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22 July, 2009At the IMF Regional Gender Workshop held in South Africa, women representatives reported on how women are affected by precarious work in their countries, these situations are very similar to those reported by women from other parts of the world.
Cameroon: Women are in precarious employment and have less and less access to full-time jobs. There are wage differences between precarious and non-precarious workers and women and young people are worst affected. Companies don't want to recruit workers directly. The union has been able to get casual workers made permanent.
Namibia: Workers in EPZs work only for 3 years. They are mostly men while women work as receptionists and cleaners. Unions lobbied government against agency work and now a new labour act which outlaws labour hire and has massive fines takes effect on September 1. Employers are still lobbying against it. Currently the union is negotiating in a company of 160 workers for the 100 agency workers to be employed in accordance with the labour law.
Ghana: There are not many women in the metal sector. In the participant's company, workers were employed for up to 10 years as casuals. When legislation came in forcing companies to make workers permanent after 3 months, the long-term casuals were given the choice of leaving the company and taking an ex gratia payment for lost benefits over the ten years or keeping a job but losing all seniority with the company. Most women opted for the latter. Casuals do not have safety equipment while permanent workers do. Women casuals are subject to sexual harassment -- they are asked for favours to get work.
Swaziland: Precarious employment is normal practice with agency work and temps. Pay is unequal and they are not in the union. The union has mainstreamed precarious work in collective bargaining and forced employers to take responsibility for subcontracted employees. Collective bargaining is their main method for dealing with precarious employment.
Kenya: Women work as messengers, tea girls, receptions, secretaries and telephone operators. Union membership is declining because of precarious work. We are calling for a law change to get rid of casual work.
Zambia: Agency hire is the main method of precarious employment, especially in supermarkets and the building industry. Employers take advantage of women to pay low wages. Probationary periods are abused -- workers can go 10 years with no confirmation given and are not allowed to join unions. The union ran an education campaign on casualisation in 5 companies in each region. T-shirts were printed 'an injury to one is an injury to all'. They got to see the Minister of Labour who wrote the union a letter giving them permission to enter mines and recruit casual workers.
South Africa: NUMSA- Labour hire is the most common method of precarious employment. Agencies are registered under different bargaining councils and undermine conditions. Most labour hire workers are in assembly. Indirect production workers are outsourced eg. cleaning and catering. The law is that after 12 months the primary employer must make agency workers permanent, but the agencies lay people off before they reach the 12 months. Women are not doing skilled jobs or receiving training. A common practice is to keep people working for years on temporary contracts with breaks in employment between each one. Workers are often sacked before they qualify for benefits suchas family responsibility leave or unemployment benefits.
MEWUSA - Agency workers sometimes only come in for 2-3 hours then are sent home, only to wait weeks to be brought in again for a couple of days. Favouritism dictates who gets the work. Precarious workers are forced to sign a document saying that they won't join the union or attend meetings.
Tanzania: All features of precarious work are present in the country. EPZs are mainly textiles -- young girls are employed and sacked when they get pregnant. There is no sick leave or maternity leave. The union has produced materials specific to the industry to promote TUICO. They hope soon to be given access to recruit inside the EPZ. Women are working as sweepers, parking attendants and security guards. Women went into precarious work when men were retrenched from full-time work and they had to make a living for their families.
Mozambique: Big companies use contract services for cleaning, transport etc. These workers do not benefit from agreements made with the principal companies. They have 1-3 month contracts and low salaries are typical. Most employers do not recognise unions. The union is educating workers not to sign precarious agreements.
Angola and Zimbabwe:Women are mainly in the informal economy with no labour rights.
In the discussions that followed, a key issue that arose was women's capacity to influence the agenda within their own unions. Improving this was seen as a key strategy towards taking actions for women precarious workers. Precarious work was identified as a factor in the fight against poverty, as well as unemployment. Apart from NUMSA, the participants were unaware of actions their unions are planning for the Global Day of Action on Precarious Work on October 7 2008. NUMSA will be campaigning with COSATU on poverty eradication, job creation and job protection -- precarious work is an element in this.
Participants then identified the most important action that their unions should take in order to tackle precarious work for women. These showed different priorities, based on national circumstances. The identified priorities are:
South Africa: NUMSA identified outlaw labour brokers as a priority, whilst MEWUSA said that management should be approached to recognise precarious workers rights (MEWUSA)
Namibia: Union to earmark funds for women's activities
Zambia: Amend labour laws
Cameroon: Implement existing labour laws
Tanzania: Collective bargaining coverage should be extended to avoid casualisation
Mozambique: Educate workers on rights
Angola: Use collective bargaining to reduce precarious work
Ghana: Organising strategy for women precarious workers that leads to collective bargaining
Kenya: Identify women for leadership positions.
