Bogor Indonesia, November 2005

Asian Transnational Corporation Monitoring Network

Intro

Why Organising Flexible Labour?

Focus on irregular capitalist work is a recent phenomenon. On the one hand, it is the increasing number of the non-traditional employment in developed countries that cause the ‘informalisation’ or ‘irregularisation’ debate. On the other, the growth of the so-called informal ‘sector’ or ‘economy’ in developing countries provokes discussions about non-traditional capitalist work. The former discussion tends to deal with labour in the informal sector as a temporary phenomena resulting from underdevelopment. Meanwhile, the latter tends to consider irregular work in the framework of ‘industrial relations’ and identifies capitalist work with regular work, ultimatising regular work. Therefore, both have limit in understanding the relation between the increasing movement of capital as a global phenomenon and the irregularisation of labour. [i] 

Perhaps, to understand the relation, it would be useful to begin with the historical formation of ‘regular capitalist work’. At the beginning of capitalist development, capitalist work existed in various forms, which we now might call ‘informal or irregular’, such as seasonal manufacturing or agricultural jobs, work at family-run business, and so on. For most of the population, making a living was reliant pre-dominantly on self-subsistence and only partially on commodity producing labour. It was not until the emergence of large-scale manufacturing and the labour movement that the concept of ‘standard’ form of capitalist work emerged. Most of the elements of the formal form of capitalist work, such as ‘regular hours and pay, the provision of designed workplace, with pensions and sick pay arrangements and often the opportunity to join trade union’ (Bradley at al., 2002, p. 52), came into being since then. Formal employment then became a dominant form of capitalist work at least in developed countries. Furthermore, all the terminology of industrial relations, such as collective bargaining, collective agreement, workers council, and tripartite committee, were developed on the basis of the particular historical arrangement of capitalist work.

Even then, for capital, regular, protected capitalist work is not at all the healthy form of ‘capitalist’ work since, in capitalist ideal, the exchange relation between workers and capitalists appears to be a free contract relation. Intervention in the exchange relations should be exceptional because it denies the ideal of capitalism. Therefore, although ‘formal employment’ has become the definition of capitalist work, the standard form of capitalist work is confined within a few developed countries and certain industrial sectors and various forms of irregular employment survived. Irregular form of ‘employment’ here refers to the wide range of people whose working relation is based on direct and indirect ‘wage relations’. This irregular ‘employment’ however does not cover the ‘un-waged’ form of capitalist work, such as many forms of self-employment.[ii] Normally, self-employed are related to employers or corporation service users not through wage relations but through commercial relations even if they are working for the corporations. Although their relations with employers are vague and untraceable and sometimes practically do not exist, they are still doing capitalist work because their work functions to reproduce capital (by reproducing labour power of others, contributing to realising produced value, etc). It is also obvious that the reproduction of their labour is subjected not to the concrete achievement of their work but to the ‘amount’ of money s/he earns. In many cases, they do not have any means of production and employee. Furthermore, many of them are getting in and out of employment relations and stay unemployed in between. Many self-employed are as vulnerable as informal employees in that they cannot enjoy social protection such as social insurance, not to mention union protection.

The irregularisation of capitalist work at global level involves two main aspects. For the workers in developed countries, it mostly, but not exclusively, means a process of the dissolution of formal employment. Increasing number of workers previously in standard form of employment become disposable workforces. In addition, many functions and services previously handled by corporations have been transferred to the self-employed – however, without completely losing corporate control over the work. It affects not only workers who have previously enjoyed the privilege of job protection, but also new comers as new jobs are predominantly irregular. In this way, the size of the population under formal capitalist employment, i.e. the so-called ‘traditional’ working class, is decreasing therefore undermining the basis of traditional trade union movement.[iii] Lack of protection for irregular jobs ultimately means that labour forces are individualised in relation to capital. Employment relations become literally individual relations between individual capitalist and workers. In developing countries, irregular work is due to the non-availability of formal capitalist work for the population who are newly integrated into the increasingly dominant capitalist social relations. Irregularisation in this sense is a particular process in which the population working previously in non-or-partial capitalist labour relations is integrated into commodity production relations and the market. In this case, irregularisation is also a particular form in which capitalist work becomes truly global. In sum, the portion of irregular work against capitalist work is increasing globally. This means that capital must be united only with a particular sort of capitalist labour treated as a truly mere factor of production. In this way, capitalist labour, which was formally contained within the factory or industrial area in developed countries, is internalised in individual workers without regard to employment relations and working places and spreads into all over the society, becoming truly social and global.

 

To be finalised….

Part 1. Cases of Organising Flexible Labour

(extract from 2^nd day discussion of ATNC Network Workshop: Organising Flexible Labour and from 1^st and 2^nd day of ATNC Network Workshop on Organising Electronics Workers – details of the organising methods and the context in which the organising campaign developed can be obtained by contacting the organisers)

A. Indonesia

1. PT Chang hong

1) General Condition

Established in 1988.

Located in Tangerang, Columbus zone

The product is air conditioners and TV – brand name is Changhong

The company belongs to local investor form Medane Chinese Indonesia.

The share belongs to Kuncoro. One man owned company.

Number of workers is 250. Among them only 10 were regular workers/rest were all irregular, short-term contracted without a guarantee of renewal.

The contract relations directly with employer, there is no labour suppliers involved in the recruitment process. The management and staff are regular workers, the rest are in production, all irregular.

Minimum wage of govt is 70usd/month

No shift nand 07:00 – 15:00 6 days a week

Educational background – technical high school, and engineering high school

Ethnic group – java, sunder, and Sumatra

50% male/50%female

There are many divisions – quality control, machinery and packing

There are workers sitting as well as standing

There are many violations by employers. Workers now know the violation after the strike

They include social insurance – actually workers paid but employer did not give it to insurance company.

There are many occupational accident – electric shocks but employer don’t care

Unfolding of struggle

In May 2005, there was strike action.

After the strike, the irregular workers working more than two years got the permanent contract. In organising work, workers involved in some activities, informal activities have been used to expand contact with workers and promote workers involvement in activities to organise union, these include sport events, eating together and religious activities.

The major issues that have been discussed in the organising process are 1) labour contract status, 2) house insurance, and 3) OSH. The obstacles are lack of awareness of workers. Very few members are involved in the union education.

Now the union is still in the process of registration. Also preparing organisational congress. For the status, they are active outside of company since they are not yet registered. There is education twice a month for members of union. 

There are another labour group. The activists involved in Chan Hong are also involved in the alliance of the labour orgs in here.

There are 10 shop steward, consist of chair person, coordinator, education, organising and welfare division coordinators. Regarding negotiation with company, they set up a negotiation team.

The dues are directly from the members. There are two requirements to be member

1 must be involved in education and 2 must be involved in mass action.

2. Panasonic

1) General condition

Matsushita Panasonic (Bekasi)

Company established in 1991

Union is affiliated with SPMI (Indonesian Metal Workers Union)

Matsushita Panasonic has 12 factories in Indonesia

Panasonic Bekasi with 7,000 workers

2) Production line:

FINAL, mechanic, cylinder, moulding, painting, process

3) Employment system:

·        3 months as trainees

·        Regularisation

·        After 1995 – two system

·        - contract workers

·        - trainees

·        After 2000, 75% female (production and assembling) and 25% male (VCR, VCD, DVD, Driver etc.)

4) Composition of workforce: from 2000 to present: 60% contract and 40% regular workers.

5) Wage system for Bekasi

Trainees – Rps 710.000 (Us$ 71) pm

Regular workers Rps 900.000 to 100.0000 (Us$ 100) pm + Us$ 1 for transportation benefit per day

6) Working hours:

·        8 hours a day

·        40 hours a week

·        5 days a week (mondy to Friday)

·        Sometime Saturday is overtime (double rate of OT)

7) Organising Activities:

Started organising from 1992 and for the two years organisers had constant fight with management.

The issues included pension, bonus, transportation, wage increase, wage cut if absence, health benefits, number of holidays and holiday benefits.

Serious organising started. Organisers tried to expand their contact with workers. They distributed a form asking them about problems and proposal related to working conditions, benefits and social security etc. We distributed these forms in the company busses and collected from a letter box set up outside factory gate. In this way we got suggestions from possible members.

One the basis of suggestion and interaction with worker, union was formed in 1994.

We only have one union in the factory

During the negotiation for CBA which took 5 month in 1996, 7 officers were terminated. In the fight for reinstatement, they got support from Panasonic union, Japan and SPMI (HOW?). The fired workers and union file a case with govt. We could win and the workers were reinstated. However, strange enough, all 7 reinstated workers later resigned with double compensation.

Panasonic union got CBA in 1996 : silent feature

–       Transportation Rp 10. 000 (1 us$) per day;

–       holiday pay

–       medical benefits – equal to 3 month wage

Lesson learned:

1. A feature of Japanese management – no strike – negotiate only

            If there is deadlock – 1 go to govt; 2, strike; 3 support from outside

Note:

1. except managerial level all workers even contract workers are union member,
2. now management engage with union specially in education
3. Before formation of union and during 2 years conflict with management, organisers could not make living.

Advices from other activists

Problem/issues for advice (specific organisational problems):

1.                  Members are scared to take responsibility (ex. don’t want to take official positions).

2.                  How to increase strike fund.

3.                  Women issue:

a.                   Most members are female. Most officers are male.

b.                  Female union officers and members once married are told by their husbands not to be active anymore.

Advice

1.                  Conduct regular/non-regular meetings

a.                   general membership meetings

b.                  shift meetings

c.                   section meetings

d.                  meetings during holidays if not possible during work days

2.                  Authority and power should not be centered only on the chairman.  Delegate responsibilities and tasks to officers, committees and members in the day-to-day union work.

3.                  Moral appeal

a.       honesty

b.      sacrifice

c.       always consider the majority’s interest first

d.      personal relations with workers even not in union matters, involving their socio-cultural life.

2.                  Motivate the new generations.  Union now seems stable, but there is a need to search for the potentialities of the new generation. Training new generations in actual practice (on the job training) Workers exchange (in membership level) to gain practical experience

4.                  If the change (in terms of new leadership) is smoothly done (not radically), meet the systematic change by education.

