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ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE 1 OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2009

PUBLIShED By ASIA MONITOR RESOURCE CENTRE LTD hONg KONg ISSUE 73 OCTOBER 2009 - DECEMBER 2009

LABOUR UPDATENAIA S

SocialSecurity

N O W


Editorial: ................................................................................................ 3Towards a Peoples’ Movement for a Universal Social Security in India..................................................................................................... J. John 5Social Security for Migrant Workers in ASEAN.....Sinapan Samydorai 9Work-Related Accidents: First Shaky Steps for the Cambodia

Social Security System.......................................................Ros Dina 15Welfare Agenda in Japan From the Perspectives of Historical

Development and the Asian Context.........................Yoshinori Hiroi 18The Social Insurance Law Draft in China: A People’s Version ..............

................................................................Henry Mok and Apo Leong 23Social Security in the Current Strategic Orientation of Vietnam

Social Economic Development ............... .......................Van Thu Ha 26Gender and Labour Column: ILO Convention on the Rights of

Domestic Workers – A Tool for Rights, Not an End in Itself ............ 34OSH Column: The System Needs Open Chest Surgery.........Jiang Tao 37Regional Roundup .................................................................................. 39Reviews/Resources ................................................................................. 46

UPDATEISSN 1815-9389

Issue Number 73October - December 2009

© Copyright 2009 Asian Labour Update; all rights reserved

EDITORDoris Lee

LAyOUTClear-Cut Publishing & Printing Co.

EDITORIAL TEAMApo Leong, Sanjiv Pandita,

Omana george, Sri Wulandari, hilde van Regenmortel, Sally Choi

ASIAN LABOUR UPDATE (ALU) is a quarterly news bulletin on labour issues in southern and eastern Asia. It is prepared and published by the Asia Monitor Resource Centre Ltd (AMRC), a non-profit, pro-labour, non-governmental organisation based in hong Kong.

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LABOURNASIA Contents

theme: Social Security

gueSt writerS in thiS iSSue

J. John is Executive Director, Centre for Education and Communication (CEC), New Delhi, India. Email: [email protected].

Yoshinori Hiroi is Professor of Public Policy at Chiba University in Japan. Email: [email protected].

Ros Dina is a journalist for Ka-set.info. Ka-set is a news website about Cambodia and Cambodians in the world. Its goal is to promote quality journalism, within respect of the rules of ethics and deontology. Website: http://cambodia.ka-set.info. Email: [email protected].

Sinapan Samydorai is Convener of the Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers, Singapore. Email: [email protected].

Van Thu Ha is a Program Officer at Oxfam Solidarity Belgium, based in Vietnam. Email: [email protected].

Henry T. K. Mok is a Research Officer of the Hong Kong Social Security Society. The Hong Kong Social Security Society is an NGO focusing on social security issues in China and Hong Kong. Email: [email protected].

Jiang Tao is a Project Manager at the Labor Law Service Center, East China University of Political Science and Law. Email: [email protected].

Cover Photo: After a day’s chore, a homeless construction worker cooks for her family. November 2008, Jalandar, Punjab, India. Photo by J. John, Centre for Education and Communication (CEC). CEC is one of the main organizations coordinating the national campaign in India for ‘Social Security Now’ (this issue of ALU bears the same title).


‘Will I still have my job next month? Will I still have my job tomorrow? What will I do if I have an accident at work, or if I get pregnant?’ Millions of workers are working daily, contributing to steady profits of their employers without ever knowing the answer to these questions with any certainty – or worse, knowing with a certainty that their jobs and their very health and lives could be disposed in an instant.

In the most recent crises that have unfolded in Asia, in 1997-1998, and lately since 2008, workers have been laid off en masse or kept in their jobs only on condition of accepting the most precarious and unprotected terms. At these times, the very occasions that workers are most in need of basic livelihood and security, what do governments and companies provide to those who have been driving the economy and development of society? What have country and regional leaders conceived as the way through the crisis?

Most countries in Asia have direly insufficient social security systems to protect its population. For instance, in the countries of ASEAN, with a total working population of 262 million people, 60% are working in the informal

sector with little or no social protection against ill health, family emergency and financial uncertainty. In India and Pakistan, the informal sector where workers have virtually no security, comprises over 90% of the population. In Cambodia, there had been no nationwide social security; it is only in the last few years that a national programme has been instituted- but so far only for those working in the garment sector, and limited to work injury compensation.

Social security systems need funds, and as the articles in this issue lend evidence to, funds can and should be made available to all its population, including migrants, at whatever stage of development the country may be. In countries such as Pakistan and the Philippines, we can see that large portions of the national budget are allocated to defense. This is unconscionable when there are still such large parts of the population in grave poverty and joblessness. Even the ‘rich’ city state of Hong Kong, that has a budget surplus, refuses to establish a universal pension scheme and continues to have one of the largest wage gaps in the world. It can be illustrated by a simple example: where major conglomerate Hang Lung executives paid themselves HK$7.6 million (about US$1

Security for who? Security for ALL

AMRC Staff Vacancy Programme Coordinator

We welcome applicants who are committed to promoting labour rights and have: 1) strong research and writing ability 2) experience in conducting action research on labour-related issues 3) knowledge of Asian labour relations and the labour movement. A candidate with good knowledge of

at least one Southeast Asian country is preferred. 4) ability to design and conduct projects, write proposals and raise funds 5) fluency in written and spoken English and at least one Asian language as well, and 6) basic IT skills (Word, Excel, and E-communication programmes). 7) ability to work well in a team and in consultation/consensus with others is essential8) willing to travel

Current projects in she/he may be assigned relate to: capital mobility; informal worker organizing; labour rights in EPZs, and trade and labour.

For more info, see www.amrc.org.hk. Please send your writing samples in English and your CV with a covering letter that describe your experiences,

job expectations, speciality, and names of two referees. Short-listed candidates will be contacted individually and asked to send references.

you may send your information to: [email protected] or [email protected]. The deadline is: 28 February 2010.

Editorial


Editorial

million) in 2005-2006 even doubling it to about HK$19.6 million (US$ 2.8 million) three years later in 2008-2009. Ironically Hong Kong government has been refusing to set up a minimum wage for the territory, where one out of six people live below the poverty line.

Moreover, in some countries, the government and companies show a deliberate strategy of avoiding bearing the costs of social security for workers, by exploiting migrant workers and informal workers, who are ‘defined’ to be excluded from social security benefits, with the justification that they are transient workers only, or not ethnically the same. As long as there is a difference in benefits, companies will exploit the loopholes, which only works to the detriment of local workers. Thus, those covered by social security are a limited part of the population, and it is not truly universal.

Some countries which are moving from socialist to market economies, like Vietnam and China, are undergoing a change in the reverse direction – dismantling of the state sector insurance system. These should be closely studied, and their social security measures should be checked for adherence to ILO standards, such as convention No. 102. They tend to share the same failing, of excluding large classes of workers.

Yet care must be taken to not simply accept any social security scheme which bears the name. As many countries have already experienced – Philippines and Indonesia are prime examples, funds contributed by workers and employers easily become a pool of funds that gets used for political or other purposes, or for the profits of insurance companies, besides the original one of providing security in case of contingencies. Thus it is essential that administration of security schemes have genuine worker involvement in its formation and continuing operation. Otherwise the savings collected from workers and employers for the purpose of workers’ protection may become yet another arena for money-making and profiting from workers – while workers themselves bear the risk.

Fortunately, the argument for private insurance schemes has become weaker of late, as many people have lost huge amounts of their pensions, when they were linked to the market.

This issue of ALU hopes to address the very critical concern of lack of social security in Asia, and we have made efforts to bring the various voices from different countries on this issue, including joint effort at a recent roundtable (Asian Regional Roundtable on Social Security, October 2009) by 30 organizations from 12 Asian countries to address the issue at the regional level. It is fairly understood that there is imminent and urgent need of a comprehensive social security system, which is just and rights-based. The present economic system accounts for the inequities in society and leaves the majority either disposed or in a vulnerable position. However, social security for them should not be seen as a mere ‘correction’ measure (sometimes even as acts of charity) to keep the social (and economic) stability and which maintains the status quo—continued exploitation of the majority and privileges for a few.

The economic crisis provides an opportunity for labour movements to demand a better social security system, to counteract the hardship brought on by the crisis, and we can see strong movements for universal social security arising in Vietnam, India and China. It includes a strong push for inclusion of all workers, including both urban and rural.

Second Asian Roundtableon Social Security (AROSS)

Jointly organized by AMRC, the hong Kong Polytechnic University and the hong Kong Social Security Society, a second Asian Roundtable on Social Security will be held in Beijing, hosted by the Capital University of Economics and Business (tentatively) in September 2010.

For more information about the upcoming Roundtable, as well as for the full papers or other information from the previous Roundtable (some abbreviated versions of which are shared in this issue), you may contact:

Apo Leong, AMRC, at [email protected] orEmily Lui, hong Kong Polytechnic University, at [email protected]

AROSS official website is: http://www.polyu.edu.hk/apss/09062009/index.html


Social Security for All

A recent document of the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, access to any form of social protection remains a dream for 80% of the world’s population.1 Social security in India exists only for 7% of the workers - those who are employed in the so- called formal sector. Why so many in India are denied the benefit of social security and what could be our strategy for ‘Social Security for All’?

It is widely recognized that ‘social security’ constitutes a ‘basic human right’ and is enshrined in major international human rights instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Among the many social security Conventions of the ILO, the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), is regarded as the main instrument to realize the right to social security, which makes it obligatory on the part of the member States to implement social security schemes for workers.

The ILO calls social security the measures to address ‘contingencies of life’ of a worker. It defines social security as ‘the protection which society provides for its members through a series of public measures against the economic and social distress that otherwise would be caused by the stoppage or substantial reduction of earnings resulting from sickness, maternity, employment injury, invalidity and death; the provision of medical care; and the provision of subsidies for families with children’ (ILO, 1984). The UN Committee on International Covenant on Economic, social and Cultural Rights in their General Comments No. 19 (2008) emphasizes that ‘the right to social security encompasses the right to access and maintain benefits, whether in cash or in kind, without discrimination in order to secure protection, inter alia, from (a) lack of work-related income caused by sickness, disability, maternity, employment injury, unemployment, old age, or death of a family member; (b) unaffordable access to health care; (c) insufficient family support, particularly for children and adult dependents’.

These definitions emphasize that social security is a protection that society provides to its members; it is work-related, in the sense that it recompenses lack of work-related income; it addresses the contingencies of life; and it has a redistributive character by virtue of which, it plays an important role in poverty reduction and in preventing social exclusion.

Social Security and the Spirit of the Constitution

The Constitution of India provides for right to equality, right to life and right of social protections in explicit and implicit manners. The overall spirit of the Constitution guarantees social security measures to workers. The Constitution provides the rights to equality (Article 14), freedom of speech and association (Article 19) and rights against discrimination (Article 15) and exploitation such as the right against traffic in humans, against forced labour (Article 23), and against child labour (Article 24). The State is also constitutionally bound to provide adequate means of livelihood, see that the health and strength of workers and tender age of children are not abused, and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength (Article 39 [a), (b) and (e)]. The Constitution further envisages that the State shall make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement (Article 41) and for securing just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief (Article 42). The State is also expected to endeavour to secure work, a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure (Article 43) to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people, and for the improvement of public health.

Towards a PeoPles’ MoveMenT for a Universal social secUriTy in india*

J. John

1 Based on a keynote speech at the National Convention on Social Security for Unorganized Workers, organized by ‘Social Security Now’ (SSN) on 8-10 January 2009, Patna, Bihar, India

Worker grinding soapstone souvenirs for sale to tourists.

Photo: Darisman

* This article is an abbreviated, edited version of the article submitted by the author to the Asian Regional Roundtable on Social Security, Hong Kong, 8-9 October 2009, organized by AMRC, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Social Security Society.



These solemn commitments have remained largely on paper and the Indian State has miserably failed in providing universal social security to its workers and people.

National Planning and Dual Social Security Systems

Worse, the national planning and economic development pursued by the Government of India since its independence has promoted a dual system of social security in India, one for the industrial workers and another for those with not such a clearly defined employer-employee relationship. Institutionalized social security coverage for the ‘industrial workers’ is provided through the Employees State Insurance Act, 1948; the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923; the Maternity Benefits Act, 1961, and the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. Other Acts include Coal Mines Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1948, Coal Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1947, Mica Mines Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1946, Assam Tea Plantation Provident Fund Act, 1965 and Seamen’s Provident Fund Act, 1966. As mentioned earlier, these benefits are available only to less than 8% of the workforce in India and most of the ‘industrial workers’ in informal employer-employee relationships are excluded from these benefits. At various points of time, to deny universalization of social security, the ruling classes of India have used arguments that ‘there is no wealth to divide’, ‘most of the workers are in self-employed and informal categories’ and ‘the workers are poor’. Strangely, the poverty of workers has been used as an argument against institutionalizing a measure that would have helped in combating poverty and in promoting distributive justice.

In its intended objective, these measures reflected the constitutional objectives of Equity and Justice, but was also premised on a concept that all workers will eventually become industrial workers with a defined employer-employee relationship. Therefore, the argument was that these rights will become available to all the workers who get graduated to the industrial working class. This was not to happen, as history has shown. Eventually, a dual labour market of the organized and the unorganized, with diverging social security systems catering to these diverging groups got entrenched in India. Labour relations laws and social security laws are premised on a definable employer-employee relationship.

The Indian ruling classes showed the audacity to throw crumbs of charity to 90% of Indian workers in the form of a large number of disparate and poorly organized schemes and programmes to provide social assistance to specific categories of poor, purported to generate employment

during slack seasons and droughts, and improve access of the poor to land and other productive assets. These schemes are arbitrarily assigned to various ministries; are for shorter durations with inadequate funding; and are non-statutory in character. These are targeted, inherently exclusive and the implementation depends on the whims and fancies of the bureaucrats. Some examples are the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) for Poor and Elderly including the components of National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS), National Family Benefit Scheme and National Maternity Benefit Scheme. Besides, there are direct social security schemes like the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (another public distribution scheme). It is a pity that India’s Five-Year Plans consistently maintained this charity-oriented perspective on social security through disparate poverty eradication schemes and social assistance programmes. Most social protection and poverty alleviation schemes are directed at the below the poverty line (BPL) population as a second level of targeting, the first being exclusivity and perceived vulnerability of certain groups of economic actors or non-actors, imposing on the recipients a double ignominy. These are welfare schemes and not justiciable rights of the recipients – they are not legal rights which one can bring a case to court for if not granted. These schemes are changed frequently, presumably based on bureaucratic imperatives or political exigencies, leaving the beneficiaries confused. For most schemes there are no adequate budgetary allocations. Worse, the schemes have restricted coverage, applicable only to BPL categories of population. It may be recalled that even a person earning Rs. 12 per day in a village is not considered Below Poverty Line as per the current BPL norms. Generally, targeted measures do no acknowledge the possibility that contingencies in life can push people from the Above Poverty Line (APL) category to the BPL category. All these measures have neither addressed absolute poverty in India nor helped in reducing the gap between the rich and the poor.

This dualistic social security system served another political function, of consolidating a divided society - between those who hold formal jobs with full social security coverage and the rest of the population. This was also a clever and a pre-emptive move by the elite to create a chasm among the working population and build a culture of subservience among the targeted poor by throwing welfare schemes at them.

Social Security, Poverty and Income Inequality

According to the World Bank’s latest estimates on global poverty, India has 456 million people or about 42% of the population living below the new international poverty line of $1.25 per day, constituting 33% of the



global poor. A recent report by the Suresh Tendulkar Committee set up by the Planning Commission (2009) has argued that more than 37% of Indians live in poverty as compared with the officially estimated 27.5%. The National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) has pointed out that going by consumer expenditure data, 78% of Indians are forced to manage with Rs. 20 or less per day - indicating three-fourths of the population live in poverty. An expert committee, set up by the Rural Development Ministry and headed by N C Saxena, has observed that 50% of Indians are Below the Poverty Line (BPL) if one takes into account the criterion of calorie intake, where as the Planning Commission has said only 28.3% of the population is BPL. Ninety-two 92% of the country’s workforce, 394.9 million of 457.5 million, according to NSSO 2004-05, is employed in the informal or unorganized economy. It is hard to believe that such a huge majority of the people are poor because they are not working, or they cannot or do not want to work. The poor work hard and yet the income they earn is not sufficient to meet theirs and their families’ basic necessities. They are the working poor in India. Unanticipated expenses arising out of contingencies in life like sickness, unemployment, crop failure, natural disaster, work related accidents, childbirth or old age are to be met from their meagre earnings, which could land them in a vicious cycle of indebtedness, poverty and chronic hunger. The glaring absence of universal, state-run social security has contributed to the perpetuation of poverty and vulnerability of the majority of Indian workers.

In a capitalist society, social security provisions also perform the task of income distribution, though at a minimum level. But from the very beginning,

India’s political elite resisted distribution of wealth. In 1947, political leaders, intellectuals, industrialists and trade unions entered into an unwritten contract that the immediate objective was nation-building and creation of wealth because ‘there was no existing wealth to divide’. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru made this observation in his famous speech in Lahore Session of the Indian National Congress (31st December 1929), the session, which sowed the seeds of India as a Republic. In 1955, Nehru expressed a similar sentiment. He said, ‘These goals can only be achieved by a considerable increase in national income and our economic policy must, therefore, aim at plenty and equitable distribution. We must produce wealth, and then divide it equitably. How can we have a welfare state without wealth?’ We could see that this statement is repeated by political and economic leaders throughout India’s governance history of sixty years. We created wealth and India is now the fourth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and is projected, along with China, to rule the world in the 21st century. India’s GDP (at current prices) grew from Rs. 9,678 crore (one crore = 10 million) in 1950-51 to Rs. 4,693,602 crore in 2007-08 and is growing more than 9% every year. But various studies have shown that India’s income inequality, the difference in income between the rich and the poor, has been increasing, especially since 1991, when India opted for liberalization of its economy. According to a UN classification, India is 72nd in income inequality among the nations of the world.

Ineffectiveness of Established Social Security Systems

With globalization comes the debate on the effectiveness of social security systems, not only in the

Box 1. Reflecting the need for basic social security – UN data on the global situationThe UN initiative for basic social security for all characterizes the current global situation as follows:

80% of the world population does not have adequate social protection Cash benefit coverage is largely concentrated on workers and their families in the formal economy and migrant workers have little access. Most people in the informal economy, in which women are disproportionately represented, have only rudimentary access to social security Many of the world’s 1.3 billion poor do not have financial access to needed health services About 150 million people suffer a financial catastrophe every year and 100 million fall below the poverty line simply because of the need to use, and pay for, health services Despite the expansion of treatment for AIDS victims, around 60% of those affected are still not being reached 776 million adults, two-thirds of them women, lack basic literacy skills 75 million children do not attend school, while the quality of education remains poor, resulting in low learning achievements in many developing countries There are shortages of teachers and health workers.