Zimbabwe: No strategy is possible because of current political crisis
It was decided that these priorities should be considered in the discussions that were to follow on the development on a way forward of the IMF gender project for the region.
Article based on a report by Jenny Holdcroft, IMF Director fir Equal Rights and EPZs.
Namibia: Workers in EPZs work only for 3 years. They are mostly men while women work as receptionists and cleaners. Unions lobbied government against agency work and now a new labour act which outlaws labour hire and has massive fines takes effect on September 1. Employers are still lobbying against it. Currently the union is negotiating in a company of 160 workers for the 100 agency workers to be employed in accordance with the labour law.
Ghana: There are not many women in the metal sector. In the participant's company, workers were employed for up to 10 years as casuals. When legislation came in forcing companies to make workers permanent after 3 months, the long-term casuals were given the choice of leaving the company and taking an ex gratia payment for lost benefits over the ten years or keeping a job but losing all seniority with the company. Most women opted for the latter. Casuals do not have safety equipment while permanent workers do. Women casuals are subject to sexual harassment -- they are asked for favours to get work.
Swaziland: Precarious employment is normal practice with agency work and temps. Pay is unequal and they are not in the union. The union has mainstreamed precarious work in collective bargaining and forced employers to take responsibility for subcontracted employees. Collective bargaining is their main method for dealing with precarious employment.
Kenya: Women work as messengers, tea girls, receptions, secretaries and telephone operators. Union membership is declining because of precarious work. We are calling for a law change to get rid of casual work.
Zambia: Agency hire is the main method of precarious employment, especially in supermarkets and the building industry. Employers take advantage of women to pay low wages. Probationary periods are abused -- workers can go 10 years with no confirmation given and are not allowed to join unions. The union ran an education campaign on casualisation in 5 companies in each region. T-shirts were printed 'an injury to one is an injury to all'. They got to see the Minister of Labour who wrote the union a letter giving them permission to enter mines and recruit casual workers.
South Africa: NUMSA- Labour hire is the most common method of precarious employment. Agencies are registered under different bargaining councils and undermine conditions. Most labour hire workers are in assembly. Indirect production workers are outsourced eg. cleaning and catering. The law is that after 12 months the primary employer must make agency workers permanent, but the agencies lay people off before they reach the 12 months. Women are not doing skilled jobs or receiving training. A common practice is to keep people working for years on temporary contracts with breaks in employment between each one. Workers are often sacked before they qualify for benefits suchas family responsibility leave or unemployment benefits.
MEWUSA - Agency workers sometimes only come in for 2-3 hours then are sent home, only to wait weeks to be brought in again for a couple of days. Favouritism dictates who gets the work. Precarious workers are forced to sign a document saying that they won't join the union or attend meetings.
Tanzania: All features of precarious work are present in the country. EPZs are mainly textiles -- young girls are employed and sacked when they get pregnant. There is no sick leave or maternity leave. The union has produced materials specific to the industry to promote TUICO. They hope soon to be given access to recruit inside the EPZ. Women are working as sweepers, parking attendants and security guards. Women went into precarious work when men were retrenched from full-time work and they had to make a living for their families.
Mozambique: Big companies use contract services for cleaning, transport etc. These workers do not benefit from agreements made with the principal companies. They have 1-3 month contracts and low salaries are typical. Most employers do not recognise unions. The union is educating workers not to sign precarious agreements.
Angola and Zimbabwe:Women are mainly in the informal economy with no labour rights.
In the discussions that followed, a key issue that arose was women's capacity to influence the agenda within their own unions. Improving this was seen as a key strategy towards taking actions for women precarious workers. Precarious work was identified as a factor in the fight against poverty, as well as unemployment. Apart from NUMSA, the participants were unaware of actions their unions are planning for the Global Day of Action on Precarious Work on October 7 2008. NUMSA will be campaigning with COSATU on poverty eradication, job creation and job protection -- precarious work is an element in this.
Participants then identified the most important action that their unions should take in order to tackle precarious work for women. These showed different priorities, based on national circumstances. The identified priorities are:
South Africa: NUMSA identified outlaw labour brokers as a priority, whilst MEWUSA said that management should be approached to recognise precarious workers rights (MEWUSA)
Namibia: Union to earmark funds for women's activities
Zambia: Amend labour laws
Cameroon: Implement existing labour laws
Tanzania: Collective bargaining coverage should be extended to avoid casualisation
Mozambique: Educate workers on rights
Angola: Use collective bargaining to reduce precarious work
Ghana: Organising strategy for women precarious workers that leads to collective bargaining
Kenya: Identify women for leadership positions.
Zimbabwe: No strategy is possible because of current political crisis
It was decided that these priorities should be considered in the discussions that were to follow on the development on a way forward of the IMF gender project for the region.
Article based on a report by Jenny Holdcroft, IMF Director fir Equal Rights and EPZs.