5.                  Massive education:

a.                   to prepare and motivate the workers with the new tasks

b.                  to prepare them of their issues so that they can participate

(By education, it will not be difficult for workers why they should give contribution for strike fund.  They can give more active participation, not only money.)

c.                   (for female workers) to explain to their husbands the need to be active in union; get husband’s support

6.                  Gender issue – since woman is majority. It should be reflected in all the activities. Like even cultural events. Also gaining support from family.

3. PT M: Bread producing company

 

General condition

Total number of workers 3,000

The management make use of outsourcing workers from PT D, which is a labour supply company. There were 146 dispatched workers. They are all very young, recruited just after graduating high school.

There were also workers from other dispatching company. However, no exact number is known.

Irregular workers

The treatment for the contract workers has been unfair from the beginning. For the first day they got 6000 rs/day, which is well below the minimum wage. It should be 25,000 rs/day according to government minimum wage. On top of that, dispatched workers needed to pay RS 30,000 for getting a job in the name of administrative fee.

They rent a house 2´3 for 4 people

They need to borrow money from their relatives and friend since their wage could not cover the living cost.

The Unfolding of Struggle

There are two unions in PT M, however they are not active.

There are about 100 workers who have been working with KASBI, but are members of other union. Before May day around April in Tengarang music concert organised by union alliance with KASBI. organising discussion group - Class room education. Mapping industry.

KASBI is acting in Tangerang area – they concentrate

It is community organising. It took 6 month to organise 100 people in PT M.

Regular workers informed that dispatched workers got only 6000/day. Outsourcing workers got 20,000/day subsidy for the first month from M. For the second month, their wage is up to the work result. No subsidy but target system

79,000 – 300,000 rs/month

KASBI was suggesting representative of 146 to prepare negotiation

Permanent worker (Kasbi contacting organisers) in PT M wanted the outsourcing workers to be permanent. But the two union did not take official request to company.

146 workers took spontaneous action against the dispatching company, PT D.  

46 workers are sacked.

Some of them got jobs in other companies. But most of them are still living in a same area and keep in touch with KASBI. KASBI try to collect some donation to support the workers.

They try to make data base about similar cases and try to make report and publicise it.

KASBI wants to other Indonesia to learn this case.

4. SBMM food and beverage TU in Bekasi

Irregular workers

SBMM organizes outsourcing workers in 7 factories.

In PT Mayora Indah, there are 3 TUs with 7-800 workers. SBBM have 400 members, 15 of whom are outsourced workers.

Outsourced workers recruited from 4-5 agents for a total of 300 outsourced workers. 4-500 regular workers.

The unfolding of struggle

While ago, one outsourcing worker was sacked and he contacted SBBM for assistance. SBBM ran a campaign in the district demanding that labour supplier pay compensation. At the end, they won. That labour agent no longer got orders from the factory after that. Afterwards they used this to gather more members in the TU, including the 15 outsource workers.

Same thing happened in other factories like Hitachi. But challenge is the region limit. Outsourced workers can be members of any TU in their industry on the district level, but if they move to different district they are no longer covered. Since SBBM is only covering one district its member would lose its status by shifting to another district.

UPDATE: Currently total workers are 500, with only one labour supplier. Number of outsourced workers is 50 in security, cleaning etc and some in the line. After the contract is finished they will no longer be employed in production. Now there are only 10 outsource members of SBBM, so went down by 5.

This is a long process that tries to negotiate with labour supplier and correct their labour law violation for the betterment of workers in the end. Other important thing is the involvement of outsourced workers in negotiation with labour agents. KASBI involves all workers regardless of status when negotiating this case, so overcome the split between the two groups of workers. Beside involving outsourced workers, also campaign to reject labour suppliers. In this case, they want to cut out the space of labour agents before it becomes bigger. Goal is no outsource at all in the district.

Q: Why are there 2 unions in the factory. A: accd to Indonesia law any 10 workers can form a union. In one factory there may be 3 or even 4 unions in one factory.

CF: Victoria workers work as contracted workers after loosing their jobs in Victoria

Victoria: closedown in Dec 31 2003.

-         TU took over the company after the court ruled liquidation and asset worth 100,000US$

-         875 lost job

-         FKSP-KBN: communication  forum of unions in epz, back up the campaign

-         Part of the asset sold to STM-Korea, garment factory in the same zone for $60,000 and recruitment 30-40% of the original workforce as the condition of purchasing

-         Average age is 35 years

-         The rest of the workers spread to other company in the EPZ as contract workers (30%); the rest in the informal sector or went home to the villages

-         All recruited workers in STM-Korea worked as trainees for 3 months

-         2^nd month offered contract for 1 year

-         no union for 2 years; Korea anti union, committee is allowed only as grievance mechanism

-         workers agreed to this, no choice, mainly old workers: have to be pragmatic

-         FKSP: plan to be federation to strengthen organizing contract workers

-         Pressure through buyers of Victoria: Eddie Bauer. Buyers at STM: federated, express, GAP

-         No dispensation or compensation for union. And so far no agreement about work status.

Kemfarm is food processing company

Export, mainly  for japan

Start with study circle of 15 people in 1999

50% out of 200 on contract

One worker was suspended. There was solidarity or sympathy strike: call for eliminate of contract system.

Still use daily workers, and situation is stagnant.

B. Korea

1. Hyundai Motors In-company subcontractor Union

General condition

The case is Hyundai motors in-company subcontract (dispatching agents) union

In Hyundai, there are dispatching workers who belong to more than 20 labour agents and work together with permanent workers. Their wage

Some dispatching companies also supply workers to other companies.

There is multiple layer of dispatching. There are different forms of discrimination against irregular workers. Different uniform. Different canteen. Different meal. Indeed, often less than half of the salary.

They are asking for same treatment.

There are dispatching companies that is established by Hyundai. And other are independent.

hyunday illustration (pic)

The unfolding of struggle

There are many ways of organising of course. In this case organisers got the job in there and organised while working together with workers. They try to understand the way of living and on the basis of that they make plan of organising. They target companies strategically in organisation through thorough discussion and investigations and divide taskforce with some inside organising and some outside supporting.

Organisers got the job in 4-5 labour agents. And they make friendly relations and, on the basis of that, organisers formed small circles that were doing reading, study, sports and mountain climbing.

Meanwhile, outside team ran media campaign. Lawyers and legal experts dig the case of illegal irregular work and publicise the issues. In fact, the dispatching workers cannot be used in manufacturing production line. Dispatching is only for particular occupation. In fact it is illegal. The labour movement has been asking for regulating this. Yet, instead of regulating that, the govt wants to legalise and formalise the illegal dispatching (This November 2005 they try to amend the law). And also intellectuals join the campaign.

Then inside organisers in the circles talked about working conditions, unions and labour movement and also labour issues. Firstly, they organised labour-management council – made small demands like put soap in shower room and helped the dispatched workers to make their own demands.

A worker requested annual leave, manager refuse it and beat him up. He has been hospitalised. The supervisor again followed the worker to the hospital and attacked him in the hospital. In response to that, workers in the dispatching company organise a spontaneous strike. At the end, they got compensation and apology from the company. Then they got more support from the workers regarding the need to have union

They made principle that they need to negotiate with the mother company rather than outsourcing company to regularise the dispatched workers.

They established union for in-company subcontract workers union. There are 800 dispatched workers in Asan, where one of the Hyundai’s assembly factory is located. 400 dispatched workers joined union. Since workers from different dispatching companies are working in the same production line, if organising a line, one effectively organises many from different dispatching companies.

The union asked both the Hyundai and dispatching companies to negotiate with the union. But Hyundai said that it has no legal obligation and the outsourcing companies arguing Hyundai asked them not to go for negotiation. They went into strike and company used back-up workers. The company filed case for compensation for damage. Meanwhile, 6 organisers have been sacked.

After 1year struggle, they could not have CBA with Hyundai. However, they made CBA with dispatching companies.

There is on-going struggle for reinstatement for the sacked workers. They set up tents in front of Hyundai. Demands are 1) reinstatement 2) respect the CBA 3) remove the discrimination and 4) guarantee job security.

Any employment security in CBA?

Although the contract is still a short term ones ranging from 6 month to 1 year, CBA say that as long as workers work normally and the company need the work, company cannot fire the workers without particular reason. If the CBA ignored,  workers stop the line, or occupy the dispatching company’s office.

Irregular workers struggle become a major issue in Korea, it is a result of struggles of many irregular workers and other organisation. Very often they have been neglected and even stopped by regular workers or regular workers union. Even there is no union in the mother company helping the irregular workers, there are cases that dispatched workers are organised in a firm without regular workers.

Q: what is dispatch labor law? A: It’s supposed to protect workers but doesn’t really. The way hyundai uses so many dispatch companies is illegal, but very common. Gov’t cannot regulate it, so just want to legalize and protect it. Which leads to promoting more and more the dispatch company.

During the strike at hyundai, were there other workers filling their jobs at the time? The company hired short term contract workers, and also more from other dispatch company. Permanent workers continue to work; union leaders were dismissed. In the past sacking led to big protest, so have since began to fire key leaders.

Key of the case is assistance from lawyers, media and other civil society who push the case to the public.

C. THAILAND

1. CKL Electronics Co. Ltd, Thailand

General condition

In CKL, there are 3 major production lines, each line have regular and subcontract workers from 3 different agencies.

Pay: agency paid 200 baht per worker, and workers get 170 baht per day. Regular workers only get 150 baht per day, but earn higher monthly salary through bonus, and allowances for food, transport, in addition to more job security.

The unfolding of struggle

Two types of union are legally recognised in Thailand: enterprise and industrial union. One can choose only one of the given forms.

If CKL register as in house union, then only regular workers can join TU. CKL established TU 10 years ago. In 2001 company began to use subcontract workers (meaning workers dispatched by labour agencies). In 2002, the TU changed its status into industrial union, so began to consider recruiting flexible labour as members.

Union started educating regular workers about what flexible works are at the annual TU meeting. Union focused on who will benefit from irregular labour - the employers.

Method to approach subcontract labour: each line has TU committee, their duty to collect data and info about the names of labour agency, who is the owner and contact number and address of dispatched workers. Then union could maintain communication with outsourced workers, so began the organising.  While this was going on, the TU submitted a CBA demands, one demand was to change outsourced workers to regular ones. The demands was distributed to everyone, and posted on the TU notice board etc. This led to next step of TU organising. Union again demanded that if work one year as dispatched workers, they automatically become regular workers, from 2002.