Source: Globalization of the Community of Solidarity - The Feasibility of Basic Social Security in Poor and Emerging Countries by Friedrich Buttler - IPG 4/2009, p. 85.



poor and developing countries but also in the advanced capitalist countries. The ILO, in its recent campaign for social security for all, admits that though the Convention No. 102 constituted a useful benchmark for meaningful income replacement benefits, it has not been effective in the extension of social security coverage to all those in need. Only 43 countries have so far ratified this Convention and India is not among them. The ILO observes that the relatively low rate of ratification, especially in developing countries, constitutes an indicator of their lack of suitability and relevance for these countries. The well-established social security systems in the industrialized countries, based on defined, lifelong employment and contributions are reportedly facing challenges consequent to increase in the number of pensioners compared to new entrants to jobs and the changes that are effected by globalization, liberalization and privatization on business processes and nature of employment. The government is abdicating its responsibility to raise revenues and administer income distribution functions. Social security systems are being privatized.

India is faced with the biggest challenges of extending the social security benefits to the excluded 93% of its workforce, eliminating hunger from its 350 million to 400 million people and ensuring distribution of the wealth being generated. Unfortunately, the effort so far has been to create ‘social safety nets’ to cushion the impoverishment and prevent an organized backlash by way of refusing to extend the established social security benefits to the rest of the workforce and by continuing with targeted welfare programmes.

Consequently, when the Government of India passed the ‘Unorganized Workers Social Security Act’ (UWSSA) on 17 December 2008 supposedly for the benefit of about 423 million unorganized workers and their dependents, it fell short of everything that was required. The structural gaps and inadequacies made it totally ineffective. The Act does not define social security. Social security schemes are not included as part of the body of the Act, implying that they can be changed without discussion in Parliament, thereby denying the workers the benefit of consistency and justiciability. Unemployment and livelihood rights are not covered under the Act. It diluted the existing Acts such as the Maternity Benefit Act and the Workmen’s Compensation Act. Most importantly, it is premised on principles of targeting and exclusion because its provisions, largely, are restricted to BPL workers and do not address social inclusion and gender equity vis-a-vis social security to dalits, adivasis and women. (Ed.: See Box 2.) The Act did not have a financial memorandum attached to it.

India’s social security system for the ‘industrial workers’ is the result of massive movements of industrial

workers in the first half of the twentieth century. In the first half of twenty-first century, when India is expecting rapid economic growth, only such a massive movement by the excluded workers will ensure distribution of income. The wealth is generated by all, but the economic and political powers restrict it to be enjoyed by a few. The poor and the vulnerable should raise their voice and demand a legitimate share of the wealth. In the process, the movement should resist targeted schemes and welfare measures and demand universal social security as a right.

The ILO has proposed the idea of ‘a social protection floor’, which is a basic set of essential social transfers, in cash and in kind, to provide a minimum income and livelihood security for poor and vulnerable populations and to facilitate access to essential services, such as health care. It includes (a) all residents have access to a nationally defined set of essential health care services; (b) all children enjoy income security at least at the poverty level through family/child benefits aimed at facilitating access to nutrition, education and care; (c) some targeted income support for the poor and unemployed in active age group; (d) all residents in old age and disability enjoy income security at least at the poverty level through pensions for old age and disability (ILO, 2009). The ILO has established that even least developed countries can afford ‘a social protection floor’, though it falls within the targeted framework of social security.

The idea of basic income guarantee as an alternative to targeted, means-tested and employer-employee relationship-based social security system has great relevance in Indian context. A basic income is an income unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement. Basic income is a guarantee by the State and not a charity. It takes away the economic and social stigma attached to targeted welfare systems, avoids huge expenses on administration and prevalence of corruption. It will also overcome the constraint of indefinable employer-employer relationships in informal set-ups and the predominance of self-employment in economic activities.

Box 2. Dalits and AdivasisDalit is the term for the the stigmatized class of

people at the bottom of India’s rigid caste system, once known as ‘untouchables’. For more about dalits, readers can refer to the article in ALU Issue 53 (Oct-Dec. 2004), ‘Caste Based Discrimination in India: Hidden Apartheid for Dalits’.

Adivasi is the umbrella term for the indigenous ethnic groups and tribes of India, who, along with dalits, face heavy discrimination and disadvantage in Indian society.



The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is moving forward in their regional economic integration by 2015. The regional integration includes setting up regional social protection for all migrant workers and labour standards recognizing migrant workers as an integral part of labour who need social security. The migration of workers and their families, including low and unskilled workers, many of whom are undocumented, needs more serious consideration within the national and portal regional social protection schemes.

The Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers (TF-AMW) Civil Society proposal on the ASEAN Framework Instrument on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers recommends developing a regional system of portable ‘migrant social security and health insurances.’ The proposal further explains that ‘an important element of an economically integrated ASEAN will be systems of social protection devised for migrant workers to ensure they are not deprived of social security as a result of extended periods of time working outside the home country? (TF-AMW proposal, paragraph 167)

IntroductionASEAN countries are facing the financial crisis

and pressures of globalization. Social protection is more essential to face the challenges of globalization and the impact of ASEAN economic integration. International Labour Organization (1994) recommended the implementation of a three-pillar framework for social protection comprising a first pillar of general, social assistance including income protection provided by the government, a second social insurance pillar comprising mandatory contributions and a third, voluntary, private insurance pillar supplements the other two. For some reasons, these 1994 ILO recommendations were not implemented in ASEAN.

ASEAN governments have adopted the Millennium Development Goals and are implementing poverty reduction programmes. ASEAN accepted the commitment to social development from the World Social Forum in Copenhagen in 1995 which issued the declaration: ‘Governments must develop and implement policies to ensure that all people have adequate economic and social protection during unemployment, ill health, maternity, child rearing, widowhood, disability and old age.’

But priority has been given to economic growth and economic integration of ASEAN countries. ASEAN governments have continued to emphasize economic growth over social policies. ASEAN needs to address the issues of poverty, economic integration and trade liberalization - their impact on the social protection

of the population. Social protection and social security policies are much needed in ASEAN to overcome poverty.

ASEAN faces the biggest challenge as 60% of the workers (before counting migrants) are employed in the informal sector with little or no social protection. ASEAN countries with 56 percent of the working population earning less than US$2 per day need social protection for individuals, households and communities to overcome poverty.

The majority of the population is in need of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care – they are not capable of contributing to a social insurance scheme. Thus, the majority of the population is not covered by any social security arrangements. With the social protection framework the state is established as being responsible to provide for the poorest by increasing access to social protection for all. With support from the state the hungry should have three meals a day, the aged should have pensions, poor women should see a doctor during pregnancy, poor children should attend school, and there should be free health care for all. This is the way to overcome poverty, and have a decent life, which leads to a decent job.

social secUriTy for MigranT workers in asean *Sinapan Samydorai

In ASEAN 60% of workers are in the informal sector with little or no social protection.




Background Information of ASEANTotal population: 570 million (2006)

Employment

• In 2007, employment increased by 7.9 million, or 3%, reaching 268.5 million.

• In 2006, employment reach 262 million, of which 56.5 percent (148 million) of the workers live with their families on less than US$2 per day (poverty line); of these about 28 million live with their families on less then US$1 a day

• 60% of ASEAN’s workforce is working in the informal sector with little or no social protection against ill health, family emergency and financial uncertainty.

• Unemployment increase by 1.5 million, reaching 18.5 million or 6.2%

ASEAN Migrant Workers

• 13.5 million migrant workers originate from ASEAN, of whom 5.3 million (about 39 percent) are working in other ASEAN Member Countries.(2005 figures)

• Millions of undocumented migrant workers need better protection and fair treatment.

Major sending countries: Major receiving countries:Philippines: 3.6 million Malaysia: 1.9 millionIndonesia: 2.3 million Thailand: 1.9 millionMyanmar: 1.6 million Singapore: 1.2 million

ILO conventions and recommendations on social security rights of migrant workers

The right to social security is a basic human right as written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and in other United Nations human rights instruments. The Preamble to the ILO Constitution recognizes the ‘solemn obligation of the International Labour Organization to further among the nations of the world programmes which will achieve’, among others,

‘the extension of social security measures to provide a basic income to all in need of such protection and comprehensive medical care’, as well as ‘provision

for child welfare and maternity protection.’

The extension of social security to all calls for the implementation of a basic social security benefit package for all those in need and would make an effective tool in the fight against poverty and in reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

Defining Social security

The ILO’s Social Security (Minimum Standards)

Convention, 1952 (No. 102) established minimum standards for all nine branches of the social security system. The nine branches of social security are:

1. medical (health) care2. sickness benefits 3. unemployment benefits 4. old age benefits 5. employment injury benefits6. family benefits 7. maternity benefits8. invalidity benefits9. survivors benefits

Social Security Agreements

A social security agreement between countries can include only one branch or as many as all nine. Moreover, within each branch of social security, it should be made clear whether the agreement is administered by the public or the private sector, whether to provide periodical cash benefits or lump-sum, whether the amount of cash benefits is linked to previous earnings or to current income, etc.

The social security programmes are:1. social insurance - contributions from workers and

employers2. universal coverage - financed from general

government revenues3. provident funds - mandatory savings schemes4. individual private accounts - retirement savings

schemes5. employer-liability - employer is obligated to

provide benefits to employees eg. Termination of job or if a worker suffers workplace

injury 6. social assistance - entitlement is subject to a

means-test

A social security agreement to protect the social security rights of migrant workers should include equality of treatment and benefits. The worker should fulfill the eligibility requirements to qualify for the benefits under the country’s social security system - a qualifying period to be entitled to a benefit, a period of contribution, employment, and residence. For example, social insurance providing old age benefits at least five years of contribution might be needed for entitlement to a pension.

Workers assigned to work in another country by their employer for a short period of time for the same company or related company may remain covered by the social security laws of the country of origin during a period of work overseas.



Migrant workers with long-term contracts (two years) and above should be subject to the social security system of the receiving country.

Defining Migrant WorkersThe 1990 United Nations International Convention

on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, Article 2(1) of the Convention defines a migrant worker as: a person who is to be engaged, is engaged, or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State of which he or she is not a national.

The UN Convention excludes seafarers from the definition of migrant worker but they are included in social security agreements. These are seafarers employed on board a ship registered in a country of which the seafarer is not a national and to which he or she has not been admitted as a resident.

ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers

At the January 2007 ASEAN Summit, the heads of state and government of the ten ASEAN member countries adopted the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. The ASEAN declaration recognizes the contribution migrant workers make to the society and economy of both the receiving and the sending states in ASEAN. The ASEAN declaration committed all the ASEAN countries to strengthen the protection provided to migrant workers.

It also recognizes the difficulties migrant workers face in the working and living environment. Migrant workers also often lack access to social security coverage. In ASEAN there are legislative barriers limiting migrant workers’ access to social security benefits as social security systems do not cover all workers.

Legislation may add restrictions to the right to some benefits, in particular old-age pensions, because the migrant workers are not in a position to fulfill qualifying conditions requiring a minimum number of years of contribution. Countries wishing to provide social security protection for migrant workers have generally opted for a reciprocal approach, through the conclusion of social security agreements.

Social security agreements could contribute towards implementing the ASEAN declaration to protect and promote the rights of migrant workers, and provide the building blocks for a more integrated, cohesive and prosperous ASEAN. To date, no social security agreements have been concluded between any of the

ASEAN member countries. But as regional integration deepens, social security agreements will become even more important to ensure equal treatment of all ASEAN workers. ASEAN countries can strengthen the social security protection of migrant workers.

ASEAN countries social security programmes

Thailand is the only ASEAN country to have programmes on the nine branches of social security: medical care and cash benefits for old age, invalidity, survivors, sickness, maternity, employment injury, unemployment and family benefits.

• Four ASEAN member countries have programmes dealing with seven branches of social security: medical care and cash benefits for old age, invalidity, survivors, sickness, maternity and employment injury. (Lao PDR, Philippines, Singapore and Viet Nam)

• Three ASEAN countries have programmes dealing with five branches of social security: medical care and cash benefits for old age, invalidity, survivors, and employment injury.(Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia)

• Myanmar has programmes which deal with four branches: cash benefits for sickness, maternity, employment injury and medical care.

• Cambodia does not have a nationwide social security programme in operation for all workers. Although the Cambodian National Social Security Fund (NSSF) decree was signed in 2007 and entered into force in 2008, the NSSF branch on work accidents only started functioning since the beginning of 2009 – serving mainly the textile industry workers.

National Employees’ Social Security programmes:

Indonesia: The Employees’ Social SecurityASTEK (the Employees’ Social Insurance) established by the Regulation No.33 in 1977 to provide Employment Accident Insurance, Provident Fund, and Death Insurance. The ASTEK scheme was enacted into the Law No.3 Year 1992 as the JAMSOSTEK scheme (Employees’ Social Security), and includes Health Care Benefits.

Malaysia: The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF)The EPF is a social security programme, a provident fund scheme to provide retirement benefits for the private and the non-pensionable public sector. The employee and the employer pay monthly contributions to the Fund to be credited at the individual member’s accounts, and earn interest annually. The EPF was created on 1 October 1951 under the EPF Ordinance 1951 which was later amended to the EPF Act 1991.



The Philippines: Social Security System (SSS)The SSS is charged with administering three

programmes: the social security programme, the Medicare programme, and the employees’ compensation programme for workers in the private sector. The social security programme provides replacement of reduced or lost of income due to sickness, maternity, invalidity, old age, and death. The Medicare programme assists in the hospitalization and other medical needs to the members and their dependents. The employees’ compensation programme provides compensation to the worker when the illness, death, or accident occurs during work-related activities. The social security programme: Republic Act 1161 (the Social Security Act) 1954 implemented 1957; current law: Republic Act 8282 approved 1997, implemented 1997. The Medicare programme: Republic Act 6111 (the Philippine Medical Care Act) 1969; current law: Republic Act 7875 (the National Health Insurance Act) 1995. The employees’ compensation program: Presidential Decree 626 (the Employees’ Compensation Act) 1975.

Singapore: Central Provident Fund (CPF)The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a social security savings scheme jointly supported by employees, employers, and the Government. CPF members are employees and self-employed persons in Singapore. The basic purpose of the CPF is to help members meet primary needs like shelter, food, clothing, and health services in their old age, or when they are no longer able to work. The CPF was established under the CPF Ordinance on 11 December 1953.

Thailand: Social SecurityThe Social security consists of the Health Care Scheme provided through the Social Security Fund (SSF) and the Employment Injury Scheme provided through the workmen’s Compensation Fund (WCF). Both Funds are managed and administered by the Social Security Office (SSO). The Social Security Act 1990 and came into force 1 March 1991 provides the basis and framework for the gradual development of a comprehensive social security system in Thailand.

Key Provident and Pension Funds in ASEAN countries

Malaysia (2003)Employees Provident Fund (EPF), 49 percent of the workforce contributes 23 percent of their salary. Government Pension Fund, Malaysia (GPF)

Philippines (2003)Social Security System (SSS), 25 percent of the workforce

contributes 9.4 percent of their salary. Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) 4.5 percent of the workforce contributes 21 percent of their salary SingaporeCentral Provident Fund (CPF) 60 percent of the workforce contributes 34.5 percent of their salary (20 percent by employee and 14.5 per cent by employer). Government Pension Fund, Malaysia (GPF)

Thailand (2003)Government Pension Fund, Singapore (GPF) 21.2 percent of the workforce contributes 6 percent of their salary. Government Pension Fund, Thailand (GPF) 3.5 percent of workforce contributes 6 percent of their salary.

Eight ASEAN countries have programmes for old age, invalidity and survivors program:

- provident funds in 4 countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore)

- social insurance in 4 countries (Lao PDR, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam)

Medical care programmesThe ‘medical care’ in ASEAN member countries refers to benefits in kind (services) provided by hospitals, doctors and other medical practitioners, including those for maternity.

• 9 countries have ‘medical care’ programme in ASEAN (Brunei, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam)

• 1 country has no medical care programmes (Cambodia)

• 6 countries base their ‘medical care’ programme on social insurance which involves risk pooling (Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam)

• 2 countries medical care is based on the provident fund which also provides old age, invalidity and survivors benefits. There is no risk pooling. (Malaysia and Singapore)

• Singapore, individual CPF medical care account when exhausted, workers may have access to an income-and means-tested scheme for medical care (Singapore national)

• Brunei provides medical care on a universal basis to all residents of the country

• Thailand has social-insurance medical care scheme for workers in the formal sector and also provides medical care on a universal basis for those not covered by the social-insurance scheme.



Employment injury insurance programmesThe term ‘employment injury’ refers to accidents suffered at work and to occupational disease, although some programmes insure only the first contingency. ASEAN Countries employment injury programmes have no minimum qualifying periods, migrant workers who are covered by these programmes, with coverage starting from the day of employment.

• 9 countries have employment injury social security programmes in ASEAN (Brunei, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)

• The Cambodian National Social Security Fund (NSSF) branch on work accident only started functioning since the beginning of 2009 – serving mainly the the textile industry workers.)

• 7 countries employment injury social security programmes (Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) – are social insurance schemes financed by employer contributions.

• 2 countries (Brunei and Singapore) employment injury programmes are based on employer liability

• Malaysia employment injury social insurance

Minimum wages

Country Minimum Wage ProgrammeBrunei No minimum wage policyCambodia Since 2008, about US$50 per month and a minimum of $6 living allowance for the garment sector workers;

none for any other industry.Indonesia Established provincial and district authorities on minimum wage, which various by province, district,

and sector. The minimum wage - Papua: 1,100,000 rupiah per month and East Java: 500,000 rupiah per month.

Laos Since 2008, the private sector workers minimum wage is 11,154 kip a day and 290,000 kip a month. The civil servants and state enterprise employees minimum wage is 405,000 kip a month, housing subsidies of 1,050 kip and complemented with other benefits.

Malaysia No national minimum wage policy. But plantation workers receive minimum wage of 350 ringgit per month, which is raised to 700 ringgit by productivity incentives and bonuses.

Myanmar Public employees minimum salary 15,000 kyat a month and labourers receive 500 kyat per day, supplemented by various subsidies and allowances

Philippines Since 2008, the minimum wage ranges from P187 a day for agricultural workers in the Southern Tagalog Region and P382 a day for non agricultural workers in the National Capital Region. The minimum wage is set by tripartite regional wage boards.

Singapore No minimum wage policy. The tripartite National Wage Council (NWC) decides on the national guidelines on wages, bonuses and benefits.

Thailand The minimum wage ranges from 148 Thai baht to 203 baht per day, based on the cost of living in various provinces. The minimum wage is set by provincial tripartite wage committees.

Vietnam The minimum wage for unskilled labourers in foreign-invested joint ventures and foreign and international organizations:

- 1,000,000 VND per month in the urban districts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City; 900,000 VND per month in the suburban districts of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and several other industrial districts and towns;

800,000 VND per month elsewhere

The minimum wage for unskilled labour in the state sector is 540,000 VND per month in the provinces and 620,000 VND per month in the urban districts of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

The Vietnamese government may temporarily exempt certain joint ventures from paying the minimum wage during the first months of an enterprise’s operations or if the enterprise is located in a very remote area but the minimum wage can be no lower than 800,000 VND per month.

