No.111

(1958)• Minimum Age Convention-No.138

(1973)• Worst Forms of Child Labour

Convention-No.182-(1999)

Convention 87

Convention 98

Ratification Status C. 87 & C. 98

• At 50 and 57 % in Asia and Pacific, both well below world average (81 and 87 % respectively)

• Ratified 87 and 98: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Macao, Fiji, Indonesia. Japan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Kiribati.

• Ratified 98 only: Malaysia, Nepal, Singapore, • Ratified 87 only: Myanmar

C87 and C98

• No ratification by

China and India

East Timor, Korea,

Laos, New Zealand,

Solomon Islands, Thailand,

Vietnam, Iran, Afghanistan

What is the ‘Informal Economy’

Defining characteristic: not recognized, registered, regulated or protected under the law

Many different kinds of informal jobs and informal enterprises in urban and rural areas (“atypical workers”)

Increasing informalization of production and employment relationships

Differentiated from the criminal or illegal economy: majority produce legal goods and services

“Atypical workers”

• Employment relationships don’t conform to standard or ‘typical’ model, i.e. Full-time, regular, single employer, over a long-time span.

• Today, atypical work is becoming the norm– Part-time– Casual– Fixed-term– Self-employed– Independent– Homeworkers– “Flexible’

The formal/informal continuum

Social protection

Informal economy

Labour legislation not applied

No registration Poor working conditions

Unobserved economy Difficult access to markets

Market access

No voice

Labour legislation

No social protection

Registration Stats, OSH, voice

Formal economy

I

Why is the informal economy growing

Legal and institutional frameworks inappropriate, constraining or ineffective, lack of good governance

Global employment deficit: not enough jobs Increasing poverty and feminization of poverty Demographic factors, including migration and the

impact of HIV/AIDS Benefits of globalization not inclusive and fair

Informal economy workers in Asia

• more than 1 billion Asians still work in the informal economy.

• Most lack basic social protection and hold unproductive jobs with low earnings.

• lack of job security, benefits and career opportunities.

• less access to information and enjoy fewer market opportunities,

• .

Informal workers in Asia…contd.

• Working and living conditions often intertwined

• Poor working conditions• Often have hazardous jobs and worst

working conditions (e.g. long working hours)

• Lack voice and representation to articulate their interests

DECENT WORK

• "The primary goal of the ILO today is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity." - ILO Director-General Juan Somavia

DECENT WORK …

• is productive and secure work

• ensures respect of labour rights

• provides an adequate income

• offers social protection

• includes social dialogue, union freedom, collective bargaining and participation

How to reduce decent work deficits in the

Informal Economy

In the SHORT AND MEDIUM TERM, to promote the conducive legal and policy frameworks to upgrade jobs and enhance the capacity of workers and employers to move from informal to formal decent work

In the LONGER TERM, to create enough jobs that are protected, recognized and decent for all workers

In the IMMEDIATE TERM, to ensure that those in the informal economy are recognized and protected under labour law and have improved rights, social protection, organization and representation

Enhancing Rights in the Informal Economy

All those who work have rights at work irrespective of where they work

ILO Declaration and labour standards provide solid international basis for application to the informal economy

Resolution and conclusions concerning decent work and the informal economy, ILC June 2002

Enchancing rights…contd.

Rights deficit due to how standards are expressed and enforced through national law and practice. Therefore:Improve labour legislationStrengthen labour administration and enforce

labour rightsPromote legal literacy, especially for women

workersImprove regulatory framework for businesses

Improving Social Protection

Statutory social security (preventive and protective) provisions: social insurance, universal benefits and social assistance programmes

Improving occupational safety and health, with attention to hazardous occupations and vulnerable groups

Strengthening HIV/AIDS services

Organization and Representation in the

Informal Economy Framework of law and governance protecting freedom

of association and right to organize and bargain collectively: fundamental right and enabling right

Strengthening organization and representation:The role of national and local governmentsThe role of trade unionsThe role of employers’ organizationsThe role of cooperativesThe role of other social actors

Formation and strengthening of strategic alliances

Role of Trade unions

• Trade union campaigns– Awareness-raising to promote new government

regulations and ensure proper implementation– Helping workers access welfare funds– Voice and representation

• Changing union culture/structures• Opening space • Building strategic alliances with other

unions/informal workers’ organisations• ORGANSING, ORGANISING, ORGANISING!!

Meeting the global demand for decent employment Promoting employability and productivity and

upgrading employment through education, training, skills development

Securing (intellectual) property rights Quality job creation through enterprise development ILO Recommendation:

Creation of an enabling policy and legal frameworkDevelopment of enterprise cultureDevelopment of effective service infrastructureRepresentation and organization Improving “market” opportunities and access

Challenges for Asia• Low level of union density- e.g. Thailand- 3-5 %• Migrant labour– feature of the region but workers not

well protected • Globalisation- China-high growth rate-attracts- more

then 40% of FDI-factories moving to China• Military regimes—Burma-no respect for human and

trade union rights• Economies in transition- China, Vietnam, Cambodia,

Laos.

Challenges…contd.

• By 2015, the persistence of the informal economy in Asia, the explosive growth of many Asian countries’ urban populations, and the increase in service-sector employment will combine to significantly expand the urban informal economy. Social and economic challenges are likely to follow, notably in countries where development lags behind urban population growth.

Challenges for FIM and FIA in Asia/Pacific

• Enhancing status of musicians, actors and performers in the community and society as a whole

• Building awareness of their rights as (“atypical) workers (in the informal economy)

• and the need to form/join unions and associations to promote common interests, whilst respecting individual creativity.

Challenges for FIM and FIA ..contd.

• Developing effective strategies to organise and integrate them into the trade union movement

• Making maximum use of the ILO to protect and promote the workers’ and trade union rights of musicians, actors and performers

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

•KAP-KUHN-KAH!

•MARAMING SALAMAT PO!

•MERCI BEAUCOUP!

Suggested Points for Discussion

1. Is the current concept of ‘informal sector’ or ‘informal economy’ applicable to musicians, actors and performers?

2. What are the main distinguishing characteristics and features – positive or negative - of the situations of these workers?

3. What are the causes of and reasons for working in these situations? What are the barriers to entry into the mainstream or ‘formal’ economic and social protection system?

Suggested Points for Discussion

4. What means (e.g. policies, institutions, processes, etc.) best address these situations?

5. What are the respective roles of national and local governments, as well as of employers’ and workers’ organizations, in addressing these situations? What are the challenges and what contributions can be made with regard to meeting the representational needs of musicians, actors and performers?

6. What should be the priorities for the ILO’s policy, research and technical assistance work with regard to these workers and employers, with the aim of contributing to the overall goal of decent work?