One way to maintain contact was to set up a mutual-aid fund, so irregular workers return to union even if they left to another factory. Union used transparent accounting to gain trust, and used the funds to provide loans and covering cost for education on living wage, minimum wage etc.

Although the company told the workers not to be involved with TU, mafia threaten TU, the struggle was successful. Result was that 80% of outsourced workers were organised. But union still had difficulty to get them to join in public activities or publicise the fact they’re unionised. But the TU kept asking them for cooperation. Example, if there was a CBA negotiation going on, the TU asked the outsource workers to not do OT. Last year 300 workers shifted to regular status. Currently there are 670 workers and 100 of them are outsourced. Those 100 haven’t worked for over 1 year yet.

Problem is outsourced workers cannot bargain with the employer because they don’t have over 20% of the workforce which is required by Thai law. Outsource workers join in union education activity; they cooperate with the TU.  .

2. Organising in Industrial Zone in Thailand

I’m going to talk about overall view of the industrial area in Thailand

In industrialisation in Thailand, Bangkok developed first and area around Bk later.

Then spread to other area. Thailand has set up different industrial zone

In the north, theres is the Lumpoon industrial area which is also EPZ. In the east, there are Rayong and Saunbury and Prayin. So electronic are in the north, east and around BK.

One of the main reason investors are interested in north and south is basic wage is lower. In the eastern part 145 b/day, in the north it is 139 baht

In this industrialisation, there is restriction on unionisation and tax exemption

General working condition

Types of employee

1. regular workers or permanent workers
2. subcontract workers (dispatched by in-company subcontracted companies (defacto labour agent) or outside labour supplying agency)
3. migrant workers from nearby countries
4. fixed term contact workers

Under the Thai labour law companies can employ all types. Company freely hire and fire without restriction. So it has impact on organising since in one company there are different types of workers. And workers feel insecure of employment. And it is a great barrier to organise.

The labour agency deducts commission from what the Samsung.

Are there any workers employed directly by Samsung?

Yes there are

Is there any regulation on regularisaion of the contractual workers?

After 4 month, need to regularized. In the law.

About how many workers are regular and irregular.

National average approximately would

20% permanent

50% subcontracted

5% migrant

20% contracted workers

Permanent labour

The owners of the subcontract firms can be anyone. There is no legal requirement

According to our investigation, a bout a half of subcontract owners are from local government official, labour ministry officials. Military and police officers

3. Samsung case (from electro mechanics union)

I will talk about problems in labour organizing in

Electro mechanics co. let.

As you know

3000 workers out of 3000, 800 in-company subcontracted workers (dispatched)

Making electronic part.

Samsung divided into several sections (plan 1 – TV part, 2 – pcb for mobile phone, 3 – digital camera part).

And section 1 is separated into an independent company. Workers will be transferred. 

Certain part of work process is allocated separately by establishing other ‘company’ which is owned by other Korean investors who was previously Samsung managers. And they are producing still Samsung brand (TV parts). But it is not Samsung company.

Currently the workers of plan 1 (the workers employed by the new company) are working in the same place at the moment. But they will move out and producing same product.

In October this year, labour inspectors visited factory to inspect

At the time,

There are three unions

Samsung management union

Samsung workers union

Electro-mechanics union

This year june SMU and SWU registered. They practically collapsed. They cannot have general assembly (within 120 days after registration). The could not make it

EMU got registered later (it is industrial union. Other workers in other electronics union can join the union)

Clarifying the process of CBA in Thailand

To demand a CBA with company in Thailand

1)      No union, but group of workers. They need to get 15% of workers signature. The worker representative cannot be fired. (this is the way Samsung used). CBA will cover for all regular workers

2)      Union needs 20% of workers sign. All workers are covered by the cba. But other workers cannot refuse the agreed CBA between the union and management even if they are not happy about it.

Noel pointed out the danger that CBA cannot represent the majority of workers.

Answer: But in practice, we need more signatures to represent. 50-60%. In Samsung, they’ve got 1800 workers signature out of 2200.

Q: how the govt decide the minimum wage in Thailand

The minimum wage is established under the labour protection act. And the level is set up by tripartite system, which has representatives fron Gcot, mana, labour and from 76 provinces.

Every year should be renewed

For this year 181 bk. May be next year will increase according to the govt decision.

Q: what are the components of the minimum wage?

Don’t know exactly…living cost and inflation, the region. The govt is the strongest in tripartite

233 baht is daily minimum wage union demands

Information: Samsung electro mechanic Thailand

Subsidiary of Samsung electronics co. ltd.in Korea

Previously have 3000 workers

Now division of company

workers in Samsung 1,600 (500 dispatched)

workers in MIR 1,100 (300 dispatched)

workers in Any-on 400 (50 dispatched)

Producing

PCB-samsung

FBT (MIR)

Any-on (FBT)

About 80% of product for export

Company was est in 1993 appr. 424milion bath

Now company’s assets amounts to 4,000 milion Baht.

History of Unionisation in Samsung

June 2005 mangement union

June 2005 workers union

They are paper unions which could not make general assembly

3^rd union was formed in aug 2005.

Reason was company’s announce ment that it will form a new company

Company gave them to paper to sign to accept the transfer without compensation. Workers thought this practice is wrong.

Immediately they submit CBA (before they gather signiture ofworkers and prepare CBA)

Duration of CBA is 3years from 18may 2005

Profile of workers

Majority are female (operators)

And male workers are technicians, maintenance, warehouse and etc.

Education: grade 9-12. high school

Profile of union membership

Samsung 50

MIR 50

Any-on 300

Problems: once the two new companies transfer/relocate (not more than 20km away from the original compound)

Workers welfare committees in 3 companies

OSH committee

Wages

185 baht a day for new workers

2 shift 7:30 – 16:30 and 19:00 – 4:00

no forced overtime

2 day rest (Sat and Sun)

there are production quota set (depends on the plan and order)

wage for subcontract workers are lower.

Samsung pays regular workers 185 baht but subcontract companies pay 165 baht/day

In some, subcontract company workers are wearing Samsung uniform but ID card is different (not Samsung ID)

Chemical used in Samsung

Tead, TCE and alcohol mixture

Hanner and expoxy

D. PHILIPPINES

1. Eco-Asia, steel fabrication

General Condition

Output: 20% local consumption; 80% export (US EU, Asia)

Total work force (including everyone) 250; 27 regular unionized workers under the TUCP-a yellow union); plus 200 contract workers hired directly by company on contract), length of service in co is 7-12 years.. most all are men.

Conditions of work: forced OT; poor and unsafe work condition; no benefit; below minimum wage

Organizing method: is community organizing

Steps:

1.    Establish contact in the factory

2.    organise house visits

3.    small group discussioins (most including their families)

4.    seminars and education on genuine trade unionism

5.    for the wives of the workers women’s orientation and rights education were given; also a youth organizing group

6.    formation of workers committees

7.    the community and women were given tasks and reminders to complement with the workers struggle.

The unfolding of struggle

-organizing started before the cba negotiations begin.  In PH only 1 union is allowed per rank and file production

-the contractual workers proposed to the union their regularization be included in the cba, which was refused.

-at the time cba started 100% of contract workers were given or finished education

-the cba was concluded, but not ratified by the workers

-contractual workers were at the forefront, and persuaded the regular workers to join, particularly the dissatisfied workers.

a new union filed for registration

-filed a notice of strike

            grounds 1. Regularization of workers/backwages 2. Poor working conditions/unsafe/inhumane and 3. Unsatisfactory CBA conclusion

-Strike in 2001

-harrassments and dispersal situations with community support, last more than one week

-management recognized the new union

CBA negotiations Gains: 1. Regularization 2. Backwages (beyond 6 months to current employed; basis of calculation is the wage for regular worker at the time) 3. Wage increase 4. Health benefits and other allowances and 5. Health and safety standard-MGT forced to implement.

In Tagalog call it sama-samang tanggulan, sama-samang tul…

Iman: what is the unique method used in the PH? Don’t really have, essentially use similar method as with regular workers. PH using community organizing as the basis.

D-O: there is a uniqeness in organizng flexible labor, but not a choice between a and b. the two are overlapping and always changing as capital moves constantly and labor is constantly recomposed. There can be no set method for certain situations.

Iman: what is the challenge of organizing flexible labor? Marlon: essentially it’s building a mass movement which the whole should participate in.

2. Organising in Maxim, Philippines  

2500 workers. Female 80%

The sight problem – after 5 years working in semi conductor company doing the repetitive work (inspection), they become short-sight (the parts are shiny materials under the direct light.

Skills are simple – can learn 1-2 weeks

Take two years become regular – start with apprentice

They have to pass the test. Some one fails. The one who failed twice can be kicked out.

After finishing

You said 2500. How many are skilled workers? Why they choose college level workers?

They are not electronics graduate

It is not about the technical knowledge – but because of language and so on.

Isn’t skilled workers paid more?

Before passing apprentice before going to contractual workers

And then regular workers

They are college graduate and have to go through apperenticeship

There are highly skilled workers in the factory who know the manufacturing course –about 40%

Whether educate graduate or electronics graduate, they need to pass the tests.

Produciton managers are Americans.

General manager and vice executive and prduction managers are American.

Some came temporarily to do things I don’t know.

TU can only meet the philippina personal managers

Most of workers are within the community

They are from rural area. They are living in Cavite

Back in 2000, 20% of workers are from the area. 80% are migrant from other provinces and region. They have boarding houses outside. And the senven eleven, macdonals come in. Then Bars and other commercial thigns are set up. 200 p earning and they lost 500 p in the bar a night.

There is sexual harassment, is it prostitution? There are women workers having sexual relations with managerial staff.

Because there are no equal relations, sexual relations are harassment. Because if they refuse, you can get laid-off.

How long the company was there? 1995 etb.

There is tax exemption?

Yes there is they don’t pay real property tax and income tax.

The tax 20% (of house hold tax) from the workers. Not from the company

Is there special rules for no strike and no union

There are local govt and national govt, phil econmic zone authoroity (PEZA)– they have agreed policy on the no union and no strike.

There are PEZA police in the zone acting first. If they are not capable of handling things then they call national police force.

Cavite industrial peace advisory group?

You know other company organising?

I’m also involved in garment organising.

In your experience, is there any difference between organising garment and electronics even in same in zone

First, the quality of workers. In garment, they are immediate in responding. They are high school graduate or not even high school grd. They are more immediate to take action. 