Source: 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, United States Department of State.http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/index.htm



programme excludes foreign workers, but the coverage is from the Foreign Workers Compensation Scheme which is a employer-liability scheme.

Social security for migrant workers in ASEANASEAN countries have agreed to comprehensive

economic integration by 2015.

The ‘Vientiane Action Programme’ 2004 – 2010 includes programmes on managing the social impacts of economic integration, to ‘establishing an integrated social protection and social risk management system in ASEAN’ and ‘working toward adoption of appropriate measures at the regional level to provide a minimum uniform coverage for skilled workers in the region’ [ASEAN 2004: 48].

The social security protection of ASEAN migrant workers was strengthened also by the adoption of the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers in January 2007.

The ASEAN Declaration affirms the obligation of receiving states to ‘promote the welfare… of migrant workers’ and to ‘facilitate access… to social welfare services as appropriate and in accordance with the legislation of the receiving state, provided the migrant workers] fulfill the requirements under applicable laws, regulations and policies of the said state, bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements’ [ASEAN 2007: 2].

Thailand has a memorandum of understanding (MOU with Cambodia and the Lao PDR regarding Cambodian and Lao migrant workers in Thailand, covering them with work injury insurance. The MOUs apply only to legal migrant workers from Cambodia and the Lao PDR, who are given work permits for a period of two years, which can be extended to four years.

Philippines has extended mandatory coverage of the Social Security System (SSS) protection to Filipino migrant workers in the private sector, to Filipino seafarers employed on board foreign ships and voluntary coverage under the SSS to all other Filipino overseas workers.

The ASEAN Blueprint on the SOCIO-CULTURAL COMMUNITY (2009-2015) under its plan for social safety net and protection desires to ‘ensure that all ASEAN peoples are provided with social welfare and protection from the possible negative impacts of globalization and integration by improving the quality, coverage and sustainability of social protection and increasing the capacity of social risk management.’

But no comprehensive social security agreements have been concluded between any ASEAN member countries. ASEAN countries with a mixture of provident

funds and social insurance programmes should coordinate and strengthen the social security protection of migrant workers.

Harmonization of National Labour Laws

Many ASEAN member countries are already taking steps to harmonize their national labour laws with ILO core labour standards, especially those Conventions which they have ratified. However, in order to support a more comprehensive and inclusive approach, the ASEAN governments’ challenge is to undertake a review of all their national labour laws and regulation related to migration, and make progressive revisions to harmonize those laws with the eight core ILO conventions. A further challenge for ASEAN governments is to provide mechanisms for effective implementation of those newly harmonized labour laws.

ReferencesASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). 2007. ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers. http://www.aseansec.org/19264.htm, accessed on 28 October 2007.1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. UN (United Nations).1997 ASEAN Leaders ASEAN Vision 2020. Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat.2001 Social security: A new consensus. Geneva.http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/secsoc/downloads/353sp1.pdf2003 ASEAN Leaders Declaration of ASEAN Concord II (Bali Concord II). Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat.2004 Vientiane Action Programme. http://www.aseansec.org/VAP-10th%20ASEAN%20Summit.pdf, accessed on 28 October 2007.2005 ASEAN Secretariat ASEAN Statistical Pocketbook 2005. Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat.2007 ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Labour and Social Trends ASEAN 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, United States Department of State.http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/index.htm2009 Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers Civil Society proposal for a ASEAN Framework Instrument on the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers. http://www.workersconnection.org/downloads.php?RCID=72009 Social security for all, the Brazilian way http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Feature_stories/lang--en/WCMS_114106/index.htm



Close to 350,000 Cambodian workers, mainly working in the textile manufacturing sector, have been benefitting for the past three months from a brand new insurance service regarding work-related accidents. The service is funded by specific employers’ social contributions and is managed by a new public institution, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). Before, the Cambodian authorities only cited a dozen accidents at work per year, most of which were revealed by media like newspapers. Since the establishment of the system in November 2008, 350 work-related accidents have been reported, of which 20 serious cases and three cases of death, thus proving the usefulness of the service, on both sides, employers and trade unions.

More than 380 companies accepted to play the game Adopted in March 2007, the law regarding work-

related accidents requires every employer in Cambodia to have their employees registered with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) and pay for work and health social contributions which correspond to 0.8% of the gross salary of every one of them. Sum Sophorn, deputy director of the public institution and in charge of managing the new social security system, is very pleased that this legal obligation saw 386 companies comply with it since the establishment of the NSSF in November 2008.

Textile companies constitute the main part of this first batch and therefore appear as pioneers in that field, in a country where the concept of national social insurance is timidly developing: 280 of them accepted to play the game. This finally represents slightly more than half of the textile companies who officially operate in Cambodia but, as claimed by the NSSF deputy director, others have expressed their intention to conform to the new requirement in the few months to come and simply ask for an extra delay for them to adapt to the new system, and this, in the difficult context of global financial crisis. As

work-relaTed accidenTs: firsT shaky sTePs for The caMbodian social secUriTy sysTeM *1

Ros Dina

for the odd 100 illegal textile sweatshops still not listed on the registers of the Ministry of Commerce, their fate is not sorted yet...

Insecurity on the road, commuting from home to work: first cause of accidents

The 350 accidents declared since November at the NSSF logically and mainly concern workers in the country’s best-represented sector, i.e. the textile industry, followed by construction, hotel business, the banking sector and restaurants. This social insurance not only covers risks related to working conditions but also those inherent to journeys to or from the working place. Indeed, most of the accidents listed happened on the road, between home and the factory.

In the event of an accident, victims can benefit from the payment of 70% of their medical expenses without having to advance any money, provided they go to a NSSF referral hospital. To this day, three hospitals are listed with the Fund: Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, and the provincial hospital centres of Kandal and Kampong Speu. The network will progressively extend to other provinces of Cambodia in the course of the year 2009: Siem Reap, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham, Svay Rieng and Preah Sihanouk.

Medical expenses and pension ‘At the beginning, we found it hard to reach an

agreement with hospitals because it is something new and usually, patients have to pay in advance. But little by little, we managed to find a compromise and workers can now benefit from the service’, Sum Sophorn says, very pleased. A night in a hospital room with air-conditioning at Calmette Hospital will cost an insured worker US$7.20, and the remaining US$16.8 are directly covered by the NSSF. However, only 35% of expenses related to home-

1 For original article, see: http://cambodia.ka-set.info/economics/news-social-security-insurance-work-accident-textile-workers-trade-unions-090225.html. Ka-set is a news website about Cambodia and Cambodians in the world.




the textile industry, says the system is too complex and does not protect workers from abuse and corruption. The FTUWKC president cites an example: in order to assert their rights after a road accident, the insured person must provide the NSSF with a statement and a letter in which the employer acknowledges the facts. But obtaining the first one from police services can cost a lot (at least 10 dollars), while companies do not necessarily find any interest in drafting the second one. ‘If that system was implemented in a correct way, it would really benefit workers’ health. But I do not trust that social security system, because there is still far too much corruption and because we do not consider the interest of workers as a top priority’, FTUWKC president says.

The young insurance system also suffers from a lack of transparency, Chea Mony criticizes, and most union representatives have only managed to obtain very little information on the way it works. Nuon Veasna, a coordinator at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Cambodia, in charge of trade unions and workers, acknowledges there is a lack of information, but nevertheless stresses that these are only the beginnings.

Employers: too slow, too expensiveOn the other side, that of bosses and employers, the

system was also greeted with lukewarm feelings. Cheat Khemara, a high-ranking representative in charge of labour conflicts at the Garment Manufacturers Association

in Cambodia (GMAC) is rather positive about the establishment o f a n i n s u r a n c e s y s t e m , which should clarify their responsibilities. But the situation has not changed in three months: in the event of a work-related accident, although he has paid contributions, his company keeps paying compensations to victims as it used to do before, since the NSSF reimbursements are far too

slow. And he is not the only one in that situation, he claims. ‘These are therefore extra difficulties for employers’, he says, yet hoping for improvement: problems are usual at the beginnings.

Times unfavourable to social progressThe unfavorable economical context adds up to these

administrative complexities, the GMAC representative also argues. These times of economical turmoil are not appropriate for the establishment of such a system, when employers, he says, are in a very difficult situation, faced

nursing can be covered. If patients wish to be admitted to a non-referral hospital - and same goes for external consultations and the purchase of medicines prescribed as part of care linked with their work-related accident - they will have to advance payment themselves and then present an invoice to the NSSF in order to obtain the reimbursement of the 70% of their out-of-the-pocket expenses.

Besides, the system allows for the payment of incapacity benefit, if an accident has caused them a serious disability, as well as financial help to the insured person’s family members, should the patient die. ‘If they have a spouse and children, maintenance will be provided until their children turn 18 years old, if not 21, in some cases. The payment of such spousal support will end in the event of remarriage’, Sum Sophorn details.

Social contributions limited by a ceilingFor employers, the amount of contributions to be

paid out corresponds to 0.8% of the gross salary of each worker, with yet a minimum and a maximum for each: the gross salary used to calculate the amount of the monthly social contribution will have to equal at least 200,000 riels (US$ 50), even when the employee receives less than this sum of money, and at most a million riels (US$250), i.e. monthly contributions amounting to 1,600 riels (US$0.4) and 8,000 riels (US$2) per employee.

Before the establishment of the system, compensations paid to employees who have been victims of work-related accidents used to be debited from the company’s budget and depended much on the good will of the employer. For serious accidents, the case was generally solved through negotiations between the employer and victims’ families: for example, the payment of a 1,000 or 1,500 dollar compensation in case of death.

Trade unions denounce the policy of free as theoretical

In theory, the system should satisfy workers and those who defend their interests, i.e. trade unions. But the latter are already pointing at the malfunctioning of the system, which deprives many potential beneficiaries from having real access to the service. Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), the main union in

‘The system is too complex and does not protect workers from

abuse and corruption.’ - Chea Mony, on the new work injury

compensation system.



with a drop in orders and financial difficulties. ‘Some entrepreneurs in the textile industry balk at complying with that system. They are unhappy. They were not given the choice. If we were in a period of strong growth, like in 2007, it would not be a problem. But now... Sure, this is the law, but what can we do’, Cheat Khemara wonders.

The GMAC representative hopes the government will soon answer employers’ concerns: according to him, authorities said they were ready to pay for some of the employers’ social contributions - 0.3% of gross salaries - which will leave employers to pay for the remaining 0.5%. However, that decision has not yet been officialized by the government.

For their part, representatives in charge of the NSSF say they will welcome criticism rather than object to it. To this day, only two seminars gathering spokespersons for employers and trade unions have been organized to explain in detail the functioning of the work-related social insurance. ‘It is true that some unions have only received little information on the subject’, the deputy director of the public fund admits. ‘We are going to launch a hotline so that workers can directly get information and know their rights. But circulating all this information is expensive and for the time being we must limit our expenses as we have already spent an important amount of money in administrative functioning.’ Before launching a more ambitious information campaign, the NSSF organizes small informative meetings every Thursday, during which workers’ and employers’ representatives can share comments about the problems they are faced with regarding the implementation of the system.

Planned sanctionsPrivate companies who do not conform to these new

obligations face sanctions, in theory: along the lines of

the day-fine system, the fine will be ten days per worker, with a basis of 8,000 riels (US$2) per day, i.e. US$20 per person, when the average annual social contribution per employee only amounts to US$7.60. But until now, no company has been punished. ‘We are trying to explain first [to lawbreakers] the good of that system, by presenting clear arguments to them, to avoid fines’, Sum Sophorn justifies. ‘First, we must draw the attention of investors. If they refuse to understand that principle, then we will enforce sanctions.’

The National Social Security Fund therefore favors a smooth approach: first, it urges the concerned entrepreneurs to take part in meetings about the new insurance system. Bosses then have a month to fulfill their duty and obtain more information. If by the end of that reflection; time they haven’t satisfied requirements, they will receive within fifteen days a notice from the NSSF telling them they have a month to register their employees and pay out contributions.

An extensive patternAfter the launching of the social insurance system for

work-related accidents, the NSSF hopes to bring two other projects to the surface: a health insurance system in 2010 and two years later, a pension fund. Social contributions are put into a bank account with the private bank Acleda, and they will possibly be invested into the property sector or into government bonds. ‘If we manage to collect a lot of money, we will invest above all into the state, which offers long-term security. But each placement must be decided by the Council of Administration’, Sum Suphorn insists on saying. Useful precision, given these times of financial turmoil.

A long way to go for social security in Cambodiagarment workers are a prominent yet very small part of the overall workforce in Cambodia.

From 2003 to 2006 in Cambodia, formal workers have remained only 15% of the overall workforce. The formal workforce is mainly composed of the garment, tourism and public administration sectors. Other workers, in the informal economy, are mainly own-account workers or unpaid family workers, and most are in agriculture. These workers are generally not recognized as workers and thus covered by the labour law.

The Cambodia labour is regarded as comprehensive and relatively progressive for those formal workers who are covered under it. however not only does the labour law fail to cover those without a clear employer-employee relationship – which means the great majority of workers – but those who are covered, have their rights undermined through excessive use of flexible labour through fixed term rather than undetermined duration contracts.

For more about informal workers’ and their coverage under the Cambodian labour law, see ‘Street Vendors, Factories and Family Workers: Informalizing Labour in Cambodia’ by Dennis Arnold, in Asian Labour Law Review 2008, AMRC, 2008.



The Democratic Party of Japan won the general election in August 2009 and this is regarded as a historic victory as well as a turning point for Japan, in the sense that it ended the one-party rule by the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) that had lasted for more than fifty years in postwar Japan. Many of the policy promises presented in the election manifesto of the Democratic Party were in the welfare or social policy area, as in the examples of increased and extended family allowance for children, reforms of the healthcare system for the elderly, reorganization of the pension system, etc. In part, this can be seen as a backlash against the many problems such as growing economic inequality caused by the so-called ‘Koizumi reform’ with its strong neo-liberal orientation. In this context, the victory of the Democratic Party can be interpreted as a beginning for the first government of social democracy in Japan. On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Japan still does not have a comprehensive vision or consistent philosophy in welfare policy or public policy in general, and its election promises look rather ad-hoc and fragmented, including the issue of finances for the expanded welfare benefits.

Now Japan is the most ‘aged’ country in the world, with its ratio of people over 65 years old being over 20% of total population in 2008 and still increasing. It is going thorough a fundamental transition in terms of both economy and society, after the times of rapid economic growth through the 1980s and the downturns thereafter. The change of the political structure is located in this broader context, and the welfare policy or how to redistribute wealth in this aging society, is a critical challenge which is common in all the industrialized countries. Also the analysis of Japan’s experience can provide new perspectives and implications for other Asian countries or developing countries, as Japan had gone through a different path of development from other industrialized countries, as a ‘late-comer’.

With these concerns in mind, in this article I would like to review the evolution of redistribution policy of

postwar Japan from the viewpoints of both industrial policy and welfare policy, locate them in the broader context of the concept of a ‘sustainable welfare society’, and refer to its agenda including other Asian countries.

1. Failure in a Shift From Industrial Policy to Welfare Policy? : Evolutions of Redistribution Policy in Postwar Japan

For an overall picture of the current status of welfare policy in Japan, please look at Figure 1. This is from the OECD database and it shows the volume of social protection expenditures as against GDP. Here we find that the government welfare expenditure in Japan is among the lowest in the major industrialized countries, almost equivalent with the United States, although the ratio of elderly people in Japan is the highest of these countries, as mentioned before.

Figure 1 Comparison of Social Protection Spending (% of GDP, 2005)

Source: OECD database

This figure may seem contrary to the general image of Japan as a relatively ‘equal’ society, an image that was matched by reality. Why are the government social protection expenditures low in Japan and what is the background? What is the current situation regarding economic (in)equality in Japan and what is the essential

welfare agenda in JaPan: froM The PersPecTives of hisTorical develoPMenT and The asian conTexT *

Yoshinori HIROI




policy agenda? How do these relate to the change of political structure mentioned above? In order to have a comprehensive understanding of these questions, here I would like to briefly review the postwar Japanese public policy from the perspective of income redistribution, and examine the dynamic relationship of industrial policy and social and environmental policies.

I tentatively divide the developments of postwar Japanese public policy regarding redistribution into four stages.

Stage 1: Policy Initiatives for ‘Equality of Opportunities’ in the Postwar Era

Stage 1 is the period just after the end of the WWII. This was the period of occupation by the United States and this stage is characterized by the strong policy initiatives for ‘equality of opportunities.’ Specifically, two policy developments were significant in this context, which are:

1) Radical land redistribution through the agricultural land reform

2) Mandatory education system of junior high schools

1) was realized by the strong initiative in the occupation policy in order to dissolve the feudal land ownership. In 1946, the Special Law for the Creation of Landed Farmers was enacted and many agricultural lands were bought by the government and sold to the peasants. As a result, the ratio of landed farmers to all the farmers increased from 31 % in 1945 to 62% in 1950. 2) was also realized by similar initiatives in the occupation policy.

Both of these reforms, particularly the former, were radical in nature and had the very strong effect of redistribution. These two also had in common that they provided people with equal opportunities at an early stage of one’s life-course, and in retrospect, served as a basis for economic development later as they provided equal springboards for the economic activities of individuals.

In this connection, Figure 2 shows an interesting relationship between the equality of the initial land distribution and the economic growth. There is a positive correlation between equal land distribution and higher GDP growth. We should note that we can find relatively more equal land distribution in typical East Asian countries like Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan, in comparison with other developing areas in the world.1

Stage 2: ‘Redistribution at the Production Level’ in High Economic Growth Period (1950s-1960s)

The term ‘redistribution at the production level’ may sound odd but this is the most characteristic aspect of redistribution policy in postwar Japan.

In the standard understanding of welfare states, production is done in the system of the market economy system and income redistribution is done ‘afterwards’ by the system of social protection and related mechanisms (progressive taxation, etc). But in the period of high economic growth in postwar Japan, sets of policies at the production level rather than social protection or social policies play the major roles in income redistribution, and the roles of social protection as a form of income redistribution were relatively small.

Specifically, typical examples of such redistribution policies, which could be categorized as ‘industrial policies in the broad sense’, were as follows:

1) Subsidies to farmers (distribution from urban to rural areas)

2) Tax redistribution system from central to local governments

3) Industrial policies (subsidies to small-sized companies, declining industries etc.)

1) was very important because this period coincided with a huge population transfer from rural areas to urban areas and the income gap between farmers and the urban residents was a major political agenda.2 2) was a strong redistribution mechanism of tax revenues from the national government to local governments, particularly of rural and poor areas. 3) was a redistribution policy among the various industrial sectors mainly done by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), which some scholars pointed out as being a key element of the ‘economic success story’ of postwar Japan.3

Figure 2 Initial Land Distribution and Economic Growth

Source: World Bank (2005)



All of these policies had the character of government interventions in the production level and unlike the standard distinction in economics between ‘resource allocation’ and ‘income redistribution,’ both of these were mixed with each other through the industrial policies by the government. This was possible because of the continuous expansion of the economy and the rapid process of industrialization of this period.

