Josephine

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• Josephine Olive Parilla
• Homenet Philippines

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HOMENET PHILIPPINES

• The vision of Homenet Philippines is a society
  that recognizes the human rights of all workers,
  both formal and informal, women and men, without
  any discrimination based on gender, class,
  ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, and other
  differentiating factors, towards the social,
  political, and economic empowerment of homebased
  workers through their own organized groups and
  networks.
• For its mission, Homenet Philippines will
  facilitate the consolidation of all homebased
  workers, particularly women in the country, and
  develop their capability to effect changes in
  policies, legislation, programs and services in
  their interest.

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OBJECTIVES/ GOALS

• Empower homebased workers, particularly women, as
  one of the main components of the informal
  economy which absorbs the majority of all working
  people
• Facilitate the organization and consolidation of
  homebased workers throughout the Philippines
  towards a common transformative agenda, and an
  integrated and comprehensive system of programs
  and services to benefit them that will involve
  all stakeholders

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OBJECTIVES/ GOALS

• Develop the capabilities of homebased workers to
  gain visibility, recognition, participation, and
  representation in relevant decision-making bodies
  of government (national government agencies,
  local government units, government owned and
  controlled corporations, government financing
  institutions, etc.), trade unions, cooperatives,
  development organizations, and other relevant
  groups and
• Improve access to productive resources, social
  protection and justice

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Members of Homenet Philippines

• Homenet Philippines is a broad coalition of
  twenty (23) diverse groups from the national
  down to the local membership based organizations
  with homeworker constituencies mostly women
• Has a total numbers of more than 70,000.00.

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HOMENET PHILIPPINES IN ACTION
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Sectoral Issues
INVISIBILITY IN STATISTICS LACK OF
REPRESENTATION/RECOGNITION
Issues
LACK OF ACCESS TO SOCIAL SECURITY, JUSTICE
PROTECTIONOF WORKPLACES PROTECTION FROM
VIOLENCE
LACK OF ACCESS TO PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES
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Globalization...downsizing flexible labor force
F L E X I B L E
Part-time
Commission- paid
Labor Contracting
Rigid Employment
Regular Employment (Rigid Employment)
Contractual worker
Casual worker
Jobs Service contracting
E M P L O Y M T N
Home worker
Boundary
Macaraya, 1999 The NewEmployment
Relations..Phils.
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Gender Employment

• Gender gaps in male-female economic participation
  rates have been narrowing. (However, these
  improvements in womens employment are
  occurring during a period of declining real wages
  and bad working conditions for workers).
• Improvements in womens access to credits,
  information and markets
• Agricultural sector declined while the service
  sector expanded
• Increased employment of women in export-oriented
  industries
• New service sector jobs (IT such as call
  centers.)
• While new service jobs were created, in the
  garments industrty, jobs were lost.
• Increasing feminization of new hires deployed
  overseas.
• Brain-drain and deskilling of Filipino workers
  continue to be noted

Source NCRFW Report on the State of Filipino
Women, 2001-2003 Paper
Presentation on OSH in CEPZ, OSCH Conference,
Oct. 14, 1999 Jeanne Francis Illo,
Women and Gender Institute, Miriam College
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Female Male Labor Force Participation
Rate1999-2005Source NSO
Labor force participation rate
Unemployment rate
Year
Male
Female
Male-female gap
Male
Female
Male-female gap
81.6
49.9
0.4
9.7
9.3
31.7
1999
80.3
48.4
0.4
10.3
9.9
31.9
2000
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What are the most important issues it is trying
to address as a network?

• Invisibility
• Social protection, including occupational safety
  
• and health
• Access to resources
• Access to justice
• Labor rights(MACWIE) , women's rights (Magna
• Carta on Women and reproductive Health bill)

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House Bill 1955An Act Providing For A Magna
Carta For Workers In The Informal Economy,
Institutionalizing Mechanism For Implementation
Thereof And For Other Purposes
decent work deficits
Total well being and human dignity

• survival activities
• homeworkers whose employment relationship is not
  recognized or protected
• self-employed and employers who face various
  barriers and constraints to setting up and
  operating formal enterprises
• (ILC 2002)

access to social protection
access to justice
economic advancement
recognition/economic contribution
statistical invisibility
promotion of gender equity
elimination child labor
Voice and representation
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Decent Work As a Goal(development-oriented,
poverty reduction focused and gender-equitability)
progressive approach in a continuum