Electronics workers are a bit snobbish. Organisers need to be different. The culture is different and like pop music mtv and so on.

Garment workers are humble as the working condition. Electronics working conditions looks fancy. Electronics have slightly higher than garment. They think themselves are better people than garment workers. It’s been there from college. From the college years, they look down garment workers. Long time establishment of the superiority.

p247 minimum wage. 

p300-350 in maxim

about 17% higher than garment

*In Indonesia, workers in electronics are not calling themselves not workers. Their life style is higher than garment workers. They are high in mind. To my company, they are acting like customers to union.

Maxim – not yet trade union. Workers association. Two groups – 100 workers.

Working condition

How many shift – 3 shift. 8 hours.

Saturday, Sunday also work. Even in Christmas.

Salary gaps

Apprentice 75% of minimum wage

Contractual p247

Regular p247-300, after one year p280-300

What is system of wage increase?

First of all. Govt increase on minimum increase.

Maxim has yearly increase 10 - 20 peso according to the performance.

In maxim they obey the govt rule.

Any bonus, they have bonus 100% of monthly salary a year.

Another is profit sharing – maxim is in stock market.

They are partially owning the company. All the regular workers are entitled to the profit sharing. Once you become regular workers, they are given the share for free.

If you work longer and good performance – they have more sharing.

Workers are interested in watching over the stock market.

Managers are having a lot of allowance. Housing, transportation are all there. They want to

Orgnaising committee.

One for education committee, and one for recruitment. The committee members are 5. they are volunteers?

No women organiser. – may be it is the problem.  

The help is from SCW. We are not collecting fees from members. Since it is not yet establishment.

Women participation? Do you think it is problem?

It is maxim it is a bit. 

Do you have a plan to have democratic system – yes once we become union

Expansion of the association is delaying. Still preparation committee. Local govt is concerned. The contact person who started organising has been terminated last year.

Regarding stock sharing – many companies?  - only a few big companies. Intel and Anlogue are higher share. In those big companies, there are no union.

Other difference between garment nd electronics

Parties and outings. Christmas gift. Organising workers activities – disco.

They are providing transportation allowance.

Three meals.

Maxim has one factory in Phil and they have one in Thailand

Can you explain about the alliance (SCW) structure?

Alliance is composed of individual workers, unions and workers organisations.

Workers organisation can be in factories and communities. With similar structure with union.

10 peso/member/month alliance fee.

President. General secetary. 5 excutive officers, 7 board members

Council of leaders -

Regular meeting

Since maxim established, there are three attempts to organise. It is now third time.

The first contact person came to us. And ask about how to organise. Then first attmpt was 2001. then he did not come back.

Was there any follow up? We could not pay much attention

In 2002, there were another group of people – they were seeking for legal adviser. They lost the job. They got paid sepration pay.

I’m the third one, starting from 2003.

There was one guy working in Maxim. I met him in the community. Asking things about maxim.

Why that person?

Another organiser had a the guy in the neighbour hood. He had a lot of discontent. He was worried about job security, factory moving to China and so on.

He introduce people to other workers. The guy was quality inspector.

We identified good things and bad things about maxim. What would be the things around which we can organise maxim. Three people brought by him. We talked about what is democracy, what is assciation.

Then in 2003, management got somehow known that may some new contact told them somehow.

Govt held seminars targeting Maxim with workers to discourage workers to join unions. Demonisation of labour – skills like how to spot labour organisers. Always wearing base ball cap and having backpack things like that.

I had to change my outlook.

45000 peso management pay for the seminar. And participants are given free lunches and so on.

The guy was terminated but refusing to accept the payment offers made by the management. The case is in the court

The alliance – why is it important?

Sense of belonginess..

What you thinks to be improved?

We relied too heavily on one person…

Also the condition in the company.  Need to be consolidated rather than expanding at the moment. .

Personally I cannot focus wholly on this company…

It heavily affect the mind set of workers…

The focus is the job security. Unless they are sure that company is not closing down, workers are not convince to organise themselves.

When the organising was going up, we just let it go. But when it troubled, we need to go and take care of it. But we are not that many. We have to go the other companies.

Also training for the leaders in the factory. They are relying on external organisers. We need an immediate training when we secure the contact so that they can develop second line leaderships and so on. So that they can teach themselves.

When you educate in electronics, do you have any particular modules and so on?

There is adjustment in the module. We have electronics survey.

We cannot use manual or general guide line for all. There need to be a moment, some particular thing by which we mobilise. Like osh, canteen, and so on. Social investigation need to be done everyday.

Any documentation system?

Regular updating. The organisers in Maxim let us know the situtation regularly.

What is the member composition?

Out of 100. 80 man and 20 women. Seems that women are more afraid of loosing jobs.

Summary of Maxim

I will explain the info about maxim, shan will support

We ve got much infoirmatin’

Maxim is a us company 1995 est. Gneral mange tg roger

2500 workers

1000 contractual worker s80% female. 20 % male

product is semi codcutror. Necessssary to have special inspector- many be the reason why women.

2 month trainee

provisionary 6month and again 6month

then become regylar

175-178 p *70% of minimum wage)

provision – 247

regular 247-300

Govt minimum wage increase

Annual payment increase from management

Union info

Workers oranisation 2005

Committee – 5persons – voluneteers

Members are 100. every comiittee member has 25 ocntact person.

SCW an alliance

Workers organisation (factory, community orgs and individuals)

They have president, vice president, general sec, audotor, press person

7 board members – cpuncil of leaders

workers 20% are local, 80% are migrant. All living in cavite

workers:special benefits

they have profit share – they have stock of maxim

basic education – college level – so they think it is easy to get job

they have bonuses and allowance

they think they are different form workers

we tried to identify the difference of electronics

stock holders – 4 other companies also have same method.s

a lot of recreation programme by management

oranising

there were three opportunities. 2 was accidental and 1 was interntional

orgnaisers were appeoached by in 2001  when mass mobilisation happened in Cavite

there was not much attention given. A groups of workers were sackd.

Workers accused of stealing – workers approached to orgnisers

Management settled the case with individuals

2003 community organising – made of the contact, worried about relocation and so on. Job secutiry issue

they incearsed into 3 people. Given some seminar and son on

problems – 2003 management discivered and local government launch seminars in maxim the management paid for that.

Main person sacked and mood was low. Orgnaising faced difficult/

Need an evaluation on what happening to orgnaisng

They needed to develop more orgnaisers at the beginning, relied on too mych one guy.

Also focus, orgnisers needed to focus on other organising attempts in other factories.

Counter effort to the government seminar. May be assitant from the SCW was limited.

May be training was too general and limited. Lack of specific material, may be more diversification could be ?

Electronics survey was used. Any other?

More orgnisers needed

How to train core people

Community organising

Support from scw need to be increased

Response form JM

Generally reflect the interview.

Moral is important particularly when organising is going down. Need more power and focus.

Advice on organising in Maxim

Problems – they were able to orgnise but it stuck

The strength – community based – found a person capable.

Relied on one person – scaked and slowed down damaged

Community level

Should build up contact in community though friend, church, relatives and so on.

Should id particular issues and problems in particular community. Eg eviction and demolition

To handle the problems with allies

You need environmental issues – environment NGO to overcome the limits

Being creative culturally – usually they are young interested in music concert and..invite them to concert for peace etc

Political question need to be answered. No explanation means acceptance

Factory level

Make contact person in departments other than QC. Promote specific awarness in particular department

Osh – production dept – chemical

Packing – stealing body search

Woman orgnisers for women concentrated production section

Former student activist is good

Woman has particular issues that can be addressed by woman

Inter-factory level

There should be an attempt to establish forum on issues newletters, labour/osh/human right issues

Materials

Specific manual for the electronics

Need to have not only general materials but particular contents.

More sophisticated materials for the workers. More visual and more media. Material can be up to the workers who think they are high.

The counter argument and to be ready with module answering to the profit sharing and traditional propaganda of the govt.

Shan’s addition

How to ogniser and how to continue to organise

Electornics are sensitve – need super orgniser

Specific – employment security and some specificity

Malaysian case – factory brought Islamic teacher to preach not to organise. We need support.

Approach them with their own language.

Small cases

CAMBODIA

I.    target: Tiger (women selling beer), Caltex

Beer company with shareholder from Carlsberg

II.  background Caltex sell gas

III.               working condition

Less holiday, 2 day per month

-Working accident, drinking too much beer, abuse from customers

-Sexual harassment

-low wage, long working hours, no maternity leave

IV.              organizing activity

-         building relationship through friend

-         -informal association

-         -go direct to workers working place

-         invite workers for meeting a bout their working condition and share experience of union

-         form core activist to collect more members

-         -establish relations btw activist during the pay day and via mobile phone

-         Training about working condition and labour code.

-         Have one meeting per month with workers due to busy schedule of workers

-         - training on how to improve work conditions

Q: is maternity leave really an issue? Can a pregnant woman work as a beer girl? Re labor law the employer have to pay when the worker is pregnant. In reality the girls quit the job, even if they work there for ten years, they aren’t aware that they have the right to maternity leave.

C. Taiwan’s public servants organising 

It is beyond imagination to organise directly flexible workers.

But there are fighting

Short-term workers in Government instutitions – research centre, government office, university, museum

Each year they are not applied to any labour standard in Taiwan. Govt refuses to recognise that they are workers. Fixed term government employee. They are not considered as workers.

The government fiscal crisis leads to cutting workforce

Every unit has cut 5% of employment cut – regulation

There are increasing fear that they will lose job, so that they start organising, united and start asking for compliance to the labour standard law.

There are more than 130,000. but labour movement say there should be more, there is no exact figure. There has been preparation for the union. There is no labour movement helping them. They are meeting law-makers and asking them to hold public hearing.

After public hearing last month, the govt pledged to give them clear answer by 1^st dec. the union does not have experience of fighting govt.

Preparation commitee. 

No organisers from outside.

In the public hearing some of the federation came, but not really cooperation. These workers used to work in government and high position. They did not think that they were workers. Now, there is job threat and they want to be workers.

In the past, although they have to sign contract every year, they could renew. So that was not a really issue. Now there is job threat. Normal recruitment process.

In the past, the condition was better than private secotor. So no one argued that they need labour standard law. Now the situation is detreorating condition and job-threatening, they want to be protected by labour standard law.  