Figure 3 Government Expenditure in Japan by Policy Area (billion yen)

Tax Redistribution Social from Central Public protection to Local Works (by tax) Governments 1958 122 224 1901960 193 328 3041965 546 716 7261970 1152 1772 14411975 4136 3308 34871980 8170 6952 68961985 9902 9690 68911990 11480 15931 69561995 14543 12302 127952000 17636 14915 119102005 20824 15923 8015

Source: Ministry of Finance, Japan

Figure 3 is the chronological change of government expenditure in Japan.4 This shows that until the 1970s the expenditures of tax redistribution from central to local governments and public works were bigger than that of social protection, and these mechanisms played major roles in realizing equal distribution of income.

Japan achieved universal coverage of social insurance in 1961 both in health care and pension, but we should note that this was possible based upon the strong redistributive mechanism by policies other than social protection.

Stage 3: Dependence on Public Works and the Beginning of Redistribution by Social Protection for the Elderly (1970s-1990s)

Japan entered a period of low economic growth from the 1970s. In terms of redistribution policy, this period was characterized by:

1) Dependence on public works as a redistributive mechanism – the government spending on public works had come to take the role of income distribution.

2) The beginning of redistribution through social protection for the elderly

Figure 4 Public Works and Per Capita Income of Local Prefectures in Japan

(1955-1960) (1991-2000)

Vertical Axis: Volume of Public Works per capita (Thousand Yen)

Horizontal Axis: Income per capita of each prefecture (Thousand Yen)

Source: Daiwa Research Institute, Economic Planning Agency of the Japanese Government, Prime Minister’s Cabinet Office

Figure 4 shows the relationship of the volume of public works per capita and the income level per capita in various prefectures in Japan. In the period of 1955-1960 there is no clear correlation between the two, but in the 1990s, there is a clear relationship showing that in regions where income per capita was lower, more public works were done by the government. This reflects that public works came to take the role of income redistribution to low-income regions, apart from the necessity of the public works themselves. In other words, the ‘redistribution at the production level’ mentioned earlier was still maintained here, and this type of ‘production-oriented’ sets of policies, which had been effective in the period of high economic growth, gradually became the obstacles discouraging the development of social policies in Japan, particularly for the working age population. Also, dependence on public works as a redistributive mechanism had the effects of inhibiting the transfer of labour to other newly emerging industries like the service industry as well as causing environmental destruction, while contributing to apparently lower unemployment rates.

On the other hand, this period is also characterized by the beginning of redistribution by social protection for the elderly. As the elderly people are retired from the labour force, the mechanism of ‘redistribution at the production level’ cannot be used. Therefore, redistribution



through the social protection system becomes inevitable, and during this period, with the backdrop of high speed of aging (ratio of people over 65 increased from 7.1 % in 1970 to 17.3 % in 2000), lots of policy developments regarding pension, health care and long-term care took place.5

Stage 4: Pro-Market Reforms and Their Outcomes (2001~)

The last stage in the evolutions of redistribution policy in postwar Japan coincides with the so-called ‘Koizumi Reforms’ since 2001, which were characterized by strong pro-market or neo-liberal policy initiatives. Through the reforms, the system of ‘redistribution at the production level’, i.e, the various government interventions in the market which had been the characteristics of redistribution policy in postwar Japan, was almost abandoned, or minimized. In addition, expenditures of social protection were kept minimal. Although these reforms had the positive meanings of dissolving the vested interests and inefficiency in government interventions, one of the most salient negative effects was the increased income inequality in Japan.

Figure 5 Relative Poverty among the Working-age Population and Social Spending in 2000

Source: OECD (2005)

For instance, the Gini Coefficient in household income after the redistribution increased from 0.3606 in 1996 to 0.3812 in 2002 (data from the Income Redistribution Survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). Also Figure 5 shows that the relative poverty rate among the working-age population in Japan is among the highest in OECD countries, which is accompanied by the low social spending.

We have reviewed the evolutions of Japanese postwar public policy from the perspective of redistribution, and the following evaluations may be possible.

First, in retrospect, one of the most effective and perhaps most successful sets of policy in terms of

redistribution were the very strong policy initiatives for ‘equality of opportunities’ in the postwar era, which provided a basis for economic development later on. Secondly, ‘redistribution at the production level’ worked relatively successfully in the earlier period of high economic growth, while becoming burdens from the 1970s and curtailing the development of social protection per se. The recent pro-market reforms to dissolve the negative aspects of government interventions led to increasing income inequality.

These policy developments and their results can be summarized as a ‘failure in the shift from industrial policy to welfare policy.’ It is to be noted that this pattern is likely to happen in many late-comer or ‘catch-up’ countries in industrializing or developmental states.

2. Towards Sustainable Welfare Society : Agenda for Japan and Asia

In the foregoing section we reviewed the evolutions of public policy in postwar Japan paying attention to the dynamic relationships of welfare, economy and environment. The fundamental reorganization of policies from development or production- oriented ones to the ones geared towards quality of life are needed and this coincides with the agenda that the Democratic Party which won the general election last summer is now facing.

Here, having a concept of ‘Sustainable Welfare Society’ in mind, let us consider what kind of social model is to be designed and how it has relevance for Japan and other Asian countries.

Agenda for Realizing Sustainable Welfare Societies in Asia

As for the environmental sustainability, the situations in Asia, at a first glance, look vary serious as, for instance, some gigantic countries such as China and India are now accelerating their economic developments and resource consumption.

If we look at the trend of population from a longer perspective, however, the situation is not so pessimistic. For instance, the total population of Japan already began to decrease in 2005 and the population in China, too, is expected to reach its peak around 2033 (with its population of about 1.5 billion). The population in East Asia as a whole will reach its peak also in the 2030s (about 2.1 billion according to the UN population forecast). The backgrounds for such population stabilizations are decreasing fertility rates in Asia and the aging population.

So we have good chances of realizing environmentally sustainable societies combined with aged societies in Asia

Poverty rate (%)

Non-health public social spending towards working-age population (% GDP).

JAPAN



as shown in Figure 6. On the other hand, although the population is likely to stabilize towards the middle of the 21st century in Asia, consumption of food, energy and other natural resources per capita are now accelerating there, and so the visions and policy initiatives for realizing sustainable welfare societies in Asia from local to national to regional level are one of the most urgent agendas.

Figure 6 Environmentally Sustainable Societies and Aged Society

Environmentally Aged Society Sustainable Society Characteristics ‘Steady-state Society’ Environmental Sustainability Stable Population ↑ ↑ finite natural resources aging and low fertility rateMajor Concept Circulation between human beings and inter-generational nature Time Scale super long-term long-term

Let us turn our eyes from environmental sustainability

to welfare or distribution of wealth. Figure 7 shows the relationship of economic development (GNI per capita) and income inequality (Gini coefficient) in Asian countries, and we may roughly detect a pattern of Kuznets hypothesis of inverted U-shaped curve, although this is to be examined in detail more precisely.

Figure 7 Economic Development and Income Inequality in Asian Countries

Source: adapted from the data from World Development Report 2006

As for the domestic aspects of income inequality, measures should be taken in the contexts of public policy in each country. We should note here that in the cases of rapidly industrializing countries including many Asian countries, not only welfare policy but also the industrial

Endnotes

But the relatively equal land distribution in Japan has been eroded in 1. recent years as discussed later. Note that when Japan tried to achieve universal coverage of social insurance 2. in the 1950s, the ratio of people engaged in agriculture was around 40% of the total population, which is much higher than Western countries.For example, Chalmers Johnson, 3. MITI and the Japanese Miracle.The column of social protection shows the social protection expenditure 4. by tax and the expenditure of social insurance is not included.Among the total social protection expenditures in Japan, the spending for 5. the elderly constitutes as high as 69.8% in 2006 and there are criticisms that social protection for working-age population is too insufficient.See http://www.jica.go.jp.6.

policy are crucial in achieving income redistribution and, as discussed in the previous section, the integrations of industrial policy and welfare policy and the appropriate transformation of policy orientations from developmental to quality of life-focused are essential. It is significant to conceptualize such policy models through comparative research in Asian and European countries.

In addition to the welfare issues at a national level, welfare at a supra-national level in Asia will become significant. This may include 1) international cooperation in the areas of social protection, 2) ‘Asian Welfare Network’ and 3) welfare state at a supra-national level. One example of 1) is a project by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) regarding the implementation of old-age pension in the rural areas in China which started in 2006,6 and various forms of international cooperation in the areas of social protection should become more active. 2) is the communications and networking of researchers, NGOs etc. in the areas of welfare or social policies including research. 3) concerns the the discussions of East-Asian Community and other forms of cooperation among Asian countries including the redistributive mechanism at the supra-national level in Asia.

Welfare agendas are becoming increasing critical in a new context both in Japan and in the rest of Asia. The rapid speed of aging accelerates this trend. Japan should reorient its policy paradigm under the new political leadership and seek a new social model such as the sustainable welfare society discussed here.

ReferencesInstitute for International Cooperation (2004), Development of

Japan’s Social Security System, Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Chalmers Johnson, MITI and the Japanese Miracle.OECD (2005), Extending Opportunities: How Active Social Policy

Can Benefit Us All.World Bank (2005), World Development Report 2006 (Equity and

Development), Oxford University Press.

Malaysia

ThailandSri Lanka

IndonesiaLaos

Cambodia

ChinaPhilippines

GNI per capita (PPP, in dollars)

GIN

I Coe

ffici

ent

Korea

JapanMongolia



The Chinese authority published the Social Insurance Law Draft in 2008 and conducted a public consultation regarding the draft through February 2009. A total of 70 thousand people’s opinions were received. In this process, a number of NGOs in China participated in the discussion and aroused a series of study groups and seminar days on social insurance designs afterwards. Below is the organized response of a group of workers’ NGOs in Guangdong Province, southern China – in the cities of Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou and Huizhou - towards the Law Draft in 2009.

General Principles of Social Insurance Law

The Law Draft only mentioned that the state will set up a social insurance system, namely for old age, medical care, work injury, unemployment and maternity.

THE SOCIAL INSURANCE LAW DRAFT IN CHINA:

A People’s Version

By Henry T. K. Mok and Apo Leong

The NGOs want to emphasize the importance of a mandatory system to ensure a universal coverage with adequate benefits to meet the basic level of living, in line with ILO standards. They must be citizen-based rather than employment-based, and accessible to all citizens as stipulated in Articles 33, 45 and 48 of the Chinese Constitution.

The NGOs wish to do away with the current requirement that those with wages lower than 60% still have to contribute at the 60% level of the average wage. They state that people with income levels lower than 40% of the local average wage should be exempted from having to pay contributions, but still be qualified for equal benefits. This is in line with the international practice, and the central and local governments should allocate not less than 25% of the insurance fund from the budget, to finance those who cannot afford to contribute.

By the end of 2008, the future of the social security system in China was at a turning point. The administration had finally released the bill on Social Insurance Law (SIL) for public consultation. The first draft of the SIL had met the same fate as the Chinese Labour Law (1994), which had been delayed for more than 15 years, mainly due to the clashes of vested interests of different concerned ministries. Thus, many revised drafts had come after one another, trying to accommodate the various demands. The social security law has not drawn as much attention as the Labour Contract Law (2008) from the business sector and academics, however, so there has not been heated debate in the media.

Yet in 2009, it was reported that disputes over social security reached a high level, according to the Blue Book of Chinese Society (2009). This reflected the necessity and urgency of social security reform. The present social security system has been criticized by the general public for the following:

1. Low coverage, particularly of the farmers and the migrant workers who are outside the social protection2. Poor enforcement - many local governments do not take insurance policy seriously, as they put greater priority

on attracting FDI3. Fragmentation among different provincial administrations, and non-portability of rights to social benefits4. No strong monitoring mechanism, particularly by the grassroots

Beginning in 2009, the Hong Kong Social Security Society and AMRC initiated a ‘Social Security for All’ programme. This programme tries to generate awareness among the migrant workers to take social security as a right, as enshrined by many ILO and human rights conventions. Labour activists were trained to have a better understanding of these instruments, and how to lobby fellow workers, policy makers, governments, academics and the media. They met and discussed the draft SIL clause by clause, analysed it, and came up with counter-proposals.

In the following article, we share some of the result of the process.



Regarding the monitoring system of social insurance practice, the NGOs urge that instead of self-monitoring, different levels of Social Insurance Committees be set up under different level of the People’s Congress. The Committee should be composed of representatives of the People’s Congress, representatives of beneficiaries, experts and academics, representatives of grassroots organizations, lawyers and actuaries; one-third of the Committee should be female. The Committee should be authorized to investigate into the operation and management of the financial investment of the social insurance fund, and should be allowed to publicize the results. It would also responsible for making enquiries into public complaints and demand, if necessary, the public security branch to make prosecution. The public should have the right to take legal litigation action against violations, and participate in the discussion on the development of social insurance. The NGOs supported having penalties for specific violations, and want any violations to be punished as criminal offences.

Old Age Insurance

The current coverage of the Old Age Insurance is only confined to urban workers. NGOs demand that the Old Age Insurance must be universal. Owners of small enterprises, the self-employed and the part-time employees should be obliged to participate and contribute to the Insurance. The rate of employers’ contribution should be 20% of the employees’ monthly salary, and the employees should contribute 8% of their salaries. The self-employed would contribute 14%.

Upon reaching the age of retirement, those who have contributed premiums up to 30 years should be entitled to receive 40% of the local average monthly wage; those who have contributed 15 to less than 30 years to receive 35% of the local average wage; and those who have paid less than 15 years should be entitled to receive 30% of the local average wage. The system of civil servant pension currently in force should be adjusted to be in line with the proposed universal system. The benefit level of the pension should be adjusted in accordance with the rates of increases in wage, GDP and inflation.

Medical Insurance

The current medical insurance scheme does not cover the rural population. The NGOs demand that all

citizens should participate in a standardized medical insurance system to be subsidized by the central and local governments. The rate of contribution of the employers should be 6% of the total salary of the employees, and the employees contribute 2% of their salary. All citizens should enjoy equal rights to medical treatment. A patient should pay only the registration fees and no payment should be required for injections, surgery and drugs.

The Ministry of Health is requested to set up different levels of the Medical Committees composed of senior medical doctors. The Committee is to conduct regular inspections of the out-patient and ward services as well as appraisals of medical staffs. Every hospital is required to set up a department of patients’ rights to receive public complaints and protect the rights of the patients. The patients’ rights department should include the participation of NGOs and social workers, and report regularly to the medical and expert committees as well as the People’s Councils. Bribery of medical staff is not allowed. This rights department should report any violation and take cases to court for legal charges.

Industrial Injury Insurance

The existing industrial injury insurance scheme does not cover those working in the rural enterprises.

The NGOs want the scheme to be extended to the rural population and simplified in terms of the service procedures. After receiving the registration of the work injury case, the social insurance authority should automatically disburse the insurance benefits to the injured. Should the employing unit object to the work injury certification, the appeal should be made within one month after the occurrence

of the incident to the court. The social insurance authority should conduct investigation but the process should not affect the payment of the insurance benefits. In case the employing unit has not insured the worker for industrial injury, the insurance benefits should be advanced by the industrial injury compensation fund, to be claimed back from the employing unit with penalty imposed on it for its failure of obligation. In view of potential conflict of interest, diagnosis of occupational diseases and work capacity assessment should be monitored and decided by the medical doctors appointed by the Ministry of Health and not by the insurance authority.

Southern China NGOs urge: instead of self-monitoring, Social Insurance Committees under the People’s Congress should monitor

social insurance practice.

continued on page 35



social secUriTy in The cUrrenT sTraTegic orienTaTion of vieTnaM social econoMic develoPMenT *

Van Thu Ha

Social security has been playing an important role in the socio-economic development plans of Vietnam as well as in the public awareness. It became an important measure for dealing with the price storm and impact of the economic downturn that started from 2008. This article tries to give an overview of the current social security system of Vietnam from the policy perspective and its development trend with a review of the government’s reaction toward the economic downturn.

Concept of Social Security

In Vietnam, social security is translated in different ways such as: social assistance, social protection, social security, social safety, etc. In the strict sense of the word, however, the concept of social security, emphasizes providing, through different social measures, secure income and responses to other basic needs of the vulnerable groups, of people deserving reward from the country, or of the victims of natural and man-made disasters.1 Recently, however the stress has been put more on social protection against risks, hazards that may lead to reducing or depriving from income sources.2

The formal social security system (understood as the state or legal security system) is two-fold: social insurance (based on the contribution-for-benefits principle) and social assistance (providing benefits without requiring any financial contributions, including social allowance, assistance, aid and privilege). The informal social security system consists of traditional security measures such as a kind of intergeneration linkage, in which parents take care of their children who, in turn, take care of their parents when they are unable to work anymore; and assistance by the society/ communities/ individuals to vulnerable groups or disaster victims, in the spirit of ‘intact leaves wrap torn leaves, torn leaves wrap tattered leaves’, a strong traditional form of social capital in Vietnam.

The formal social security system is the main object of this article.

In general, the following areas are part of Vietnam’s social security system:

Compulsory social insurance (including compulsory health insurance): applied in the formal labour sector, based on financial contributions by the employer and the employees, it covers sickness, maternity, labour accidents, occupational diseases, unemployment, retirement and death. The voluntary social insurance, applied in the informal labour sector, is limited to covering retirement and death.

Voluntary health insurance for the remaining part of the population (except those targeted by state subsidies, including the poor, those who deserve rewards from the country or benefiting from social assistance, as well as under 6-year old children). The compulsory health insurance will be extended to the informal labour sector and to pupils/students who will benefit from the universal health insurance by 2014.

Social privilege is a special aspect of Vietnam’s social security system, giving priority and subsidies to a special group of people, who deserved reward and honour from the country (i.e. people or relatives who devoted their life to the Revolution, to the protection and development of the country, such as heroes’ mothers, other heroes, wounded soldiers, people who participated in the resistance-movement, youth volunteers, etc.), enjoying a higher and broader subsidy level compared to others in the system (including not only food subsidies, but also health care, education, employment, housing and spiritual support).

Social assistance (or Social relief): including social assistance to vulnerable people (a target group of social aid, such as lonely elderly people, orphans and the disabled) and emergency assistance (emergency aid/relief), to people affected by disaster or other critical situations they can not cope with. In this case, the beneficiaries do not have to pay, while the assistance offered to them and the means to do




so are diversified according to context and relief needed (one-time or monthly allowance, provision of opportunities for vocational training and employment, support for education and health, etc.)

