Josephine “Olive” Parilla

Homenet Philippines

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.

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;

• 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

OBJECTIVES/ GOALS

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.

INVISIBILITY IN STATISTICS & LACK OF

REPRESENTATION/RECOGNITION

LACK OF ACCESS TO PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES

LACK OF ACCESS TO SOCIAL SECURITY, JUSTICE & PROTECTIONOF WORKPLACES & PROTECTION

FROM VIOLENCE

Macaraya, 1999: The NewEmployment Relations..Phils.

Rigid EmploymentRegular Employment(Rigid Employment)

Jobs & Servicecontracting

Labor Contracting

FLEXIBLE

EMPLOYM TN

Part-time

Casualworker

Homeworker

Commission-paid

Boundary

Contractualworker

Gender & Employment 1. Gender gaps in male-female economic participation rates have been

narrowing. (However, these “improvements” in women’s employment are occurring during a period of declining real wages and bad working conditions for workers).

2. Improvements in women’s access to credits, information and markets3. Agricultural sector declined while the service sector expanded4. Increased employment of women in export-oriented industries5. New service sector jobs (IT such as call centers….)6. While new service jobs were created, in the garments industrty, jobs

were lost.7. Increasing feminization of new hires deployed overseas.8. “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

Female & Male Labor Force Participation Rate1999-2005Source : NSO

80.3

81.6

Male

48.4

49.9

Female

Labor force participation rate

0.410.39.931.92000

0.49.79.331.71999

Male-female gap

MaleFemaleMale-female gap

Unemployment rateYear

2001 52.8 82.3 29.5 10.4 9.4 -1.0

2002 51.7 80.8 29.1 10.2 10.1 -0.1

2003 51.1 83.4 32.5 10.3 10.0 -0.3

2004 50.2 82.9 32.7 11.7 10.4 -1.3

2005 49.8 79.8 30.0 7.3 7.4 0.1

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)

1. survival activities2. homeworkers whose employment

relationship is not recognized or protected

3. self-employed and employers who face various barriers and constraints to setting up and operating formal enterprises

(ILC: 2002)

House Bill 1955“An Act Providing For A Magna Carta For

Workers In The Informal Economy, Institutionalizing Mechanism For

Implementation Thereof And For Other Purposes”

Decent Work As a Goal(development-oriented, poverty reduction

focused and gender-equitability)

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

ILC: 2002

ILC 2002 : Integrated and comprehensive strategy to achieve

decent work along the continuum

• 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

DECENT WORK Phil Common

AGENDA

RIGHTS AT WORK

SOCIAL PROTECTION/SECURITY

EMPLOYMENT and ENTERPRISES

PHIL DECENT WORK COMMON AGENDAPHIL DECENT WORK COMMON AGENDA

SOCIAL DIALOGUE

WIS Governance Framework ….(RA 8425++)

Partners W I E

Luzon Visayas Mindanao

Organizing & Monitoring

Advocacy: Policies, Programs,Legislations, projects

Awareness Raising/Capability Building of

LGU’s

Direct Assistance

Participatory Decision-Making

IS,TU’s. NGO’s, PO’s, NGA’s,LGU’s and

Private Sector

1. Social security, justice, protection of workplaces & protection from violence

2. Human development services

3. Asset reform

4. Participation in governance

5. Employment in enterprises & services

• Social security, justice & protection of/at workplaces from violence

• Human Development Services

• Asset Reform

• Participation in governance

• Employment in enterprises

From minimal to integrated approach

How do we link with Trade Unions, locally and internationally?

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

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

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

What are its successes so far? What are the current challenges?

What are some of the ways to move forward?

Successes: ILO 177 became a priority in the decent work agendaFormation of MAGCAISA Filing of MACWIEWidening 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

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

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 

Thank you