D. Malaysia - Three cases

Private colleges

They are joint venture with foreign institutions.

In the orgnaising, mapping three big college, midum size and small scale technical college.

The big ones are JV with foreign. Mid ones are foreing susidari and the third one is

100 % contract workers. Management staff to lecturers are all.

Failure story

They found the top level college were proetected. Have dual contract – double job.

The mid level – have three months renewal contract.

They have fear. In this industry, turn over is very high. Plenty of supply. Mobility is

The third level.

Either belong to particular company – like Hitachi

Workers in light transit railway - Malaysia

Monorail

Star LRT

Putra LRT

They are young graduate – they have been involved in student movement before.

Reformasi generation. Response from the workers was really good.

They organise meeting with regularly – monthly meeting.

Talking about the problems, harassment.

They were all owned by the govt. Mismanagement.

Privatisation. And moving into automation. Now 50% no drivers.

Organising planted one guy and started orgnising in one company

Committee

2000 workers

there are a lot of outsourcing ticketing, cleaning and other will be outsourced.

Starting union “national union of LRT workers and allied union” so that all workers in outsourced industry can join the union. We managed also to contact . Putra LRT bought a bus company, a union of which is affiliated to transportation union. This makes things difficult.

Sort of occupational general union

Third case – very fast

Migrant workers – they are under the ministry of labour

Employers have their passport.

Refuge problems from Aceh and Burma and Mindanao.

All the migrant workers don’t have right to join the union.(except Aceh)

But Refuge is given right to join the union (legal loophole) they have now a small human right committee.

China – general condition

Government is encouraging flexi forms of employment to alleviate unemployment caused by privatisation of SOEs and large influx of rural labour. Despite the absence of central government policy or laws, there are local government policies for allowing flexi forms of employment.

Tus in China are not mobilising agents for opposition to anti-labour policies/laws or practices.

Civil society including academics, media, NGOs, and individual workers are using law, not mobilisation struggles, as the only weapon to defend workers’ rights.

YiYou workers’ center is located in the community. The position is to build up awareness amongst all workers and exhaust the existing room in the laws for defence of their rights. Two strategies. Workplace organising into workers’ committees to deal with management regarding the flexibilisation of the rights of the migrant workers collectively at the factory level. Community level education to use the legal procedures to protect their rights. These are done through researches, outreach visits to the factory areas, developing volunteer network.

Part 2. National Labour Movement to cope with flexibilisation of labour.

(extract from 3^rd day discussion of ATNC Network Workshop: Organising Flexible Labour)

Focus: Past days organising methods, today focus on the impact on national labour movement, does it mean adding new elements to our labour movement or we need new strategies? Many countries in Asia – there are general and particular situations, developed and developing countries, how to build solidarity across different labour movement/national contexts.

A. Indonesia

Ubon FSPMI (Metal union federation)

Cases regarding contractual labor:

In 1990 before labor went from training to regular worker. . In 1995 trend of contract labor; in 2000 trend of agency and subcontractor.

System:

1.    enforce the law and force company to obey the law. Pressure to revise the law

2.    training of the labor law to revise law by organizing mass movement in local and national level. Target on local level is the local gov’t and local parliament to make a rule. It is unclear in the law so want to revise it. Currently are multi-interpretation. So it’s important role of gov’t and parliament to revise the law. Since 2001 have data on the outsourcing system.. but now strategy changed to using apprenticeship system, because the law restricts subcontracting. Restricted to cleaning service; oil, transportation, security and catering. Outside these sectors its prohibited. So company change strategy to apprenticeship. Currently its arranged to learn to work, don’t get paid, just get allowance.

Sastro KASBI

Refer to Kasbi paper, give the conclusion of it:

Focus on the grassroots movement, focus on socio-economic impact on local and national level due to neoliberalism (link macro micro issues). Our point is lower pay, flexible hours/work status and anything that is beneficial to capitalists. Are monitoring and collecting data on flexible labor by talking to the flexible workers. make a coalition with many organizations. Second step is collect mutual information from the local coalition. One case is in Tangerang beginning in 2003, the result is report to public via workshop, discussion and mass action. In Bandung and East Java, Bogor and Pekasi, and central Java run campaign on flexible labor which was made national issue. Bring in academics to join campaign. We have join with two universities to make a campaign against flexible labor. Neoliberalism in Indonesia is addressed by some universities. Result of our campaign is we have a solution, but still many problems not solved like low pay, OT and other…  most important is have done education with workers and community about the negative impact of flexible labor.

Next step to recruit and organize contractual workers who were left behind by TU who fail to protect those workers. are organizing on community level, not plant level. Also establish union on the plant level. We have linked local issues with international issues. Consider it as a national issue but want to make it a international issue, perhaps by one day of action in the region or internationally on flexible labor. Maybe in next time we send email to one another to plan the mass day of action in the region or international.

Fahmi-LIPS

This issue has been discussed by certain groups in Indonesia and want to focus on informal workers. we see that massive dismissal of industrial workers makes them become informal sector workers such as street vendors etc. these informal workers could often be affected by local gov’t; they move from one place to another. During the discussion we conclude that TU should involve them in the labor movement. Still not clear on the strategy.

YAWAS-Faud

The flexibilisation here has become new strategy of capitalism so is a new challenge. Have to disconnect the relation of labor and employer through independent entrepreuership, or community based organizing.

Muftar from Eastern Indonesia

In  near future target is to change the labor law, especially law 13 on flexible labor which limits practice of outsourcing. Also law number 21 which ensures workers can organize, but both will be revised soon. Plan to take action such as strike to cancel legislation of the revision of the labor law which would promote more flexible labor market. Ask you all here to assist us in this struggle. We plan by Jan 2006 to have a strike and ask for assistance either directly or indirectly, because if the law is passed it will make it more difficult for us to organize workers or strike.

Q: is there a specific strategy for organizing flexible labor? Is there anything to add to movement building?

A: (Sastro) we are already starting with informal workers such as auto bike taxi driver, street vendor. Look at informal sector: subcontracting to home industry. emphasize forms of flexibilisation make point that are raising awareness of both regular and informal labor. That regular workers need to fight to keep their status as they could become subcontract workers someday, and that there needs to be solidarity among regular and irregular workers. the political awareness of most workers is characterized by self interests, sector by sector. It’s the reality of what’s happening here, so need to learn from other countries on how they are going about organizing flexible labor.

-in bandung steps taken to flexibalize is to put more inspectors in the production line. This inspector is watching all workers so that they can’t take trip to the bathroom. Even the impact is that many workers have been warned

B. PHILIPPINES

See Philippines powerpoint presentation.

A. COPING WITH LABOR FLEXIBILISATION

How the labour movement cope with flexible labour? Organising methods in workplaces and communities?

Workplaces

1.       Awareness-building measures, information and education drive

(This is in consideration of having a more or less synthesized study on contractualisation which was the output of NCPWR’s Conference on Contractualisation in April 2005)

Aim:

a.       To impart to workers the conditions and effects of labour flexibilisation

b.      To draw a thorough-going study of the detailed effects of labour flexibilisation.

Target and Levels:

a.       organised/unionised workers

b.      contractual workers/non-unionised workers

Forms:

a.       regular union meetings

b.      shop steward conferences

Method: The union facilitates the conduct of the information campaign.  The union may also seek the help of regional and national organisations such as NCPWR, CWELD, CTUHR, EILER, and legal institutions such as Pro-Labor Center.

2.       Struggling against labour flexibilisation at union level

a.       the union takes the responsibility to protect the welfare of contractual workers in their respective factories.

b.      the union works to regularise contractual workers.

c.       improvements in CBAs by considering provisions and items minimizing labour flexibilisation, if not totally eliminating it.

d.      work for contractual workers to become union members.

3.       Alliance formation per sector

a.       working group formation

b.      full-blown alliance

Note: Based on the campaign plan of Laban-Kabuhayan, it will be responsible for the formation of the sectoral alliances from working group formation to the full-blown alliance.

4.       Mass Actions

a.       conducting mass demonstrations to the Regional Tripartite Wage Board, Department of Labor and Employment, Philippine Export Zone Authority, DILG, embassies and Malacañang to expose and oppose labour flexibilisation.

b.      picket protests to be held in entry points of EPZs.

5.        Networking and alliance work

Establishing and sustaining networking with church workers, media, professionals, youth, students, urban poor, international friends and even small businessmen.

6.       Legal actions

a. Appeal to congress for a thorough investigation on labour flexibilisation practices of employers and its effects to workers, in aid of legislation.

b. Appeal to congress the repeal of executive orders, department orders, bilateral agreements, and laws that facilitate labour flexibilisation.

Community

1. Awareness-building measures, information and education drive

Aim: To draw a thorough-going study on the detailed effects of labour flexibilisation to families and community members.

Target:

a.       displaced workers such as those currently on strike

b.      contractual workers who are employed in factories without unions

c.       workers’ families

Levels:

a.       barangay

b.      municipal

c.       provincial

d.      regional

Forms:

a.  seminars and forum

b.  discussion groups

c.  house-to-house visitation

d.  mass distribution of flyers, pamphlets, primers and other reading materials regarding flexible labour and their immediate issues

e.       cultural gatherings

f.        documentaries and issue-based film showing

Method: While Laban-Kabuhayan primarily facilitates the conduct of the information campaign, members of unions living in the target communities may also help in the comprehensive organising work.

2. Organising

a. developing a working group

b. committee formation (education, organising, women, and youth)

c. full-blown organisation

3. Alliance work

Establishing and sustaining networking with church workers, media, professionals, youth, students, urban poor, international friends and even small businessmen.

4. Participation in issue-based campaigns

5. Legal actions

lobbying in local government units and congressional district representatives to take measures on the welfare of displaced workers and communities.

6. Livelihood projects

a. creating livelihood programs

b. exploring possible partners to fund the livelihood programs

Capital has made the worse destruction of lives and livelihood.  National and international laws are outrightly violated.  The intense crisis of capital brings anarchy (disorder).  The widespread job insecurity and unemployment is not a phenomenon.