Labour market policies and programmes, focusing on job creation support for vulnerable people in the labour market and on subsidies for redundant workers due to the restructuring and equitization process of state-owned enterprises.3 The labour market is considered as one of the four main focus areas of social security, besides social insurance, assistance and privilege in the coming social security strategy for the period 2011-2020.4

The social security system in the socio-economic development programme for the period 2001-2010

The rights of the elderly and disabled people have been defined in the Constitution of 1946. Furthermore, policies regarding sickness, maternity, labour accidents and retirement for state workers were stipulated in the Ho Chi Minh Decree of 1950. And in the Constitution of 1992, important social security issues relating to employment, social insurance, education, health care, support to people well deserving from the country, and social assistance were mentioned as civil rights and have been gradually specified since then in a range of laws and ordinances.5 However, social security had never been systematically taken into account in the government socio-economic development plans. Here in this section of the article you will see how this has changed and its importance has gradually grown.

From the Government planning perspective…

In the five-year socio-economic development plan 2001-2005, social security only appeared vaguely in some measures such as the National programmeme on hunger alleviation and poverty reduction, water supply and rural sanitation, and public health care.6 Economic growth was the dominant trend of this five-year plan (six out of 12 measures were directly related to economic development, four to Governance, and two to social welfare). At the end of it, the Government openly criticized the ‘unequal status’ of social-cultural development, compared to the results of economic growth in the implementation of this five-year plan.7 This led to a Party decision in the following five-year development programmeme to ‘combine economic objectives with social objectives (…), implementing social progress and justice within each step of development and in each development policy’.8

The concept of social security was mentioned for the first time in the report of the Party Congress IX 9 halfway

through the 2001-2005 plan. In the new plan, ‘promptly extending social insurance and social security systems, developing and implementing unemployment insurance policies for jobless labourers’ were proposed as measures to address social issues, beside other measures such as job creation, poverty reduction, social assistance, public health care, etc. ‘Extending the social security system’ meant widening the scope of social security policies by extending its reach (beneficiary targets and scope) and increasing the benefits level, together with giving a new impetus to economic growth.

The next five-year 2006-2010 socio-economic development directive presented a clearer picture, defining ‘development of a social security system’ as one of the eight main tasks of the five-year plan,10 including working towards universal health insurance. However, to implement that task, the Government action programme focused mainly on job creation, income generation and poverty reduction, together with ‘the promotion/intensification of social security activities’.11 So, a more strategic approach to a social security system was not yet considered as a clear priority in this five-year plan.

…To the reality of policy development

New policies were often developed provisionally (on an ad hoc basis) more than strategically. Prof. Trinh Duy Luan, Director of Sociology Institute (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences) compares the social security model in Vietnam to ‘a person trying to protect his thatched cottage before and during a storm attack by using available materials to cobbling up the corners of his house according to the direction of the storm’.12

Yet, it can be claimed that breakthrough were also made. One breakthrough in social security during this period was first of all the proposal of a strategy focusing on risk mitigation via social insurance. The most remarkable results were two new laws on social insurance (2007) and health insurance (2008). These laws created a legal framework allowing the informal labour sector to be part of a social insurance system and to reach universal health insurance in five years’ time. A government decree on health insurance (2005) was another step taken, which has helped to almost double the number of people benefiting from health insurance, going up from 18 million to 34 million, by extending the target population benefiting from health care subsidies and creating a new scheme for a voluntary medical insurance system applied to all. With these two laws, in principle, the informal sector is able now to have access to insurance in case of sickness, maternity, retirement and death. (See more details in Box 1.)



The second breakthrough was that the social security system took a strong step forward in its coupling with economic development policies, e.g. by including social security concerns in emergency policies in order to cope with inflation and the economic crisis.

Social security became one among other solutions to deal with the economic downturn. If at the beginning of 2008, social security was one among 8 other measures focusing on food security and emergency relief in an attempt to resist the sudden price increase, at the end of 2008, these measures were better integrated, diversified and systematically applied in using state budget for social security. (See more details in Box 2).

The estimated state budget for 2009 was restructured

with the priority given to social security, increased expense for agriculture, rural areas and areas in difficult situations especially the 61 poorest districts.13 For the first time, ‘ensuring social security’ was part of the overall objectives of the 2009 socio-economic development plan (and it still is in the revised objective).14 Social security is one among ‘five urgent solutions of the government’, including specific social security measures which are at the same time economic stimulation measures, such as the fast and sustainable poverty reduction programme for the 61 poorest districts (in 20 provinces, with 2.4 millions of people and a poverty rate of more than 50%),15 the social housing programme for students, workers and low income people in 63 provinces/cities,16 which have been rather quickly implemented.

Box 1. Results since implementation of the social insurance law (2007) and health insurance law (2008).

After two years of implementation of the Social insurance law, the members of the compulsory social insurance system increased by 24% (from 6,748,387 people in 2006 to 8,353,267 in 2008). Among them, members from the private sector increased by 30%, FDI by 26.4%, and cooperatives by 24.4%.1

The number of social insurance’ members receiving allowance also grew in 2007 - 2008, monthly receivers increasing by 13% and one-time allowance beneficiaries by 87%.2

More than 6,200 people joined the voluntary social insurance system.3

The number of people benefiting from voluntary health insurance strongly increased from 1 million in 2007 to 5 million at the beginning of 2009.4

The law on health insurance (2008) comes into effect in 2009. Pupils and students will join compulsory health insurance from 2010 onwards, farmers and fishers from 2012 on, relatives of formal sector workers and small producers from 2014 on.

In parallel, until 2014, the voluntary health insurance scheme will go on.5

1. Đang Doanh (Labour and social magazine) 8 April 2009. From Molisa.gov.vn accessed 4 June 2009.2. Hong Phong (according to government website), 15 May 2009. From Molisa.gov.vn accessed 18 August 2009. 3. Evaluation Workshop Of 2-Year Implementation Of Social Insurance Law, 5 March 2009. From molisa.gov.vn; accessed 18 August 2009.4. Needs For Social Security Development, 15 February 2009. From tintuc.timnhanh.com, accessed on 2 June 2009.5. Health Insurance Law (2008).

Box 2. Report on the Socio-economic Situation in 2008, by the General Statistics Office.

‘Total expenditure for social security was 43.2 billion VND, including price subsidies for petroleum for ethnic minority people in areas having no electricity, and for diesel fuel for off-shore fishers; espenditure for social assistance; free health cards for the poor and people on the brink of poverty, scholarship for ethnic minority pupils in boarding and semi-boarding schools; increase by 15% of pensions, allowances for retired people, social insurance beneficiaries and people having well deserved of the country; relief for flood/disaster victims, remission of several fees for people; irrigation fee exemption; no collection of fees for school examination; exemption of land/house registration fees for the poor; subsidized credit for ethnic minority people and pupils/students in difficulty.’

Source: The General Statistics Office. From gso.gov.vn, accessed 17 August 2009



By the end of the 10-year socio-economic development plan 2001-2010, it can be said that social security will have gained a clearer and more important position in the development objectives.

Development Direction of the Social Security system in Vietnam From a strength-weakness reflection of the current social security system…

Social security has become a hot issue for the population suffering from the impact of the world economic downturn and has been discussed in many aspects, going from methodological levels to practical concerns about the current social security system. The crisis has focused the discussions on development. ‘Taking growth rate as the measure to evaluate development is a mistake. Growth does not mean development’, said Vice-Prof. Dr. Nguyen The Nghia, vice-president of Ho Chi Minh City Union of Science and Technology Associations.

Some remarkable achievements in the area of social security have been publicly recognized, such as the extension of the system’s coverage, a better quality of its services, a fast and continuous poverty reduction rate (2-3% per year since 2001-2007), better access to economic resources and basic social services (subsidized credit, improved livelihood, health card provision, remission of school fees, housing support, urgent relief due to disaster and loss of harvest),17 and an increased mobilization of community support, etc. However, some weaknesses have also come more clearly to the fore.

The many weaknesses that have been pointed out include: the non-integrated and non-comprehensive development of the social security system, linked with economic achievements,18 lack of specific social security policies for the population in rural, mountainous and other difficult areas,19 low coverage ratio, low benefit level, and low effectiveness (the compulsory social insurance only covers 16% of the labour force, and 67% of the target

group). Other problems are the high debt level of the social insurance system (10%), high rate of poor households just out of but still close to poverty (70-80%), high ratio of households falling back under the poverty line (7-10%), and difficult access of the poor to social services and welfare. The government provides only a low level of social allowance, which is only equal to ½ of the poverty line criteria and covers only 50% of around 1.3 million people.20 Also, besides covering the traditional groups such as lonely elderly people, orphans, and disabled people, there was also the question of shortcomings of the system for new vulnerable groups such as seasonal/short term contract workers, landless farmers, migrant workers, etc.

A major weakness is the unequal access to the benefits of the social security policies. This has even been recognized by Mr. Bui Hong Linh, Vice-Minister of MOLISA (Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Welfare), in a national workshop on social security of April 2008, for failing to offer the same opportunities to the low-income groups so as to allow them to participate in and benefit from the policies.21 This is mainly due to the failure to provide mechanisms for some groups to access the social security. The results of the Vietnam social security survey of 2007 (see detailed results in Box 3) suggested a new way of approaching social security, looking at the effectiveness of the system from the perspective of assisting vulnerable people and its position in the development strategy.

Take as an example the compulsory social insurance system, a sub-system of the social security system. The target population of the compulsory social insurance are workers having at least a three-month duration contract up to an open-ended contract. Yet, employers usually only declare a list of key employees (i.e. long-term contract workers) for social insurance benefits. Moreover, seasonal or short-term contract workers normally have unstable jobs and are moving from one job to another, so that they

Box 3. Social Security Survey in Vietnam, by UNDP, 22 August 2007:

Social security benefits in Vietnam were distributed unequally. The richest (20% of households) received 40% of social security benefits, while the poorest received less than 7% (pension: 47% for the rich compared to 2% for the poor, health care assistance: 45% compared to 7%, education assistance: 35% compared to 15%).

‘The social security situation in Vietnam is degressive.’

‘Social security in Vietnam is not best oriented to the ones who need it.’

‘The Government gave allowance to the poorest then took the same amount back through service fees.’

(Social security for the poor in some cases is a ‘negative number’, M.H., 23 August 2007 laodong.com.vn, accessed on 2 July 2009)



can not get any social insurance record books. So, by what mechanism can they have access to a compulsory social insurance?

Another example for the opposite case is that, a mechanism belong to the system, but destroy it from inside. The system’s fulcrum is household registration, which excludes all non-residents from basic social services and other social security benefits, yet this group (non-residents) has strongly increased with the extension of a more flexible labour market. ‘The design and implementation of social policies and programmes in VN remain residence-based. This denies mobile workers or unregistered residents access to many social, political and economic rights and resources’.22 The new residence law shows a more open approach to migrants. However, only a small number of them meet the requirements to get a residence registration book. Lower and upper secondary education for migrant children remains difficult. The migrant poor also have difficulty in accessing social services and other support policies for poor households.23

Another weakness to be mentioned is the absence of information control capacity to measure of the effectiveness of the social security system, and thus also to develop its capacity to cope with critical changes that might harm or weaken the effectiveness of the social security system and its specific policies. Another major related concern, according to a UN country team consultative group, is the huge information gap that exists between the existing information level and a full and nuanced understanding of the employment and social impact of the economic crisis.24

According to MOLISA Minister, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the greatest difficulty in labour management and the development of policies for labourers is managing the situation of the informal workers (70% of the labour force). It is impossible to know exactly where they work, when they lose their jobs or change job, so that it is impossible to offer specific and appropriate measures.25

…To its future –

It is too early to say how above-mentioned obstacles will be taken into account in the coming socio-economic development plan of 2011-2020. However, a very positive sign is that the government decided to develop a social security strategy that is an integral part of the socio-economic development strategy for the period 2011-2020. The social security strategy is being drafted now. I will give some initial comments based on the very limited information available from the very first draft of this social security strategy.

Social security model for the coming 10 years

It is anticipated that by the end of this year, the draft social security strategy for 2011-2020 from the Labour and Social Science Institute of MOLISA, will be submitted to the National Assembly. This strategy is a component of ‘the overall strategy for Vietnam socio-economic development in the period 2011-2020’. The draft proposal of a social security system for the population in rural and mountainous areas drafted by MOLISA will be submitted to the government by the end of this year as well.26

A social security strategy is being developed, starting from the view that ‘social security is the guarantee that the society provides to its members by implementing a series of mechanisms, policies and interventions against dangers, risks that may lead to the decrease or loss of their income sources’. Social security, in this sense of the word, puts the stress on prevention and protection of each individual against risks and vulnerability, adopting an active social security approach – a recent worldwide trend.

The objective up to 2020 is to ‘develop a comprehensive, diversified, flexible, sustainable social security system compatible with the socialist-oriented market economy, ensuring that all social members enjoy minimum living standards’. Workers dry bricks at a large brick kiln, with minimal protection.

Photo: Sanjiv Pandita



In order to achieve this objective, the structure of resource allocation will stress the importance of putting more funds aside for social security. Social security will become a mainstay in development, with a rights-based approach (all inhabitants have a right to social security and access to a social security system), a responsibility-based approach (coupling responsibility with rights, contribution with benefit, mutual sharing, support, assistance, complementarity between individuals, social groups and the government), and a participatory approach (encourage people to participate in the system, encourage all social actors to participate in the development and implementation of social security policies).

There are three main social security strategies, including a preventive strategy (active labour market policies), a mitigation strategy (social insurance) and a response strategy (social assistance and social privilege), to be carried out in 3 periods: i) up to 2010, the government provides initial support to guide the people’s participation; ii) in the period of 2011-2015, the government will gradually lessen its support and people gradually increase their contribution; iii) in the period of 2016-2020, secure a social security net covering 80% of population. The core issues for all people being able to participate in the social security net are poverty alleviation, job creation and a stable income.

More specifically for the population in rural and mountainous areas and for ethnic minorities, the social security system will be designed as a five-floor building. The first floor will ensure minimum living standards for the population. The second will cover labour market policies, the third social insurance (whether compulsory or voluntary), health insurance and (piloted) agriculture insurance, the fourth social privilege policies for people deserving of their country. The last floor will be social assistance (regular allowance and emergency relief).

Rights-based approach

This is the most remarkable point of the strategy, although it is not totally new, since it stems from the Constitution. Social security is considered as a basic right of the citizens. When social security becomes a right, the poor and vulnerable groups are no longer charity targets of assistance. The rights-based approach looks at the marginalized fringe of the population from the perspective of injustice/inequality, not as victims of poverty or misfortune. Talking about rights means talking about equality. Consequently, the social security system will have to be built in such a way that it offers a better access to the majority of the population, without excluding the poorest and the most vulnerable.

Government role

The draft strategy talks about the responsibilities of the actors of the triangle made of the individual citizens, the community and the government. From a rights-based approach, the government role is decisive and irreplacable. The strategy of gradually lessening government support and increasing the people’s contribution only makes sense if social insurance is truly in place - when the system is reactive and flexible and ensures access of all people to social security. Building up such a system requires both a lot of financial resources and a lot of human resources. Vietnam currently has less than one professional social worker for every 10,000 people (in England, it is one social worker per 500 people, in other countries in the region or elsewhere in the world one per 1,000 people).27 Professional inspection staff responsible for enforcing implementation of the social and health insurance policies are also very few, able to inspect only a very small percentage (0.28%) of all the enterprises and organizations and to impose very light penalties that hardly deter violators.28 Thus the government would have to invest a lot, yet from what resources? If the Party’s determination to ‘combine economic objectives with social objectives (…), implement social progress and justice in each step of development and each development policy’,29 is seriously taken into account, social security would have to be prioritized in the socio-economic development objectives, and the government must consider other measures such as reduction of wasteful expenditures and combating corruption; and a solidarity scheme including taxation and redistribution.

Participation

Encouraging the participation of the people and the social actors in the development and implementation of the social security policies is a new approach, compared to a top-down development policy process merely consulting the population in a perfunctory way. However, this new approach can only be put into practice if it is clearly institutionalized and if sufficient resources are allocated to make its implementation possible. People are able to participate if they are offered necessary and sufficient conditions. One of the necessary conditions is information, as Vice-Prof. Dr. Nguyen The Nghia, vice-president of Ho Chi Minh City Union of Sciences and Technologies Associations, put it: ‘The government should transparently inform people about its activities, apart from state secrets. This would show the government’s trust in the people and the sure return would be the people’s trust in the government’.30 However, this ‘trust stimulus’ should not only be given in critical periods such as economic crisis, but also in normal times. A sufficient



condition is the opportunity to participate, not only in the development and the implementation of the social security policies, but also in the monitoring and adjustment process of these policies.

Social security will become a mainstay in the development

If social security is a focal point only in emergency situations, In the World Bank’s report ‘TAKING STOCK. An Update on Vietnam’s Recent Economic Development’, (see details in box 4), the social security system is regarded as a focal point only in emergency situations - to be developed in such a way that it can temporarily resist a critical situation such as an economic crisis. Thus, the priority is still given to growth, and a certain level of inequality in society allowed to persist, so long as it does not lead to social instability. Yet such a position is contrary to the rights-based approach of social security.

Hopefully, the social security strategy for the period 2011-2020 will actually confirm social security as a mainstay in development, in a spirit of social justice.

References

Training Manual on Social Security / Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Phung, General Editor. Hanoi Laws University, Legal Publisher (2005)

Related Documents of the Party and Government (Socio-Economic Development Orientation, Socio-Economic Development Plans of 2001-2005, 2006-2010, 2011-2015, 2011-2020, Budget Estimation of 2008)

Related Laws and Ordinances (See Annex)Report on the Socio-Economic Situation in 2008, General Statistics

Office (GSO).Report on the Socio-Economic Situation in The First Six Months Of

2009, GSO.Participatory Monitoring of Urban Poverty in Vietnam, Synthesis

Report 2008, April 2009.TAKING STOCK: An Update on Vietnam’s Recent Economic

Developments, World Bank in Vietnam, 8-9 June 2009.Related articles in the electronic newspapers and magazines of

Vietnam.

Annex: Social Security Related Laws/Ordinances/Decrees

1. Education Law (1998, Amendment in 2005);

2. Children Protection, Care and Education Law (1991, Amendment in 2004);

3. People Health Care Law (1989);

4. Labour Codes (1994, Amendment in 2002, 2006 and 2007);

5. Disable Ordinance (1998, Draft Law on The Disabled - 2009 );

6. Elderly Ordinance (2000 Draft Law on The Elderly - 2009);

7. Vietnam Hero Mother Ordinance (1995);

8. Country Dedicators’ Privilege Ordinance (1994);

9. Flood and Storm Prevention and Management Ordinance (2000);

10. Decree 07/2000/ND-CP on Social Relief Policies (2000);

11. Decree 63/2005/ND-CP in Medical Insurance (2005);

12. Housing Law (2005);

13. Vocational Training Law (2006);

14. Law on Contracted Vietnamese Working Abroad (2006);

15. Law on Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention and Management (HIV/AIDS) (2006);

16. Gender Equity Law (2006);

17. Law on Infectious Disease Prevention and Management (2007);

18. Social Insurance Law (2006)

19. Health Insurance Law (2008);

20. Draft Law on Health Check and Treatment (2009)

Endnotes

A similar point of view can be seen in several documents: 1. ‘Renovation of social policies – proofs and solutions’, Professor Pham

Xuan Nam (general editor), 1997. ‘Training manual on social security,’ Msc. Nguyen Thi Kim Phung

(general editor), Hanoi Laws University, Justice Publisher, 2005, p. 13.