• DEFICITS
• Poor-quality, unproductive and unremunerative
  jobs that are not recognized or protected by law
• Absence of rights at work
• Inadequate social legal protection
• Lack of representation and voice

Workers
are
workers !
ILC 2002
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ILC 2002 Integrated and comprehensive strategy
to achievedecent work along the continuum
DECENT WORK Phil Common AGENDA

• Assess where we are now?
• Recognize contributions of the ILO constituents
  to where we are now?
• Recognize contributions of non-ILO constituents
  (IS organizations and civil society) to where
  we are now?
• People-centered plan

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PHIL DECENT WORK COMMON AGENDA
RIGHTS AT WORK
EMPLOYMENT and ENTERPRISES
SOCIAL PROTECTION/SECURITY
SOCIAL DIALOGUE
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WIS Governance Framework .(RA 8425)

• Social security, justice, protection of
  workplaces protection from violence
• Human development services
• Asset reform
• Participation in governance
• Employment in enterprises services

Partners
W I E
Luzon
Visayas
Mindanao
Organizing Monitoring
Advocacy Policies, Programs, Legislations,
projects
Participatory Decision-Making
IS,TUs. NGOs, POs, NGAs,LGUs and Private
Sector
Awareness Raising/ Capability Building of LGUs
Direct Assistance
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5 Poverty Reduction Thrust
S.H.A.P.E.
From minimal to integrated approach

• Social security, justice protection
  of/at workplaces from violence
• Human Development Services
• Asset Reform
• Participation in governance
• Employment in enterprises

MAINSTREAM
INSTITUTIONALIZE
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Is S.H.A.P.E. in?
MTPDP
MDG-UN
CPAP
LGU's
NGA's
POVERTY REDUCTION
PRIVATE SECTOR
W I Es
ILO Decent Work
PGMA's 10-point Agenda
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How do we link with Trade Unions, locally and
internationally?
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Locally

• sponsoring a dialogue with trade unions on ILC
  177, re Homeworkers
• asking TUs to sign resolution for ratification of
  ILC 177
• coordinating with TUs on the decent work agenda
  of the NTAC to include WIE concerns
• spearheading the formation of MAGNA CARTA OF
  WORKERS IN THE INFORMAL SECTOR ALLIANCE
  (MAGCAISA) with the participation

•   

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• of TUs in the construction works, academe and
  other civil society groups outside Homenet Phils
  
• participating in many Labor Agenda Forum and
  presentation of HB 1955 (MACWIE)
• presenting WIE concerns on the reproductive
  health bill, magna carta of in a forum for TUs
  and other workers' orgs
• celebrating Informal Workers' Day with 
  solidarity support from TUs

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Internationally 

• Participation of international forum on labor,
  women rights together with TUs and other workers'
  orgs in Asia
• Networking with SEWA, the biggest trade union of
  homebased workers (1.1 million members) and the
  first to be recognized by  ITUC.
• Supporting the campaign for an ILC on domestic
  workers as demanded by unions of domestic workers
  in Asia
• Presenting papers in international ASEAN and
  Asian conferences on how to bridge the gender and
  formal/informal divide in the labor movement

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What are its successes so far? What are the
current challenges? What are some of the ways to
move forward?
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Successes

• ILO 177 became a priority in the decent work
  agenda
• Formation of MAGCAISA
• Filing of MACWIE
• Widening of campaign on social security and
  protection for  WIE through dialogues with SSS,
  Philhealth, and preparation of shadow report on
  the ICESCR
• Circulation of positions on the Magna Carta of
  Women, RH bill, ILC 177

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Challenges

• Dealing with differences within the network
• Resource generation for sustainability of
  legislative initiatives which can take years
• Misunderstanding and lack of appreciation from
  some male TU leaders
• Dealing with harsh realities-- food, fuel, and
  financial crises as they affect WIE

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Ways forward

• Respecting differences, uniting on commonalities,
  bonding based on past struggles and successes
• Pushing for wider labor unity -- men and women,
  formal and informal
• Stronger links with both the workers' and the
  women's movements
• Working for greater national and international
  solidarity of the working poor 

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Thank you