The union is an effective weapon for organising and establishing.  But union organising and strengthening seem not to be the solution to the subhuman conditions workers get from labour flexibilisation.  The historic achievements of workers such as the struggle for the 8-hour work day are now being systematically robbed from the working class.  What workers experience is the massacre of regular jobs and livelihood.  Labour flexibilisation may be a phenomenon that even national governments bow their heads to capital and can no longer secure stability for its people.  Labour flexibility is but a part of the ever-worsening crisis of capitalism.  The need for the workers’ political enlightenment and activism raises the struggle to a more decisive battle to win the struggle for just wages, job security and workers’ rights.

Summarised

l      Combined workplace and community organising

Workplace organising:

-         Awareness building through research on flex labour in different flex labour and conference. Target: Oragnised and unionised workers through TU meetings and shopstward meetings. And unorganised workers. TU as researcher on flex labour. NGOs support from outside.

-         Union level struggle. Unions take responsibility to protect the welfare of contractural workers. to make contract workers regular, improve CBA, minimising and eliminating the system, get contractual workers regularised.

-         Alliance foration per sector. Form working groups in different industry. forming full blown alliance in the region

-         Mass actions. Regional actions. Actions to the tripartite wage BOD, department of labour, EPZ authourity

-         Network. Media, youth, international network, small businessmen affected by competition, academics

-         Legal actions. Appeal to congress members on bill to legalise a ban on flex labour. after that, repeal executive orders, abolish department orders or bilateral agreements allowing flexi labour.

Community organising

-         Organise at the community because this is where the informal sector is found

-         Awareness building, information, education, through studies

-         Target: families of organised workers. Displaced workers after strike, contractuals, un organised workers and their families.

-         Seminars, discussion groups, house visits, cultural gathering, propoganda materials

-         Local, municipal, provincial and regional level actions

-         Members of TU also help.

-         Develop working groups per sector in the community. Form specific committees for workers, youth. All to be working under one umbrellas organisation in the community.

-         Organise from livelihood aspects, provision of help and assistance.

C. THAILAND

In 1997 economic crisis in thailand and since then company restructure by introducing contractualization. In same year law passed to legalize it. At the time the thai labour movement couldn’t respond to this new system. Many TU collapsed; in 2000 the labor movement experience impact from contractualization and more and more regular workers laid off and company increase contractual labor. In that year began to discuss this issue. In 01 the Thai Labour Solidarity Committee was formed, a national coalition. It’s comprised of groups of researchers, academics and lawyers. Under this coalition structure includes many unions including ADTU, state enterprise TU confederations, area groups, labor federations including textile and garment, electronics, paper and printing, 2 labor congresses out of 11, students, the women workers unity group, the assembly of the poor and NGOs including Thai labour Campaign and CLIST. One policy of the coalition is to abolish contractualization. To make it function reps from each of the above organizations are formed into working teams. The working team take responsibility for organizing rally or demonstration, which take place not less than 3x per year, including may day. also make a data base. Organize seminars on issue such as contractualization, FTA, WTO etc. lastly lobby government.  At the same time each organization have responsibility to provide education to its members and organize local campaigns. Each organization must do organizing work because organizing work contribute to organizing demonstration or rally.

Now in the process of revising the labor law with the government, but gov’t say if abolish contractualization is will da

mage competitiveness for FDI etc. but labor movement respond by saying the policy violate human rights and the constitution. Before Dang came here TLSC set 10 December as the next date for action on contractualization.

ADTU: set first priority to abolish contractualization. ADTU is central organization to take responsibility for this issue via posters, pamphlets, webiste and furthermore it organizes demonstrations in front of embassies regarding the negative effects of FDI which is promoting contractualization.

Method of organizing is it takes place in different provinces and is contractualized in BKK. For example in the NE have group of TU in Korat etc, as well as in the Eastern Seaboard. The oldest area group is 20 years old. There are about 15 area based TU groups in Thailand.

Around half the industrial workforce is contractual. There are 1,000 TU in Thailand with 300,000 TU members (officially).

D. KOREA (see appendix)

Will talk about neo-liberal flexibilisation of labor, how it was implemented and the response from TU, in addition to future response to flexibilisation by the TUs.

Neoliberal flexibilisation start in the mid 80s to intensify exploitation of labor. Serious development started around 1998 when the workers movement in Korea made a critical development. After 1987 when there was large scale mobilization of workers and high increase of TU, gov’t realize old system of militant control of labor would no longer work. in mid 90s increasing flexibilisation, particularly where militant TU could not organize well against capital, for example construction and private service sector. Although since increasing informalization of work the labor movement didn’t recognize it. So while not recognize importance there was increasing flexibilisation, realize seriousness and around same time the gov’t implemented ways to legalize or regularize flexibilisation. In 1996-7 gov’t tried to legalize dispatchers, which was met with general strike at the national level, but labor movement didn’t succeed in resisting this method, so labor outsourcing were allowed. 

In korea 3 forms of neoliberal restructuring

1.    wage= performance based

2.    working hours= variable work hour system

3.    employment= increasing flexibilisation of employment, which consider informalization of work.

increasing irregularization brought the korean working class poverty, and create hierarchy among working class so undermine united struggle of the workers which was the fundamental basis of the strength of the korean labor movement. And now its in a situation that may not be as easy to organize against as before. This problem clearly appear in the workplace where there is no sense of belonging together or community among the workers, but replaced by competition with each other to not be at the bottom, or irregular workers. this has been the greatest barrier to uniting workers.

the history  of irregular workers struggle began with the mass of the working class and slowly developed to other forms. In early days were spontaneous struggle without much focus from labor movement, and gradually disappeared. Although this spontaneous struggle around 2000 didn’t get much attention, it did highlight to seriousness of the phenomena, and it instigated a coalition of groups including lawyers, academics and labor groups. Through the activity of these orgs’ the issue of irregular workers has been highly publicized, but this has not led to direct support from the labor movement for those irregular workers. the reason why the irregular workers movement didn’t get support from TU movement is that they did not recognize this problem as their own problem. In Career irregular workers organized a union and occupy the factory to demand better conditions, but the regular workers affiliated to KCTU opposed them and led to the end of that particular struggle.

2 other big struggles in 2000. Was one long terms struggle in Korea Telecom short term contracted workers Union. They went thru a strike over 517 days; and a 1000 day strike by transportation workers. both ended in failure, but on the basis of these failures the whole labor movement began to re-strategize their view of irregular workers.  in 2002-3, a transitional period, many began to realize the importance. Many irregular workers unions were formed and many labor org’s began to organize irregular workers, and increasing number of militant struggles by irregular workers during these years.

Principle of developing irregular workers movement is they socialize this struggle through mass struggle. As the movement grow with more activists working on this issue they want to develop it into an anti-government and anti-capitalist movement. In korea there is alliance of irregular workers TU, this is on the basis of recognition that since lots of irregular workers organizing individually on a company level that they cannot progress by working on the individual company level. Realize the fight is not against individual capitals, but against capital in general and the state that promotes the flexible workers. National Council of Representatives of Irregular Workers TU is the umbrella TU for the irregular workers. now irregular workers struggle is developing into social struggle involving different movements, and is slowly  integrating all of the working class. There is currently a bill in parliament regulating irregular work in Korea. Now the national irregular workers alliance and the KCTU made a commitment to this struggle including calling for a general strike. Through this struggle the irregular workers now stand at center of labor movement as a subjectivity of the labor movement which can bring a new society to the people, rather than a beneficiary of the regular workers as an objective. There are many tasks ahead for the labor movement in Korea:

1.    organize massively the irregular workers

2.    develop the irregular workers struggle in a way that the movement can attack the heart of neoliberal globalization.

Many things in developing this movement, including tragedy of many activists. Many committed suicide to highlight problems, many lost their job and family in the process. But based on these and other sacrafices it is currently the most important struggle of the Korean labor movement and is at the center of the labor movement at the moment. By participating in this meeting  I feel that neoliberal flexibilisation appears in many forms in different countries. I think it cannot be a struggle for slightly improved wage or conditions, but a struggle against neoliberalism that undermines workers everywhere. Also hope we can sit together to discuss in more detail on how to struggle against labor flexibilisation.

Q: what is number of irregular? Whole working population is 15 million and 60% is irregular.

Summary of session:

Different forms challenges approaches from the different countries. Most countries the existing labor movement is looking at ways to address irregular labor created by neoliberalism. Case of Indonesia show how it further weaken TU. Also see how state is passing laws in favor of capital. Challenge to bring the labor movement to the forefront

Taiwan: flexibilisation process is still going on in Taiwan on part of TU and employers. Trying to raise consciousness of the dangers of flexible or irregular employement. Some union already face problem but have found ways to ??? 

Malaysia: difficult to deal with problem of flexible labor, creating a general form of support mechanism for them so that they have power to bargain with capital.

Part 3. Strategies of Organising Flexible Labour  - Synthesis

Red group presentation (Phils, Indonesia and cambodia)

1.    workplace

A.    Education about labor flexibilisation thru TU

-educate regular workers

educate irregular workers

education on effects of globalization

-all 3 done through unions

-Cambodia case can use research from other countries to prevent

B.     organizing

-organizing irregular workers to unions (contractual or irregular to regular) and association of irregular workers

-if have problem with outsourcing workers can form an organization of irregular workers based on 3 issues: 1. Regularization 2. Job security and 3. Wage increase into a Mass Movement

2.    Community organizing 

Purpose: educate on effects of labor flex and globalization

Include workers (regular/irregular; informal and displace/terminated/retrenched/striking workers) and their families

3.    International Solidarity

a.     information exchange: labour flexibilisation

-effects in countries

compare

also to answer why is there flexible labor

background of particular companies practices

b.    exchange program

-learning effects of labour flex

learning organizing skills

funding

c.     international campaign

-against companies practicing labour flex

-against labor flex and globalization

explanation of community organizing: have workers, vendors, youth/students/women org committee/drivers etc. basis of strategy is people are based inside the community living with the people of the community.