‘Social security’, Communist magazine, Source: Understanding several concepts in the Party Congress X, National Politics Publisher, Hanoi, 2006. Accessed from website, 2 June 2009.

Box 4. Stick with a focus on growth, or balance between growth stimulation and stability?

‘With the worst having been avoided and the economy displaying signs of recovery, the question is which direction to go in now. In March 2008, when the government adopted the ‘eight groups of measures’, and in November 2008, at the time of the ‘five groups of measures’, there was a very good reading of the economic situation by the government. Once the figures for the first half of 2009 become available, it might be good to pause and reflect whether sustaining economic activity should remain the single priority, or rather a new balance between the stimulation and stabilization objectives should be established.’ (TAKING STOCK: An Update on Vietnam’s Recent Economic Developments. World Bank for the Mid-Year Consultative Group Meeting for Vietnam, 8-9 June 2009, p. 27.)



Point of view of the Labour and Social Science Institute (Minister 2. Nguyen thi kim Ngan worked with the Labour and Social Science Institute on the draft social security strategy framework in the 2011-2020 period, Hong Phuong.) From Molisa.gov.vn, 6 May 2009, accessed on 4 June 2009.

Social security, Communist magazine, Source: Understanding several 3. concepts in the Party Congress X, National Politics Publisher, Hanoi, 2006. Accessed 2 June 2009.

Workshop to develop a social security strategy in the 2011-2020 4. period, 5-6 June 2009. From portal.net.vn, accessed 2 July 2009.

See Annex 1. 5.

National Assembly Decision 55/2001/QH10 on the five-year socio-6. economic development plan 2001-2005. From vbqppl.moj.gov.vn, accessed 28 August 2009.

Government Report on the five-year socio-economic development 7. plan 2006 – 2010. From vietnamnet.vn, 16 May 2006, accessed 28 August 2009.

IX term Party Steering Committee’s Political Report in the Party 8. Congress X, 18 April 2006. From cpv.org.vn; accessed 19 August 2009.

VIII term Party Steering Committee’s Political Report in the Party 9. Congress IX, May 2003 From cpv.org.vn; accessed 19 August 2009.

Government Report on the five year socio-economic development 10. plan 2006 - 2010 in 9th meeting, National Assembly term XI. From vietnamnet.vn, 16 May 2006, accessed 28 August 2009.

Government action programme to implement the decision of the 11. Party congress X and National Assembly term XI (according to government website). From vietbao.vn, 17 October 2006, accessed 19 August 2009.

Vietnamese farmers will enjoy social security with WTO assession. 12. Phuong Loan. From vietnamnet.vn, 30 November 2006, accessed 2 June 2009.

State budget for NN 2009: increasing expenditure for social security, 13. agriculture and rural. From Xaluan.com, 8 November 2008, accessed 2 June 2009.

Decision of the National Assembly term 12, dost-dongnai.gov.vn, 14. message, 8 May 2009, accessed 2 July 2009

Government reported the Assembly about implementation progress of socio-economic tasks, 20 May 2009. From vtv.vn, accessed on 2 June 2009.

Government Decision 30a/2008/ND-CP, 27 December 2008. 15.

Government Decision 18 NQ-CP. 16.

Socialist-oriented market economy - Development and 17. implementation of social security policies in the country, Nguyen Huu Dung, 9 June 2008. From tapchicongsan.org.vn, accessed 5 June 2009.

Vietnam social security strategy for the period 2011-2020, 29 June 18. 2009 Molisa.gov.vn, accessed 18 August 2009

Project on social security. Đan Thanh, anninhthudo.vn, 31 August 19. 2009, accessed 1 September 2009.

Socialist-oriented market economy - Development and 20. implementation of social security policies in the country, Nguyen Huu Dung, 9 June 2008, tapchicongsan.org.vn, accessed 5 June 2009.

National workshop on social security – toward effective 21. implementation of social security objectives, Đang Doanh, 11 April 2008, vnsocialwork.net, theo molisa.gov.vn, accessed on 2 June 2009.

Social protection for rural migrants to cities and industrial zones in 22. Vietnam, a literature review and secondary data analysis, Le Bach Duong, Nguyen Thanh Liem, Tran Giang Linh, Institute for Social Development Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam, socialprotectionasia.org, issue 1 May 2009.

Participatory monitoring of urban poverty in Vietnam, synthesis 23. report 2008, April 2009.

Statement of the UN country team for the informal mid-year 24. consultative group meeting - an assessment of the macroeconomic situation, 8 June 2009, un.org.vn, accessed 2 July 2009.

Social security policies for labourers should start from statistics, 25. nguoidaibieu.com.vn, accessed 2 July 2009.

These drafts are under finalization, but have not yet been publically 26. announced. So the information used in this article was taken from articles informing about the consultation workshops for these drafts: - Hong Phuong. From Molisa.gov.vn, 6 May 2009. Minister

Nguyen thi kim Ngan worked with the Labour and Social Science Institute on the Draft Social Security Strategy Framework for 2011-2020. Accessed 4 June 2009.

- Workshop to develop a social security strategy in 2011-2020, 5-6 June 2009, From portal.net.vn, accessed 2 July 2009.

- Vietnam social security strategy in 2011-2020. 29 June 2009. From molisa.gov.vn, accessed 18 August 2009.

- Thanh Phong, baomoi.com (thanh nien online), 26 March 2009. Accessed 18 August 2009.

- Project on social security. Đan Thanh, anninhthudo.vn thứ Hai, 31 August 2009. Accessed 1 September 2009.

- Social security for rural and mountainous areas should not be more tardy, 21 July 2009. From webbaohiem.net, accessed 4 September 2009.

Vietnam is at the bottom of the list in the region regarding the 27. number of social workers, Kim Anh, 12 November 2007. From vietbao.vn, accessed on 2 July 2009.

Workshop to deploying tasks of Vietnam social ensurance branch 28. in 2009. Hoang Canh. 16 February 2009. From molisa.gov.vn; accessed 18 August 2009.

IX term Party Steering Committee’s Political Report in the Party 29. Congress X, 18 April 2006. From cpv.org.vn; accessed 19 August 2009.

Social security is as important as demand stimulus, Đoan Quy, 9 30. May 2009. From vietnamnet.vn, accessed on 2 June 2009.

Gender and Labour


Women’s Committees in Trade Unions

On 20 October 2009, ITUC organized its first World Women’s Conference in Brussels, which was attended by several hundred representatives from over 100 countries. Most of the participants were members of women committees in trade unions, debating about and urging for recognition of trade unions on gender inequality at work and gender dimensions of the global crisis. The economic crisis is expected to increase the number of unemployment women by up to 22 million in 2009, according to the report Global Employment Trends for Women issued by the Trends team of the ILO Employment sector. Moreover, women continue to suffer multiple disadvantages in terms of access to labour markets. Women are found more in the informal economy, in vulnerable employment, part-time work and are still on average paid less than men for work of equal value. Women representation and leadership in trade unions were also hot topics. A lot of expectations and visions but at the same time a lot of responsibilities are landed on women committees.

In a recent issue of ALU (Issue 71) on gender and the labour movement, we began examining the question of the role women play in the labour union—as members, as leaders, and as decision-makers from a historical perspective or from the development of the women workers’ movement, in the Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea. This issue, we try to go deeper into this topic by reviewing the role and function of women’s committees within trade unions. Women’s committees are supposed to be key actors or have a mandate for promoting women’s rights and gender equality at the workplace and in the labour movement.

This discussion is based on interviews with women’s committee leaders from three unions: The Cambodian Tourism and Service Workers Federation (CTSWF), Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). We posed the same questions to each of them. Amongst them, CITU was one of the earliest to establish a women’s committee; they formed the All-India Coordination Committee of Working Women (AICWW) in 1979, setting up women’s sub-committees at the state levels. 18 years later, the women’s committee of KCTU was established. The Cambodian is the youngest of the three, set up only after 2000.

Why did they set up a women’s committee within the unions at the first place?

T.A. Latha, secretary of a state branch of CITU in Tamil Nadu told us that the women’s sub-committee started in the Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Chennai, as women were not comfortable talking to men about their issues. The committee was established to recruit a larger number of working women as trade union members, to make them active in the union and to promote them into leadership positions. The KCTU women’s committee shares a similar mission. ‘The purpose (of the women’s committee) was to raise the voice of women workers’ said Kim Mijeong, currently a researcher in KCTU and a former director of the Women’s Committee. Dalin Vong, the president of the women’s committee of the CTSWF also expressed her wishes to offer training to build up the self-confidence of women union members. In sum, strengthening women workers’ unionization and women empowerment are two common goals of the three women’s committees.

What do they do to achieve their goals?

MEPZ at Tambarain on the outskirts of Chennai was set up in 1984 and was accorded the status of an SEZ in 2002. According to an online source from India eNews 2009, over 70% of the workers in the zone are women coming from villages, who are driven by poverty and unemployment. Another study, ‘Socio-economic Impacts of Proliferation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India” (M. Suchitra, 2007), also estimated that women workers constitute 70-90% of the workforce. Although they are employed mainly in labour-intensive industries such as textiles and electronics, few workers have long-term employment contracts. Short-term contracts are used for flexible hiring and firing and for avoiding costs such as maternity leave or pay and redundancy pay. Labour laws are not suspended and companies are not exempted from them in this SEZ; these informal practices in employment are just carried out to evade implementation of laws which would cost them more. Direct violations of the law also occur but are not monitored and penalized. Minimum wages are not paid. A majority of workers paid a daily wage between Rs 30 and Rs 70 – way below the stipulated norms. Social security benefits are not implemented. Women are forced to work in the night shifts. Maternity

genDer anD laBour

Gender and Labour


leave is not allowed and sexual harassment of women workers is common in the zones.

A study by the Madras Institute of Development Studies among female factory workers, mainly at MEPZ, revealed that the women suffered from frequent headaches due to tension and intense concentration on work, acute back pain, joint pains, swelling in the legs, severe abdominal pains, various types of allergies, skin ailments, and piles (the result of working sitting in the same position for hours on end). The majority of women working in the garment units suffered from respiratory disorders such as asthma, long-lasting coughs and breathlessness.

To support women workers and to get more of them to join the union, the Women’s Committee of CITU in Chennai focuses on suffers and needs of women workers there and making them the demands of the whole trade union. For examples, the union has been actively opposing the ’Sumangali Thittam’, also known as Mangalya Thittam, which was introduced by the state government to facilitate women from poor families to earn money for getting marriages. In it implementation, this scheme has been contributing to exploitation of young women who are lured by companies to work under extremely abusive conditions without coverage by any laws. Secondly, the union is opposed to women working in the night shift due to poor public safety and lack of safe transportation for working women commuting at night. Thirdly, the union fights for the stronger enforcement of the Equal Remuneration Act and Maternity Benefit Act ensuring equal wages for equal work and maternity benefits for women.

R a i s i n g a w a r e n e s s o f gender issues, the union has been instrumental in setting up a complaint committee in the workplace for sexual harassment and this act was passed in 1997. Every year CITU conducts camps at the district level to increase leadership. They also aim to increase women membership to 30% in their union.

In South Korea, ‘the rate of the organization of the Korean women workers is around 5%, due to the fact that most of the women (70%) are irregular workers and 60% of women are concentrated in the very small companies that have less than 10 workers.’ This was reported in

the feature article of ALU Issue 71 on Korean Trade Unions and Organization of Korean Women Workers. The author, from the Korea Women Workers Association, pointed out that the focus of trade unions in South Korea is on male regular workers in large-size companies, so they are largely negligent in organizing women workers and women workers’ issues. Further, because male executives are mostly there at all levels of industrial and confederations of trade unions (both of FKTU and KCTU)

and individual local trade unions, trade unions are not sensitive to gender issues.

Facing these challenges, the women’s committee of KCTU is setting its vision and goals to give all union members a gender perspective and to give all women union members a chance to participate in the decision-making of the union. Raising

women’s issues, problems of irregular women workers, and the gender wage gap problem, the committee also ensure that women’s issues such as maternity benefits are included as part of the terms of collective bargaining with companies’ management. They also try to facilitate the entry of women to join the labour market.

In their internal structure, a quota system has been adopted by the KCTU since 2003, in which 30% of leadership should be women and among the president and vice president, there must be one man and one woman. The teachers’ trade union has its own system, which is a 1/2 quota – if the president is male, then the first vice president must be a woman, and vice versa. According to Kim, there had been a lot of sexual harassment in the union before the

women’s committee was formed. Nowadays, the woman committee has an internal tribunal to handle sexual harassment cases. They have raised the issue of sexual harassment to the public and to trade unions. Kim found that there has been a little improvement due to the efforts of the women’s committee.

In Cambodia, tourism is the second pillars of the country’s economy. However, according to a publication of Yale Center for the Study of Globalization in August 2009, the sector has suffered from the economic crisis, and the fallout from the swine flu. In Siem Reap, located next to the famed Angkor temples, a spot visited by more than 1 million tourists in 2008, the situation is described as ‘catastrophic’ by hotel managers. The hotels’ occupancy

In their internal structure, a quota system has been adopted

by the KCTU since 2003, in which 30% of leadership

should be women.

CITU (India) Women’s Committee has been fighting

the Sumangali Thittam, a state scheme to help poor woman earn money to prepare for marriage.

Gender and Labour


rate has fallen 25 percent compared to the same period in 2008. Several three- and four-star hotels have closed their doors for good, and the number of mid-range hotels giving promotional offers have been multiplying for months. It is estimated by many studies that unskilled female workers are overrepresented in the tourist industry by approximately 75%. According to Dalin Vong, the sector tends to use short contracts and outsourced workers.

CTSWF has been working hard in organizing women workers. They set up women’s committees in individual unions, so that 13 out of 15 unions in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap have women’s committees. Dalin felt that the trade union needs to have more women’s committees and to allocate more resources to them. However, Dalin was told that the trade union doesn’t have any budget in the year of 2010. She could just continue delivering activities and trainings for women workers as a volunteer. The committee focuses on awareness-raising of women workers and capacity-building.

The activity and bargaining power of independent trade unions like CTSWF are suppressed by the government by restrictions on union registrations and the right to strike, and tolerance of company union-busting. Therefore the women’s committee of the CTSWF is struggling for its basic survival and expanding its membership.

Awareness Building and Structural Change

The experiences of these three women committee have shown that promoting women’s rights and gender equality requires not only awareness-raising or prioritizing of women’s issues but also structural change of the trade union like setting up quota systems and a tribunal on sexual harassments. Most importantly, any structural change or plan must be backed up with substantial resources. The political will to empower women workers has to be reflected in the union budget.

The dialogue with these three women’s committees will continue next issue. Facing new challenges of a global economy and informalization of labour, how can women’s committees as part of the union, as a tool, be really useful and effective? Are there any new ways of organizing or of cooperation with different sectors of the social movement, especially the women’s movement, that they could draw from?

Reference

M. Suchitra (2007), SEZs: Economic or exploitation zones? InfoChange News & Features, February 2007: http://infochangeindia.org/200702085690/Agenda/Cost-of-Liberalisation/SEZs-Economic-or-exploitation-zones.html

Unemployment Insurance

Coverage of unemployment insurance should be extended to the migrant workers in the cities and the workers of the industrial enterprises in rural areas. The employers should contribute 2% of the total salary of the employees at the employing unit, while the employees contribute 1% of their salary. The level of benefits should not be lower than 33% of the local average wage and the maximum duration should not be more than two years.

Maternity Insurance

Currently only those working women whose employers contribute to the maternity insurance fund are qualified for maternity insurance. But the NGOs demand that all women disregarding employers’contribution, should be entitled to maternity benefits and holidays upon giving birth to babies, which are to be financed by the government budget and the employers’ contribution at 0.6% of the total salary of the employees. Individual citizens should not pay any premium. The government should be responsible for financing the medical cost of hospitalization.

Forward Looking

The NGOs are very sceptical that their requests will be met by the central government, but they still work very hard to put forward their views. Some of them have even tried out opinion surveys and work hand in hand with the migrant workers to fight for a better social insurance system. They continue to organize study sessions and meetings with local citizens, to form united fronts for negotiation with government officials. Many academics support their position, and hopefully they can work closely together to improve the enactment of the Social Insurance Law in China in the year 2010.

The Social Insurance Law Draft in China: A People’s Version - continued from page 24

Occupational Safety and Health


Case BriefMr. Zhang Haichao is a 28-year-old rural migrant

worker in Henan Province, China. He got the occupational lung disease, pneumoconiosis, after he worked in Zhendong Abrasion Proof Material Company from June 2004. In October 2007, shortly after he left the company, he began his long journey among hospitals in Zhengzhou (the capital of Henan Province) and Beijing. Many famous hospitals in Zhengzhou and Beijing confirmed that Mr. Zhang had pneumoconiosis. But these hospitals were not the officially designated occupational disease hospitals (whose diagnosis would be accepted in court for compensation cases), so their conclusions were not valid from a legal point of view. From the beginning of 2009, Zhang Haichao had returned to the Zhengzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute to apply for their diagnosis. After he struggled for a few months to obtain the required documents from the company, the Zhengzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute gave its official diagnosis on Mr. Zhang’s disease as being tuberculosis, not pneumoconiosis, on 25 May 2009. Of course, Mr. Zhang could not accept this result. Since he had suffered a lot in the process of seeking the diagnosis, Mr. Zhang could not stand to continue anymore in the long journey. On 22 June 2009, under Mr. Zhang’s demand, the doctor in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University opened Mr. Zhang’s chest and checked his lung directly through surgery. The doctor was later criticized by the authorities for conducting such a surgery in a non-designated hospital – although meanwhile, they also punished the Institute for giving the wrong diagnosis, by sacking the health officials involved. Finally Mr. Zhang’s pneumoconiosis has been confirmed in this extreme and damaging way. He finally received compensation in the amount of 615,000 RMB, and his struggle has inspired other occupational disease victims to form a new NGO for themselves.

The Problems in the SystemRequiring the self-incrimination of the employer

According to the Article 11 of the Occupational Disease

The System Needs Open Chest Surgery: What Zhang Haichao’s Case Shows in China’s Legal System for Occupational Disease

Jiang Tao

Diagnosis and Certification Regulation in China, when a worker applies for diagnosis of occupational disease, these following documents are necessary: employment history, the copy of occupational health record, the result of the physical examination for occupational health, the examining report on the factors causing occupational disease in the workplace and other relevant documents. Because the first three of those required documents are kept by the employer, it is difficult for the worker to obtain these documents. In fact, if the occupational disease has been confirmed, it will be adverse for the employer not only due to financial responsibility. As the Articles 52 and 53 of the Chinese Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Law provides that whether or not the employer has paid the work-related injury insurance for the worker, the worker has the right to claim compensation from the employer. Also, the fact of the worker’s suffering the occupational disease has a negative impact on other workers.