Time scope is 3 months for organizers to go to different countries to learn organizing skills. The education should be asap

Yellow group (Thailand, Indonesia and China)

2 major types of organizing

1.    TU in the factory level, industry, area and national level movement

2.    General organizing or community organizing including factory workers, outsourced workers, self-employed, informal sector etc…

Combining these two types of organizing with a common strategy

            -unionization

            -build forum to exchange knowledge

-         increase bargaining power

-         -political involvement such as changing laws, set national policy

all of this can be combined with students, public, academics, informal workers to form a campaign with 3 strategy or goals:

1.    regularization

2.    TU rights/freedom of association

3.    Promote ILO Co. 87/98

(in case of Thailand movement discuss building a political party)

Regional Solidarity, ‘say no to neoliberalism’

            -WTO

            -FTA, AFTA

            -flexibilisation

            -SEZ (learn from China experience)

Regional research

            -Company info

            -Collective research

            -Organizer exchange

            -Communication system such as website

Organize migrant workers

            -Organize so they are able to join local national level trade unions

Blue (Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia)

ID one major issue of communication

1.    Workplace

-improve communication: simple method/ form for the understanding of low end workers

-communication (key) info on the industry/community effects of neoliberalization on workers (generally and economy as whole/capital flow)

            -global/local political development

            -info experience of organizing

            -(in other countries/exchange and in own country)

-build/maintain database: statistics/movement of labor including regular, contract and agency=ID who/policy

-improve solidarity: irregular/regular workers in workplace or inter factory. alliance with allied industries

Strategies

Organizing flex labor at community level=database/joint secretariat with:

-organizing at workplace with NGO/community

-build alliance with community/informal sector

-communication with other sectors

-regular discussion/produce pamphlet

-community organizing or action on all levels

-build network with other communities

-community sector to contest in elections

National level:

-research centers working on flex labor

-collect info from abroad/fundraising

-build national alliance/working group

-national seminar /conference on effect of flex labor to society/country

-establish national lobby in law reform

-

building effective Labor Movement in Asia/country (how the different countries can assist each other)

-est. Asian Charter on flexible labor (need definition of ‘worker’/’union’ and history of flex labor

-intra country research on flex labor (extent/problems in each country or annual report Amnesty Style)

-annual join mass action in November

-international pressure a group or visiting leaders/capitals

-monitoring tras-national job agents= sending agents (migrant workers) 

-international campaign against slavery

-HK cases on government=HR=slavery

coordinate info/arguments/cases/solidarity among countries on flex labor.

Synthesis

• Agree on community and workplace organising (strengthened existing TU and sectoral/federation TU) combined to organise flexi labour.
• Reality is different contexts and different organisation has different plan of work, must be pragmatic to identify what the network can do.
• This meeting already achieved the purpose of exchange of information and experience on flexi labour. unless there is a new identified issue for exchange or internship. And it can be done bilateral not involving the whole network.
• International campaign ??
• Research – already going on Samsung, Toyota, Victoria, Tatung – on case study. Each organisation’s research can be posted in the ATNC website.
• Manual on organising on sectoral level that some countries have can be shared with those that have not.

Organising Flexible Labour: Wrap-up

Capital mobility

Globalisation

Flexibilisation

 

the way in which labour is organised for capital has been changed

 

Irregular workers in manufacturing sector - the regularity of job has disappeared.

Informal workers - no regularity as it was, but increasing in number because 1) no more

self-subsistent economy 2) regular workers flow into this sector.

So there is interconnection between

 

Does this mean quantitative change?

Or Qualitative change?

Or a bit of both?

 

It is qualitative change since the intensification of work is based not only violent control over the working class but also on the systematic removal of collective nature of work.

 

But, it is also a bit of both. It depends on uneven development of capital

 

In countries where regularity of work was formally secured on the basis of collective labour relations, it appears as transformation

Where suppressive control is focal issue and flexiblisation makes things worse, it appears

rather quantitative

 

It is also depends on industrial sector’

It is matter of

Making organising on the basis of collective nature of labour relation more difficult? (manufacturing)

Or making the basis of collective nature of labour disappear? (service)

 

Whichever case, it is true that flexibilisation is idealisation of capitalist labour as a individual factor of production rather than human.

By undermining collective nature of labour, it is also clearly undermining the labour movement 

 

It is not enough to add more methods to existing labour movement. Rather we need to bring a qualitative change in the labour movement.

Indeed we develop distinguishable methods and strategy and there is significant development

 

We have community organising where organisations utilise creative methods targeting different residents (Indonesia/ Philippines/ Cambodia)

Informal/formal education through various routes and contact in and out of workplace (in all countries)

Removing discrimination between regular and irregular workers by calling for solidarity from regular workers (Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia)

Integrating flexible workers into the centre of national movement through mass mobilisation and support mobilising (Korea)

We have interest in organising informal workers - cooperative or community form, alliance (indonesia, Philippine, Cambodia)

We have general union idea by which organised workers in outsourced section (Malaysia)

 

 

They need to elaborated and shared.

However, as individual method, it may be not much effective.

They need to be developed more systematic way

It can be described as

In terms of methods - Comprehensive organising - systematic combination of different methods for different targets

Movement building, social organising - organising labour at society level

 

This is the labour movement going beyond the factory.

Retain the centrality of the labour movement

Capitalist society built on labour

But it is not only factory employment through which an individual becomes capitalist labourer

there are different dimension,mediations: Family, community, workplace, education, gender, politics

 

These are not a issue exist in separation from labour,rather dimensions of labour that has been neglected by traditional TUs

The labour movement needs to organise all dimensions of capitalist labour.

It is politics, economy and society

Organising flexible labour can be an opportunity …

Meeting adjourned.

Appendix

The History of Korean Irregular Workers’ Struggle and

the Tasks Before the Movement

Korean Solidarity for Contingent Workers

The struggles mounted by Korean irregular workers are inextricably linked to the overall democratic labor movement's fight against restructuring. A history suffused with tears and agony, at the same time, Korean irregular workers' struggles are also a narration of how contingent workers in struggle have broadened the boundaries of the democratic workers' movement and become new subjects in the movement to fight labor flexibilization. 

1. How did Insecure Work Become So Widespread?

The Beginnings of Casualization in Korea

In the wake of a wave of neo-liberalism that swept Korea in the 1980s, capital has manuevered to trample fundamental labor rights, demolish the wage and welfare system, and gain the “freedom” to fire at will. Backed by the coercive power of the state, capital fulfilled its goal of labor flexibilization. In part, capital’s drive to introduce flexibilization was motivated by the need to counter the growing strength of organized labor since the “Great Workers’ Struggle,” a three month-long outburst of bottom-up (rank-and-file led) strikes that spread like wildfire in 1987. Capital employed women workers in the budding private services sector, undervalued the labor value, and sought to institutionalize both low wages and precarious employment. With the construction in boom of the 1980s, the numbers of day laborers grew rapidly and with multi-tiered subcontracting separating the employers from the employed, a new subclass of low-wage day laborers was formed.

Thus, between the late-1980s and the early- to mid-1990s, irregular workers were concentrated in specific industries and the problem of insecure work was perceived not so much as an issue for the entire movement, but as the problems of a particular sector.

 “New Managerial Strategies”: Attempts at Flexibilization

In the mid-1990s, capital launched its neo-liberal policy initiative under the name of “New Managerial Strategy.” The substance of this was marginalization of the labor union by transforming internal workplace culture and restructuring to externalize employment responsibilities using strategies such as subcontracting and outsourcing. Invoking the imperatives of lean production, capital incessantly told workers of the “need” to shed “peripheral” (non-“core”) functions.

The minju nojo movement (autonomous and democratic union movement) understood this “New Managerial Strategy” as an attempt to undercut unions; yet, the union counteroffensive took place on a somewhat fragmented workplace by workplace basis through shopfloor-based struggle. Meanwhile, capital was spearheading, not only efforts to usher in neo-liberalism at the workplace level, but also a broader attack aimed at institutionalizing labor flexibilization through far-reaching legislative “reform,” more concretely, by bringing about and commandeering the “Presidential Commission for Industrial Relations Reform (PCIRR).” In 1993, capital attempted to lift restrictions on labor dispatch (temp agency work) and promote enactment of bills to enlarge the sphere of irregular employment. The agenda of these legislative “reforms,” was to create a legal apparatus to reinforce the restructuring strategies already underway at workplace-level: the subcontracting and outsourcing, the basis for casualization of labor.

All-Out Neo-Liberal Assault and the Amplification of Insecure Work

The years 1996 and 1997 mark the turning point when the neo-liberal assault went full-scale. The government regime under former president KIM, Young-sam tried to institutionalize redundancy dismissal (mass lay offs) and a labor dispatch system by railroading through enactment of retrogressive labor laws. The democratic labor movement organized a nationwide, political, general strike in resistance; however, the struggle failed to stop the onslaught. An economic crisis struck on the heels of this failure. With the nation in the grip of crisis mentality, neo-liberalism spread with even greater speed.

Workforce casualization began to happen full-scale. No longer confined to a particular segment of labor, casualization began to hit ordinary manufacturing as well as white collar work. Capital pushed through redundancy dismissal at a few union strongholds for its symbolic power, but the main thrust of irregularization and redundancy dismissals occurred at un-unionized and small workplaces. Thus, Korean workers stepped into the age of out-and-out neo-liberalism.

Institutionalization, Generalization, and Hierarchization of Irregular Work

As we enter 2004, we see attempts to make insecure work the norm. Institutions to generalize irregular work throughout all sectors include establishing new categories, such as “special employment,” to make workers “pseudo-workers”[1] and expanding application of the dispatch labor law[2] to even more industries. If the current trend continues, soon permanent, regular workers will be the ones who are “special” or rare. Another push has been to hierarchize the irregular workforce into different tiers to throw workers on the lower rungs into fierce competition with one another in order to inch up the ladder. Low wages and poor work conditions for those defined as being in the “bottom tier” becomes “natural.” Thus, hierarchization spawns discrimination among workers and erodes worker unity.

If wage discrimination and discriminatory work conditions are rationalized, the workers in the bottom tiers will simply be considered “the socially weak,” objects of charity. The numbers of workers for whom the minimum wage is the maximum-possible wage will increase. Pauperization of all workers will accelerate, and women workers and older workers will fall to the lower end of the hierarchy. This is how capital can foster division and competition among workers to exercise control over them.

2. The Irregular Workers’ Movement Struggle History

Irregular workers’ struggle can be categorized into three different kinds of struggle. The first is irregular workers’ struggle to form unions and fight for employment security and their rights. Irregular workers have undertaken such struggle to assert their rights since 2000, and nowadays, there is widespread recognition of irregular workers’ issues. The second is the struggle to stem the spread of irregular work and stop institutionalization of irregular work, to make insecure work a social issue and to win basic labor rights. Up until now, this struggle has been championed by irregular workers themselves. Third is the struggle to foster greater consciousness about insecure work among regular workers toward fighting to regularize casual workers or struggling to end discrimination against irregular workers. These three dimensions of movement combined in myriad ways to develop the Korean irregular workers’ struggle.