Since the result is so unfavorable for the employer, the legal requirement that the employer must submit documents to enable the employee to claim compensation from him/her is as difficult to satisfy as asking a tiger for its skin. Though there are provisions about the obligation of the employer to submit the relevant documents for occupational disease diagnosis in the law, there is no enforcement provision if the employer does not submit the documents, nor does the Occupational Disease Diagnosis Institute have any power to coerce the employer to do so. Therefore, it is very difficult for the worker to get these documents from the employer in practice, as Zhang Haichao’s case shows.

Another example of self-incrimination which the law requires but employers are not willing to fulfill, is providing information of the physical check-up result. Article 32 of the Chinese Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Law provides that the employer must tell the employee the result of the physical check-up. But if the employee has got an occupational disease, the employer will probably not tell him his result, like in Zhang Haichao’s case. Meanwhile, the hospital who carries out the examinations usually tells the results of




physical examination to the employer, not the workers themselves, since the employer pays to the hospital.

Monopoly of the authorization to diagnose occupational disease

Both the Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Law and the Occupational Disease Diagnosis and Certification Regulation has provided that only the medical institute which is authorized by the administrative department of public health at the provincial level has the right to carry the diagnosis and treatment of occupational disease. This provision has caused a monopoly of diagnosis and treatment of occupational disease by only certain designated institutes in many areas in China. Furthermore the monopoly results in bad service for the workers who may suffer from occupational hazards because only the diagnosis from those authorized institute is valid in the legal eyes. That is why in Mr. Zhang’s case the Zhengzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute dared to make a contrary conclusion to challenge many more famous hospitals. Obviously, the confidence of the Zhengzhou Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute does not come from its professional ability but only from its monopoly status according to the law. This was the direct reason for Mr. Zhang to decide upon the open chest surgery. At the same time, the monopoly of some institutes on the diagnosis is the biggest problem of the legal system on occupational disease, facing the sharpest criticism from the public after the reports of Mr. Zhang’s case.

With the development of the medical market and medical institutes in China, there are many more medical institutes having the professional ability on the diagnosis and treatment of occupational disease than the occupational prevention and treatment institutes authorized by the provincial administrative department of public health. This has been proven in Zhang Haichao’s case. Effective and convenient medical services for workers who have suffered occupational disease could be available by introducing more qualified hospitals and breaking up the monopoly.

The Possibility of Change

Since Mr. Zhang’s case was published, there has been huge debate on his case and the legal system for the prevention and treatment of occupational disease in China. Mr. Zhang and his case became the important work of different government departments from the local to the national. In September 2009, Mr. Zhang got compensation of 615,000 RMB from the Zhendong Abrasion Proof Material Company, his former employer. However, as one famous labour law professor in China predicted, Zhang Haichao’s case has been resolved as

a special case in a special way within the bureaucratic system in China without any change to the legal system for occupational disease. Based on the history and practice of some departments dominating in the process of legislation in China, the spokesman of the Ministry of Public Health has commented on Zhang Haichao’s case, insisting that the law and regulations on the diagnosis of occupational disease would not change in a short time. Nevertheless, the central government decided to investigate the whole process and sent investigation teams to various provinces.

Even though Mr. Zhang’s case cannot bring systematic change to the diagnosis and treatment of occupational disease right now, Zhang Haichao’s case is very significant not only for himself but also for more than two hundred million workers who may suffer from the threat and hazard of occupational disease. Mr. Zhang’s case has shown the problem of the diagnosis and treatment system and the plight of the workers to the public. The encouraging aspect for the workers is the improvement in the consultation draft of work-related injury insurance regulations in July 2009.

Meanwhile, similar cases have continued to appear in the public and in media reports. In November 2009, 125 ex-construction workers from Hunan came to Shenzhen who also suffered from the same disease, to petition the authorities for compensation. The Shenzhen labour bureau denied their compensation because of the absence of solid proof of having any labour contract. Being informal and casual daily labourers, it is very difficult for them to gather all the related evidence dated back to 1996.

Cases of workers with occupational disease certainly will not subside, but rather increase in the coming years. Occupational diseases usually have a long latency of 5-10 years. For example, it was discovered that many ex-tatami workers suffered from occupational diseases after working over five years. (See forthcoming report by AMRC, ‘The Current Situation of the Pneumoconiosis Workers and the Prevention of the Occupational Diseases’, [2010].) Now they have been abandoned by their employers and sent back to their home village in Chongqing, with little or no compensation at all. China is now facing a surge of occupational diseases; by 2007 there have been more than 600,000 reported lung-related cases as a result of rapid industrialization and gross negligence of OSH standards. So, the Pandora’s box is being opened.

ConclusionIn short, it is the legal system on occupational disease

which needs ‘open chest surgery’ - meaning, strict scrutiny - not the workers who are suffering the occupational diseases.


Regional Roundup

Indonesia

Workers rally against wage revision that doesn’t meet living costs

Workers from various organizations have staged rallies in many cities in Indonesia against the 2010 wage revision. Municipal administrations have issued minimum wage policies which according to workers only meets around 80 percent of the estimated basic living cost.

In Surabaya, a statement of the Mayor Bambang Dwi Hartono agreeing with the local payment body’s minimum wage recommendation has sparked a protest from labour unions in the city. According to the payment body, that cost in Surabaya would be Rp 1,017,618 in October, and with an inflation rate of 1.34 percent, would increase to Rp 1,031,253 by December. Based on the calculations, the body recommended Rp 1,031,500 as the 2010 minimum wage for Surabaya. Andi Kristiantono, chairman of KASBI Surabaya, argued that based on SBK Kasbi’s survey at the three traditional markets, the minimum living cost was Rp 1,093,532 (US$110), and with the inflation set to hit 3.5 percent, the minimum wage should have been Rp 1,131,804 (US$113).

Meanwhile in Tangerang, workers staged a rally at the municipal administration office center on 9 December to demand the mayor to implement Rp 1,171,600 as the 2010 monthly wage. The administration stated that it would maintain its stance that next year’s minimum wage would be Rp 1,118,250 (US$121) per month. Koswara, the chairman of the Indonesian Labor Union Alliance (Kasbi) for Tangerang municipality said the municipal manpower agency officials had promised to discuss workers’ request on the wage revision with

Mayor Wahidin Halim.In Jakarta, workers from various

organizations also staged a huge rally demanding higher wages. In a meeting with city councilors on 8 December 2009, workers asked the council to recommend Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo raise the provincial minimum wage to at least meet the basic living cost in the city. The 2010 minimum wage in Jakarta is Rp 1,118,009, or 84.84 percent of the estimated basic living cost, which for 2010 has been calculated at Rp 1,317,710.

‘The wages that workers receive each month don’t cover the living costs, even if they work overtime,’ said Emilia Yanti, from the Coalition of Independent Workers Unions (GSBI).

‘To make ends meet, some women are resorting to selling themselves.’

She added there were also groups taking advantage of the women’s situation and steering them into prostitution.

‘They trap the women to get in,’ she said. ‘It’s all very well covered. The organizing of female

workers as prostitutes is very well organized.’

Table of Jakarta Minimum Wage 2007-9Unions stated that they would stage more rallies if the

administration refused to fulfill their demands. Sources: The Jakarta Post, 21 October, 8 December, 9 December 2009

Thailand

No triumph in court for Triumph workers

On 17December 2009, Samut Prakan Labour Court, Thailand dismissed the case filed by 274 former workers of Triumph International and Body Fashion, Triumph’s manufacturing arm, reasoning the workers had already received severance money in accordance with the Labour Protection Act. Workers demanded the company to pay additional severance money according to an agreement

Workers’ demonstration in Tangerang demanding 100% living wage raise. Photo: SBN Pusat (KASBI affiliate)


Regional Roundup

always claimed that they had no decision-making power regarding the layoff. The workers also brought Try Arm products to sell to passers-by in the area. Source: Bangkok Post, 18 December 2009; Prachatai Website (www.prachatai.com), 21 December 2009

China

Social security tops labour disputes

Conflict pertaining to social welfare measures such as pension top the list of grievances, a survey released on 21 December has revealed. Jobs lost due to last year’s financial was another trigger for patchy relations between employers and workers, the Blue Book of China’s Society survey brough out by the Social Sciences Academic Press has shown. Yet unlike earlier rows that focused on wage hikes, the disputes this time focused more on social security –especially the issue of pensions for the earliest batch of migrant workers, from the 1980s.

The survey also revealed that the nation’s courts dealt with nearly 170,000 labour disputes in the first half of the year, an increase of 30 percent over the same period last year (though the portion of migrant workers was not specified).Source: China Daily, 22 December 2009

GP Workers Strike for fair pay, better payThousand workers of GP battery factory in Huizhou

went on strike 7 December. They demanded better wage and fair benefits. They blocked the main road in front of the factory. Company security intervened in their actions. At least three workers were reported to be injured during some conflicts and chaos with company security.

Yesterday, the company announced that if any worker(s) were absent for three days, her or his act would be considered as resignation. Half of the workers still went on strike in the morning of 9 December, but all of them returned to work in the afternoon. The company agreed to increase 1 yuan per day and 1 yuan for special allowance.

One worker was injured while blocking the road. She was hospitalized, but the company accused her of illegal act and refused to pay for her medical expenses. She is still negotiating with the company. Some workers have proposed to raise emergency fund for her medical care.Source: Globalization Monitor, 9 December 2009

between Triumph and its labour union made in 1999.Samut Prakan Labour Court ruled that Triumph

International had laid off all 1,954 workers because it had suffered financial loss. For this reason, the agreement on additional severance money did not apply. Sorasat Namuangrak, the workers’ lawyer, said they would appeal the case to the Supreme Labour Court, arguing that the 1999 severance agreement did cover other lay-off situations.

The workers said they would continue their campaign against unfair layoff by selling their own Try Arm products in front of major shopping malls which sell Triumph products. ‘We’re now desperate, and don’t know how to fight on. We will go round selling our own products so the public can see the huge difference between costs and the prices set by the company. We sell our products at 49 and 59 baht a piece,’ said Bunrod Saiwong, one of their leaders.

One day after the case dismissal, about 30 workers gathered in front of the Phetchaburi Rd offices of Triumph International (Thailand) Co, the parent company of Body Fashion Co, to demand that the conglomerate abide by the OECD Code of Conduct for transnationals and hold consultations with employees about policies affecting them. They also urged the Swiss headquarters to negotiate with their two representatives, Thanyathorn Khiri Thawornphat and Jitra Kotchadet, who have travelled to several European countries in their campaign since 29 Nov, since executives in Thailand had


Regional Roundup

Coal mine blast kills 107 workers – largest death toll in mines in two years

The death toll from a coal mine explosion in the northeastern city of Hegang, Heilongjiang province reached 107, making the incident China’s worst mine disaster in almost two years.

A total of 528 miners were working underground when the blast happened, at Xinxing Coal Mine, a State-run subsidiary of the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Holding Group. The mine is the largest State-owned mine with an incident of this scale in years. It is the latest tragedy to strike the nation’s mining industry where hundreds die despite improving safety standards.

The blast took place around 2:30 am on 21 November 2009 with 528 miners working underground, littering the ground with shards of shattered glass and twisted pieces of metal. Xinhua News Agency reported that 420 escaped the blast. The mine was overcrowded and with inadequate ventilation. This contributed to the accumulation of gas and the explosion.

In quick order, the mine’s director, deputy director and chief engineer were sacked on Saturday.

Deaths from mining incidents happen often in China. To meet the growing demand for energy in the country - 70% based on coal - the coal mine owners push to the extreme exploitation of gas fields without ensuring safety.

In 2008, the Government closed over 1,000 small mines considered unsafe and there were ‘only’ 3200 dead according to official figures, fewer than in previous years, but still the highest number in the world. The number of deaths last year in China is equal to that in the U.S. in 1907, the worst year for the American giant. Unofficial sources say the victims for mining accidents in China are at least 20 thousand a year.

A State-run mine in Gujiao, Shanxi province, exploded on Feb 22 and killed 77. But in that incident, none of the mine’s alarms sounded and, even as gas indicators measured at dangerous levels, nobody at the control room took action.

Xinxing Coal Mine is located around 400 km east of the provincial capital of Harbin and has an approved annual production capacity of 1.45 million tons. It has an annual coal output of 12 million tons and a verified coal reserve of 3 billion tons.

The Hegang incident is China’s deadliest mine blast since two collieries were flooded in Xintai, Shandong province, in August 2007, killing 181 miners.

The families of each deceased miner are expected to receive at least 250,000 yuan ($36,600), 25 percent

more than the standard compensation for fatalities in negligent incidents in China.Sources: China Daily, 23 November 2009; Asia News, 25 November 2009

Group of workers travel to Shenzhen to seek compensation for respiratory illnesses

Fifty migrant workers from Zhangjiajie, Hunan, are now protesting in the Petition Office and Citizens’ Centre in Shenzhen. They are requesting the Shenzhen government for compensation from an incurable respiratory disease, contracted some years ago when they worked as deep-level drillers in construction sites in the city. Two workers have already died from the disease, and others have headed back to their hometown, destitute and in despair.

Only about 20 workers remain in Shenzhen, though others might return if things look up.

In support of the cause of the workers, a group of teachers and students from higher education institutions in China and Hong Kong have drafted an open letter to the Shenzhen government in support.

Cases of occupational illness have been exploding in China. Migrant workers have been unaware of work hazards and their legal rights, while employers also have been ignoring worker safety issues. Recently, however, workers have been finding themselves with illnesses caused from work done even as long as a decade or more ago, and have been increasingly aware of their legal rights, and succeeding in claiming treatment and compensation.Source: Ming Pao newspaper, 13 and 23 November 2009; China Daily

Bangladesh

Seven ship-breaking workers die in one week

The IMF gave an urgent call for an end to barbaric deaths in the ship-breaking yards in Bangladesh after seven workers died in one week of October 2009.

Md. Jahangir Alam, a ship-breaking worker who had migrated from the poverty-stricken Rangpur district to work at the Habib steel ship-breaking yard in Chittagong, Bangladesh, died as a result of an accident at work on 12 October 2009. He was the seventh Bangladeshi ship-breaking worker to die in a week.

Three other ship-breaking workers at the Pakija shipyard died from inhaling poisonous gases on 11


Regional Roundup

In some quarters of the world, 25 years would already mean a lifetime. Others would call their vehicle ‘vintage’ if it lasted that long; and a movie would be dubbed a ‘classic’ if it was created a quarter of a century ago. But for the Bhopalis, 25 years seems like yesterday.

The date 3 December 2009 marked the 25th year of that dreaded night in Bhopal, where deadly gas engulfed the whole city and choked the life out of every living being, including more than 22,000 citizens. At midnight of the 3rd of December 1984, holding tanks of the Union Carbide Pesticide factory in Bhopal exploded, releasing 40 tonnes of deadly chemicals. Time seemed to stop while the death cloud silently marched through the city, its pace blinding, stopping for nothing. Most of the Bhopalis were fast asleep, making any attempt to elude the deadly gas impossible. When morning broke, death and destruction gripped the city. Horrific images of dead children, men and women - many caught in their sleep - shocked the whole world. Screams and wails of the survivors filled all corners of the city.

25th Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy- the fight still goes on. The photos show some scenes from the two days of events, 2-3 December 2009, including a candlelight vigil and a mass rally which ended outside the Union Carbide factory gates.

Photos: Darisman

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy has been dubbed the worst industrial disaster of all time, not only because of the sheer number of victims on 3 December, but also because of how it continues to poison – after more than two decades - the lives and future of the Bhopalis; and because of how justice for all the Bhopalis – women and children – have up until now been elusive.

According to environmental reports from various organizations working on the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, 10 million tonnes of deadly and toxic chemicals are still inside the Union Carbide factory waiting to be cleaned. The chemicals continue to seep into the groundwater, providing the vector for further poisoning of the populace. The most recent study conducted showed the contamination of groundwater reached out to a radius of three kilometers from the Union Carbide factory. The decades of poisoning are producing children with lifelong deformities, making the tragedy a thing of both then and now.

NO MORE BHOPALS!


Regional Roundup

October, just three days after three other workers were smashed to death by an iron-plate at the Crystal shipyard on 8 October.

‘The labour law is being blatantly violated and the police have recorded these incidents as unnatural deaths,’ reports Mojibur Rahman Bhuiyan, General Secretary of IMF affiliate the Bangladesh Metalworkers’ League.

At a meeting between Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), an organization of workers and employees’ organizations, and the Bangladesh State Labour Minister, on 15 October, Bhuiyan demanded that the Minister investigate and punish the companies responsible for the deaths.

‘This is murder by shipyard owners and we demand exemplary punishment. We can not allow this to happen anymore. No one can take advantage of poverty and unemployment. The government has a responsibility to create decent jobs,’ Bhuiyan said to the Minister.

BML also demanded a mechanism for inspecting the ships before they enter into the Bangladeshi territory. BML also appealed for international solidarity to ‘stop these barbaric killings’. The IMF also sent a letter to the Bangladeshi State Labour Minister in support of the ship-breaking workers, calling for immediate action to respect the rights and improve the health, safety and welfare of ship-breaking workers in Bangladesh.Source: Anita Gardner, IMF, 22 October 2009

50 injured in Bangladesh labour unrest: policeAccording to the Dhaka Police, on 31 October 2009,

more than 50 workers were injured, as police fired rubber bullets at thousands of protesting garment factory workers. Theworkers were protesting over unpaid wages in an industrial hub north of Dhaka. In its defence, the District Police Chief Mahfuzul Haq Nuruzzaman told AFP at least 10,000 workers attacked police with stones and bricks, prompting them to retaliate with rubber bullets and tear gas. At least 50 workers and a number of police officers were injured in the clashes, police sub-inspector Maleka Begum said.

However according to a private news channel the Bangla Vision, at least two workers and two policemen were killed and more than 100 labourers injured, many with bullet wounds, in the fierce clashes.

‘The workers of Nippon garment were demanding unpaid wages after the owners shut down the factory without prior notice. The angry workers became unruly this morning and attacked police,’ Begum said. The workers also damaged and torched vehicles and erected barricades on a key highway, cutting communications between the capital and northern districts of Bangladesh, she added.

The global economic crisis has affected the garment sector in Bangladesh and the factories in the South Asian nation have been hit hard with several of

The Chief Executive Officer of Union Carbide then was Warren Anderson. He was immediately arrested by the authorities, detained but able eventually to post bail. This gave him the chance to leave India and escaped to the United States of America, where to this day he remains. Many attempt of the people to ask for his extradition back to India have fallen on deaf ears.

SolidarityThe Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational

Accident Victims (ANROAV) have made ‘Justice for Bhopal’ one of its major campaigns. The Network continues to work and build stronger solidarity with various grassroots organizations working on the same issue. A small contingent of members of the network – from Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines - went to Bhopal this year to show solidarity, along with other activists from around the world.

There were hundreds of activities and actions inside India and across the globe to commemorate the 25th

year of the tragedy. The ANROAV contingent joined the candlelight vigil held on 2 December 2009 by women and children from the Sambhavna Trust, and the torch rally lighting the road leading to the Union Carbide factory.

The next day commemorative activities continued on the streets of Bhopal. A 5,000 strong rally led by the women of Bhopal marched through the busy streets, calling for justice for the victims of the tragedy. The marchers proceeded to the Union Carbide factory, and there, the various activists made speeches affirming the will - both intense and contagious - of the Bhopalis to carry on fight. Many of those who have continued to fight for justice in Bhopal were recognized.

After 25 years, memories of the events that transpired are still crisp, the anger still seething, and the call for justice remains fever-pitch. The spirit of struggle of the people of Bhopal remains steadfast: an inspiration to all of us now and for the future.

Noel Colina, ANROAV Coordinator


Regional Roundup

them cutting wages to compete for orders with other producing countries, such as Vietnam, China and India. Inexpensive clothing accounts for 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports, which are vital to the economy. Forty percent of Bangladesh’s industrial workforce is employed in the garment sector.Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP), 31 October 2009

Pakistan

Unilever, IUF Settlement Resolves Conflict over Precarious Work at Lipton Pakistan

A negotiated settlement between Unilever and the IUF has resolved the long, difficult conflict over the rights of precarious workers at the company’s directly-owned Lipton/Brooke Bond tea factory in Khanewal, Pakistan. The negotiations took place under the auspices of the UK’s National Contact Point responsible for the application of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. The IUF made a submission to the OECD in March 2009 as part of a campaign which generated strong international support for the Khanewal workers and their struggle.

The Khanewal factory with only 22 directly-employed Unilever workers and many hundreds of disposable jobs for casual workers supplied by labour contractors on a ‘no work, no pay’ system became a powerful symbol of the denial of fundamental trade union rights through massive casualization. Precarious workers at Khanewal were legally excluded from joining a union of Unilever workers and participating in a collective bargaining relationship with Unilever as their real employer.

Under the terms of the settlement, Unilever has agreed to create 200 additional direct, permanent jobs, retroactive to 15 October 2009, with job selection to be based on seniority and priority given to the members of the Khanewal workers’ Action Committee, which led the struggle locally with the support of the IUF-affiliated National Federation of Food, Beverage and Tobacco Workers. The selection and employment process will be jointly monitored and implemented by the IUF and Unilever at the national level.

Because the labour hire agencies in many cases systematically fail to fulfil their mandatory financial obligations to the workers they employ as well as their statutory obligations to the state social security and retirement funds, the settlement involves both direct lump sum payments by Unilever to the contract

agency workers (both those who do receive permanent positions and those who do not) as well as guarantees from Unilever that the arrears in contractors’ mandatory obligations to the state will be fully met.

As part of the agreement, Unilever commits to investment in and continued operations at the Khanewal factory.

The Khanewal workers’ Action Committee has warmly thanked the many trade unionists and human rights defenders around the world who supported their struggle with demonstrations, messages to the company, meetings, pickets, political action and other ways of expressing solidarity. Their support was crucial. Source: IUF, 26 October 2009

South Korea

Tripartite accord on 4 December and the Grand National Party’s bill to revise the Trade Union and Labour Relations Adjustment Act (TULRAA)

Labour rights take a big step backward in Korea as government permission to allow multiple unions in one workplace has been delayed yet again. On 4 December 2009, officials from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU), the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) and the Ministry of Labour agreed to delay statutory permission for different groups of workers at one workplace to organize themselves into separate unions until July 2012. Furthermore, corporations are banned in principle from paying full-time union officials and allowed to grant paid time-off for their union activities. However, the enforcement would be delayed for six months.

Based on this agreed ‘tripartite’ discussion (which ignored and excluded the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, KCTU), the ruling Grand National Party made a revision bill to the Trade Union and Labour Relations Adjustment Act (TULRAA) and sent it to the National Assembly on 8 December 2009.

KCTU rejects the legitimacy of the dialogue because it excluded KCTU after previous talks including KCTU failed, and rejects the legitimacy of the substance as well, since the proposed terms set back rights for workers and in effect renders overall union activities subject to the permission of management. The provision of multiple unionism is one that has been delayed repeatedly, and .

Source: KCTU, 21 December 2009


Regional Roundup

The Lee administration attacks the government employees’ union

Korea’s Lee Myung-bak Administration is severely suppressing the government employees’ union. The government sued and reprimanded government employees who participated in a rally for ‘Restoring Democracy and Improving People’s Livelihood,’ in which even the main opposition Democratic Party and three other major opposition parties participated. In addition, public officials who published a newspaper advertisement under the title of ‘We want to become civil servants of the people’ were persecuted. The government sued 16 and directed governmental bodies to which concerned officials belong to discipline 105 employees (so far 51 disciplined, including 17 dismissed).

The Lee administration has mobilized the Ministry of Public Administration and Safety (MOPAS), state and local governments and even the National Intelligence Service to interfere in the process of integration among three government employees’ unions and their accession to the KCTU, an umbrella body of labour unions, showing the government’s severe hostility to workers exercising their labour rights.

The government instructed several governmental organizations to discipline 29 labour union officials (among then, eight faced heavy discipline) because they were involved in so-called ‘illegal labour union activities,’ which actually was advertising a union ballot on the integration of the three unions.

On 24 November 2009, the cabinet meeting issued a bill to revise government employees’ working rules so that ‘public officials are banned from opposing government policies.’ The government is devastating basic rights enshrined in the Constitution, retreating democracy and impeding the check and balance effect by the public officials’ union.

Finally MOPAS and the Labour Ministry have still kept the government employees’ union unrecognized and powerless by coercing 95 of the union’s regional offices to close and practically refusing to accept the report of labour union establishment. Source: KCTU, 21 December 2009

Cambodia

Tuk-tuk drivers union shows collective power, force suspension of unfair fines

On 5 November 2009, more than 200 tuk-tuk drivers – with their tuk-tuks - took to the streets in Phnom Penh in a rally to protest against unfair practices of Phnom Penh traffic police. It was the tuk-tuk drivers’ union, member of IDEA (‘Independent Democracy of Informal Economy Association’) that mobilized their members to make their voices heard.

What was at stake? The authorities of Phnom Penh Municipality issued a new bill, obliging tuk-tuk drivers to pay taxes via the purchase of a license plate, amounting to US$26.5.

While this is quite a considerable amount for any informal worker (a tuk-tuk driver earns not more than US$2 per day on average), most of them duly lined up at the municipal desks to buy the license plate. Most important for them is to remain in business legally and continue earning a living. More and more of these drivers are laid-off garment workers who took loans to invest in a tuk-tuk.

The problem arose when it soon turned out that the license plates were out of stock, forcing the tuk-tuk drivers to hit the streets ‘illegally’. Phnom Penh police immediately took the opportunity to start fining the tuk-tuk drivers: US$5 or more. Curiously no driver got any

Vorn Pao, IDEA leader, speaks to tuk-tuk drivers during their protest action. Source: IDEA


Regional Roundup

receipt for their payments. Of course the workers were wondering where their money was going.

Protests by IDEA against this practice were to no avail. In the end, it was a rally of over 200 tuk-tuks, disturbing the Phnom Penh traffic in front of various municipal buildings, that drew attention to the issue. They could have been with more than double, if that same police were not trying to prevent many more drivers from joining the protest. The event was reported in all main media, forcing the authorities to take action. ‘We will postpone the fining of tuk-tuk drivers without licence plates until 30 December. After that, we will start to punish them again,’ said Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Chreang Sophan.

For IDEA and their members this action was surely giving confidence, not only to solve the problem, but also to establish a real informal workers union which – through collective action – can improve the situation of the workers.

More demands are in their planning: trying to lower the price for the license plates and ensure that tuk-tuk drivers maintain the right to operate all over the city.Source: AMRC interviews with IDEA members, December 2009

Hong Kong / China

Workers of JUSCO Shenzhen come to Hong Kong to assert their rights

In November 2009, three former workers from AEON—JUSCO Shenzhen (JUSCO), Zhang Liya, Gao Peng and Xiao Xingbing, came to Hong Kong to confront the company, which they argued delayed their wage payments from 1 January 2006 to April 2009.

During the employment period of their labour contracts, they said, the company intentionally delayed payment of wages and compensation for work-related injury, dismissed workers during medical leave, breached the laws, used violence against its workers and suppressed employees who complained. Over the past four years, workers of JUSCO have not been given their basic earning for living and injured workers have

not been given legal and basic medical care and living allowances.

The workers came on their own finances and without any union to assist them. They tried to negotiate with the company office, and also engaged in protests in front of the department store in Kornhill, finally also beginning a hunger strike. Several organizations in Hong Kong came to support them, including SACOM.

Finally after repeated attempts to negotiate with management, on 12 November the workers and the management came to a compromise, after their return to Shenzhen. JUSCO continued to deny that it violated any laws, but it agreed to pay the workers compensation. Gao and Xiao accepted 28,000 RMB, and Zhang received 24,000 RMB.

This is a rare instance where workers from China have come themselves to Hong Kong to confront their Hong Kong-based employer, without the guidance from the beginning of any other NGO.

Source: SACOM, Debby Chan

Former workers from JUSCO Shenzhen staging hunger strike in Hong Kong. Source: SACOM

Reviews / Resources


Reviews / Resources

CHINESE INVESTMENTS IN AFRICA: A LABOUR PERSPECTIVEEditEd by Anthony yAw bAAh And hErbErt JAuch PublishEr: AfricAn lAbour rEsEArch nEtwork, 2009

Chinese investment in Africa often invokes strong feelings and intense debates, especially on the issues of human rights. Based on detailed research in 10 African countries, the book provides a comprehensive guide to the Chinese investment in Africa and its impact on labour, adding fuel to the debate. Apo Leong from Asia Monitor Resource Centre has also contributed one chapter for the book.

The book attempts to delve into key research questions, such as: Is investment from China mutually beneficial or does it just bring new forms of ‘neo-colonialism’? Will the China-Africa deals result in increased industrialization and benefit to Africa? Will Africa continue to be just a supplier of raw materials, labour relations and working conditions at Chinese enterprises? Are Chinese consumer goods replacing or complementing the existing African traders?

The book is divided into three main chapters: providing introduction to Chinese-African relations, Chinese investments in Africa and the country case studies. In the first chapter, introduction to the Chinese-African relations, Thulani Guliwe provides a holistic overview of the relations between China and Africa which, he argues, date back thousands of years to the period of Han dynasty (202 BC to 220 AD). In the contemporary era he identifies two distinctive relationship eras driven by markedly different goals. Whereas in the 1960s and 1970s the engagement was based on ideology and China was offering itself as an alternative to the west and the Soviet Union, this changed after the end of the cold war until the present times, when it is more based on mere commercial interests. At the same time African leaders see China as a viable alternative to the ‘Washington Consensus’, often loosely termed as the “Beijing Consensus’, which entails support without ‘internal interference’.

The book also presents interesting factual details. Though China has become a major trading partner to

Africa, the US and Europe continue to be the major sources of foreign investment into Africa. In spite of the increased Chinese investment, Africa is still not the favourite destination for the Chinese FDI and received only 3% of the Chinese outward FDI in 2007. The overall trade balance is in favour of Africa, with China importing lots of raw materials needed for its ever-expanding economy.

The 10 countries covered by this book include Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya and the Chinese investments in these countries is concentrated mostly in the energy, mining, manufacturing, retail, and finance sectors.

The book discusses at length the working conditions in the Chinese companies and though they vary from country to country yet there is a common trend of ‘tense labour relations, hostile attitudes by Chinese employers towards trade unions, poor labour conditions and unfair labour practices’. Chinese employers also tend to be lowest-paying among similar sectors, and hardly any collective bargaining takes place in these companies. Ironically there are grave cases of ‘locking in’ of workers during work hours that have led to deaths during fires in Nigeria and Kenya, very similar what has happened in toy factories in Shenzhen, China.

The book also looks in detail at the organizing initiatives in the Chinese companies and shows a success story from Zambia. However, it is a very difficult process and there are many suggestions that also include bringing the cases of labour violations to the notice of ACFTU (the national UNIM centre) which might put pressure on the Chinese government and companies to improve conditions. On strengthening the union capacity, it proposes to improve the Chinese language skills so that effective negotiations and bargaining can be done with the management.

Finally, the book argues that problems with Chinese investment have to be seen in the broader context of neoliberal globalization where growth consumes other social considerations. The trade patterns that have characterized African relations with Europe and US are replicated in the Chinese-African relations and strengthen the case for alternate policies for growth, in view of the global economic crisis. Enquiries: African Labour Research Network (ALRN), email: [email protected] or [email protected]


Reviews / Resources

by telling the stories of real individuals (with only names changed). Mary Rogers lives in the UK. Her thirteen-year-old was lured into sexual exploitation by pimps and traffickers from another town. Noi in Thailand and Nevary in Cambodia were cheated to prositution. They are victims of transnational trafficking. Approximately 80% of the estimated 600,000 to 800,000 transnational trafficking victims per year – or some 640,000 – are women and girls. Don’t think that human trafficking is for the sex industry only. The chocolate you like most or you buy for your lover and children may be products of forced and trafficked child labourers. Children are trafficked from the neighbouring countries of Mali and Bukina Faso, or are from other parts of the Ivory Coast, which is the biggest producer of cocoa in the world. According to a BBC report in April 2001, children were found imprisoned on farms and beaten if they tried to escape, some not even eleven years old. The going rate for these children was around 15 British pounds.

This book is calling for global action. The group works closely with the United Nations and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) in their efforts to bring an end to the trafficking trade. Their supporters around the world are evidence that small actions, when undertaken on a wide scale, can make a big difference. In this book, broadcaster and campaigner Steve Chalke highlights practical ways in which you can make a positive difference in helping to bring this shameful trade to an end. A chapter by Cherie Blair focuses on trafficking of women and women’s rights.

Enquiries: [email protected] (for more about the campaign); www.lionhudson.com (to contact the publisher about the book)

Price: UK £7.99, US$16.95

STOP THE TRAFFIK: PEOPLE SHOULDN’T BE BOUGHT & SOLD

by stEvE chAlkE, with A chAPtEr by chEriE blAir

PublishEr: lion hudson, 2009

Heart-breaking stories of sufferings and fighting

Trafficking is everywhere and could be happening next door. Girls are kidnapped and sold, boys are stolen – these are done for others’ pleasure, at cheap prices and in an inhumane way. The trafficking of people is a hugely profitable business, generating between 10 and 32 billion US dollars a year in profit - a profit second only to the trafficking of drugs. This book of severe contrasts consists of stories of modern slaveries and undocumented child labour. A the same time, it also contains hopes. As quoted in its forward page, ‘this book is for anyone who wants more than just facts about the shame of this trade in people. It’s for those who want to do something to end it.’

STOP THE TRAFFIK is the actually name of a global movment rooted in community action. It was formed to raise awareness, encourage involvement and inspire action to help stop human trafficking, and to support those it affects. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, human trafficking now ranks as one of the biggest challenges to human rights that our world faces and is the fastest-growing. This book shows you that fact that trafficking is not far away from you, it happens where you live, in your backyard, in your community or even family,

CHINESE WHISPERS: THE TRUE STORy BEHIND BRITAIN’S HIDDEN ARMy OF LABOUR

hsiAo-hung PAi

PublishEr: PEnguin books 2008

“We weren’t given any annual holidays. There’s no such thing as ‘paid holiday’ in Chinatown….[Here in Furama Restaurant] were made to work non-stop throughout the year, with only two days’ break over Christmas but no pay. And if you’re sick you won’t get paid at all.’ Thus says a worker at

one of London Chinatown’s most famous restaurants. The prestige and glamour of a restaurant or company brand turns out to be no guarantee at all, that all workers under direct or indirect employ are documented and working humane conditions. Most of the 5,000 Chinese restaurants and 10,000 Chinese takeaways in Britain are staffed largely by undocumented workers with working standards and pay far below the national requirements, and constantly vulnerable to dismissal and worse – deportation and devastating loss of huge recruitment fees. It was not unusual that the undocumented Chinese workers earned just 3.20 BRP per hour, far below the national minimum, and had entered the country for a recruitment fee of 300,000 RMB (20,000 BRP), putting them into debt that at such low wages, they could only pay off after years of hard and risky work.


Those workers are part of the hidden army of labour, of undocumented Chinese workers in Britain, estimated to number between 700,000 and one million. In this book, author Hsiao-Hung Pai has interviewed workers, and also posed as an undocumented worker, in restaurant, agricultural, manufacturing and massage parlour/sex industries. She had been provoked with dismay at the pattern of ‘indifference-debate-indifference’ of the media and public, in reaction to tragic recent incidents in the UK involving migrant Chinese workers. One such case was the Morecambe Bay cockling workers tragedy in 2004, where 23 workers died by drowning due to the neglect of their ‘gangmaster’ (term for a kind of dispatch company). Another case was of 58 workers who had illegally entered the country and suffocated to death in a lorry in Dover.

The book clearly shows the deep dependence of certain industries in Britain, on the vulnerable undocumented workers, literally slaving away for years simply to pay off debt incurred to ‘snakeheads’ (labour traffickers). Some of the Chinese workers expressed terrible disappointment, to find that corruption and outright inhumanity of employers and agencies were no better in Britain than what they had faced in China. An ironic side of reality shown in the book

is not just the ugly truth on the side of the workers, but the glib and superficial responses (mostly outright denials) of the companies, when the author, after ‘coming out’ of her undercover role, wrote letters to the employing company.

Yet the author also warns of the harmful effects of ‘immigration control’ measures that refuse to protect the rights of undocumented workers as workers and as human beings, while continuing to tacitly allow businesses to take advantage of such vulnerable workers.

Overall the book is a tightly written, moving ‘must-read’ book. It is backed with understanding of historical and legal contexts in China and in Britain, as well as with conversations with workers themselves. The book bluntly challenges readers not to accept the status quo which means dependence, even within the borders of First World countries like Britian, on the virtual servitude of undocumented foreign migrants who are ‘just doing a job, trying to improve our lives.’

Price: £8.99For enquiries: go to www.penguin.com

New AMRC Publication Xiagang: The Sacrifice in the Transformation of Labour Policy in ChinaFrom State to Market*

This book is a collection of essays on the exploration of the issue of layoffs in state-run enterprises in China. Most articles are related to the studies commissioned by Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC) in the late 1990s. It reveals the facts of Xiagang workers that had been veiled in the mainstream media. Certainly, it is a book indispensable for anyone who is interested in labour issues or shows concern for the livelihood of Xiagang workers in China.

*Some articles are written in Chinese

Price: HKD 100 / US$12.50For ordering, please contact: [email protected]

Reviews/Resources, continued

New AMRC Publication

a s - labour update - Asia Monitor Resource Centre

Documents

Transcript of a s - labour update - Asia Monitor Resource Centre