1999, Irregular Workers Launch Struggles: In-House Subcontracting at Halla Heavy Industries, Jaeneung Education Tutors’ Labor Union (JETU)

The 1999 struggles of Halla Heavy Industries subcontracting workers and tutors of the Jaeneung Education Corporation (JEI Corporation) are seen as crucial struggles and the beginnings of the explosive irregular workers’ struggles of today. The Halla Heavy Industries irregular workers’ case showed how closely tied irregular workers’ issues were to the issue of restructuring, and at the same time showed that the interests of irregular workers and regular workers had drifted apart. The tutors of Jaeneung Education Corporation—whose struggle has become synonymous with the struggle of “special employment” workers—founded their union in 1999. At the time the tutors formed the Jaeneung Education Tutors’ Labor Union (JETU), awareness of “special employment” in itself was not very strong. The problems relating to “commissioned contracts” could not help but emerge and were part of the JETU struggle slogans and demands. The JETU struggle established “special employment” workers as an important part of the overall Korean irregular workers’ struggle to follow, and the JETU problematization of the “special employment” issue became a basis for consciousness-raising in 1999. 

2000, Explosive Struggles Touch Off and Meet Some Success

One could say that irregular workers’ struggles burst on the scene in full force in 2000. The economic crisis had subsided to a certain extent leaving regular workers with greatly diminished wages and worsened working conditions, but with irregular workers’ situation deteriorating daily. In this state of burgeoning accumulated grievances, irregular workers undertook struggle to change their situation and gain their industrial “civil rights,” and the form of their struggle was largely a wave of fights to establish unions. Their arduous struggles brought about a certain measure of success as social conditions that could restrain them had yet to formulate coherent containment measures.

It was also in 2000 that movement forces undertook greater efforts to make irregular workers’ problems a social issue. Some 20 labor and social movement organizations formed the “Joint Countermeasures Committee to Abolish Labor Dispatch” to expose the problems rife in indirect employment and the Labor Dispatch Act and to support irregular workers’ grassroots struggles while civic groups formed the “Joint Countermeasures Committee for Irregular Workers’ Basic Rights” to lobby for an amendment to the law. Thus, the issue was brought to the fore and many groups worked to expose the problems relating to irregular work. In the end, however, the struggles that burst out at the time mainly relied on the strength of the subjects themselves, and one limitation was that many tended to see the issue narrowly as the plight “of irregular workers.” During this period, the tendency to rely on “protecting irregular workers” also formed. Nevertheless, it was an important success that irregular workers’ problems were publicized throughout society and irregular workers’ struggles enjoyed some cover owing to the attention.

2001, Irregular Workers’ Struggle Front: Korea Telecom Contract Workers’ Union, Korean Ready-Mixed-Concrete (“Remicon”) Mixer Truck Drivers’ Union, Carrier In-House Subcontracting Workers’ Union

As soon as irregular workers’ struggles coalesced and their deplorable situation became known throughout society in 2000, capital began extending the institutionalization of irregular work and laying the foundations for legislation on irregular work. This became concrete in October 2000, when the Ministry of Labor announced a set of measures called “Measures to Protect Atypical Workers.” In order to gain the upper hand in the process of promoting retrogressive amendments to laws relating to irregular workers, capital did not budge an inch and maintained complete intransigence in the irregular workers’ struggles fought at workplaces. It became apparent that a fight-till-victory-or-defeat face-off against capital was in the offing. Three struggles emerged as representative: the union of Korea Telecom fixed-term contract workers undertook a struggle against restructuring and redundancy dismissal; the nationwide union of “Remicon” (ready-mixed-concrete) mixer truck drivers fought to achieve “worker” recognition for “special employment” workers; and the union of in-house subcontracted production workers at Carrier Corporation (which makes air conditioners) fought a struggle with potential to build concrete solidarity between the regular workers’ union and irregular workers’ union at the same workplace. They were all critical struggles in that a victory or defeat would have great impact on the greater political situation and decide which social actor would emerge with the initiative to shape the future.

Although the subjects of the struggle were prepared and resolute, the labor movement as a whole was unable to take on those struggles as the task of the entire movement, and thus, the actors were left to fight the struggles as individual struggles. The struggles ended in defeat, and the movement experienced the growth of “special employment,” the deprivation of basic labor rights, divisions between regular and irregular workers in facing restructuring, and the spread of indirect employment. The struggles undertaken by irregular workers in this period were painfully difficult. On the one hand, it could be said that going through this crucible strengthened irregular workers’ consciousness that they were the subjects and prime agency behind the struggle, while on the other, it could be said that the democratic labor movement had come up against its own limitations in fighting against the institutions that mass-produced irregular work or in understanding the full society-wide implications of irregular work. 

2002, Slump and the Growth of Consciousness about Basic Labor Rights

A sense of failure and powerlessness lingered after the failure of the three representative irregular workers’ struggles of 2001. However, this could not extinguish irregular workers’ struggles. Facing a lifetime of being easily pushed out from workplace to workplace, irregular workers could not help but rise to meet the situation when push came to shove and take up struggle anew. However, the struggles of 2002 could not help but be less energetic. Although the subjects of struggle were facing difficulty, this did not mean that irregular workers’ struggle would disappear. As irregular workers’ problematic about basic labor rights spread, they initiated a demand for joint struggle to be carried out. By now, the democratic labor movement camp had also began growing acutely aware that the irregular work issue was not someone else’s problem, but their own. “Special employment” workers, though facing difficulty within their own workplaces, nevertheless began looking beyond the day-to-day problems at the enterprise-level to deepen anew their consciousness of “basic labor rights.” A forum to discuss countermeasures and strategy on “Special employment” and another for indirect employment were organized. Permanent, regular workers’ unions also began concrete efforts to prepare and conscientize regular workers for carrying out struggle with irregular workers. Thus, at shopfloor level, in collective bargaining with employers, regular workers’ unions began forwarding demands for new clauses to “eliminate discrimination against irregular workers” or clauses to “regularize” the irregular workers at their workplace. At the Kia Motors Kwangju plant, the union successfully won a clause to convert irregular workers to regular worker status and these kinds of precedent cases began to be set little by little. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) situated the problem of irregular work as one if its core tasks, trained organized activists and began, little by little, drafting plans to organize irregular workers in a goal-oriented way.  

2003, Formation of New Subjects, Potential Struggles, In-House Contracting Workers Form Unions, and the Truckers’ Solidarity Struggle 

After the spread of popular awareness on the irregular work issue and through countless efforts to organize irregular workers, the year 2003 saw the formation of some larger-scale and significant irregular worker labor unions. In-house subcontracting workers at Hyundai Motors formed a union for irregular workers centered in the Asan and Ulsan plants, and “special employment” truck drivers joined forces to stage a powerful strike. Additionally, the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation Irregular Workers’ Union, galvanized by the self-immolation of an irregular worker activist who set himself on fire in protest and died, carried out a strike and won. These struggles were the produce of goal-oriented organizing efforts. While the perception that these are struggles to address only irregular workers’ problems still remains, when these powerful struggles began to take off, capital no longer thought that it could simply crush the irregular workers’ union whole as in the past. However, although capital made some concessions, even in laws and institutions, it continued to focus on creating a system to churn out irregular work from regular work and oppress workers’ basic rights. 

Irregular Workers’ Struggles to Achieve Basic Labor Rights and Living Rights

It was not until 2004 that people were able to see the core of the irregular work issue as not only about the plight of individual persons who ere irregular workers and wanted better work conditions, and instead as the task of all labor to unite as a whole to win basic labor rights. Thus, it was possible for irregular worker unions throughout the country to build the “Korea Solidarity Conference of Irregular Workers’ Union Leaders” (hereafter, Solidarity Conference). Through the Solidarity Conference, irregular workers established their joint task as organizing a “Struggle for the Achievement of Basic Labor Rights,” and they are organizing to marshal the collective strength of irregular workers’ unions nationwide.

They have also begun organizing struggles with social and political dimensions. In the past, the struggle to raise the minimum wage was relegated to workers receiving the minimum wage; however, the Solidarity Conference has broadened this struggle into a general struggle against growing impoverishment and has won popular support in that struggle. Further, they have organized a “Joint Action against Insecure Work and Poverty.” In doing so, the irregular workers’ movement no longer relies solely on the ranks of labor, but rather, is beginning to try organizing struggles voicing the interests of all insecure workers as a whole. Thus, it was not until 2004 that irregular workers’ struggles developed beyond trade unions and into larger social struggles.

3. Limitations of the irregular worker’s movement

A limitation of irregular worker’s movement up to now has been that it has largely confined irregular workers’ struggle to “building an irregular workers’ union” and “struggles for union recognition.” However, irregular workers must counter a larger, aggregate, extensive and institutional attack from both capital and the state. This struggle begins with a fight against one capitalist’s denial of any responsibility or employment relation, and it necessarily implies broader social and political issues. Even if a union achieves conversion of the union members’ employment status to permanent, regular worker in a struggle with one employer, still irregular work is continually being mass-produced institutionally; thus, the irregular worker’s struggle in itself carries strong social importance. Nevertheless, the problem of insecure work has been largely been confined to that of forming a trade union, and even among unions, the particular and specific form of the “irregular workers’ union,” and this is one limitation of the movement today.

Failure of Organize on a Mass Basis

While irregular workers’ struggles are significant in that they have contributed to forming a sense of agency, of being the subject for struggle, and to building mass-based trade unions, it has been difficult if not nearly impossible to spread this sense of agency and subjecthood in all of those union members, but rather confined to an activist layer within the new union. Thus, we have been increasingly seeing struggles in which a core group of activists within the union stick out the struggles to defend the union to the end. However, when a mass-based organization such as a union loses its ability to act like a mass-based organization with strong participation from grassroots members, then it loses a lot of its significance. Further, without maximizing its strength—the unity of its members—the union does not have many tools with which to fight capital. This has been the objective reality of irregular workers in particular, so some irregular workers’ unions have jettisoned the hope of broadening their struggle into a truly mass-based one, and instead experimented with the strategy of “leading struggle” in the hopes that pre-figurative struggles can pave the way or play an intermediating role toward creating something larger. Also capital has been stubbornly intransigent on even the smallest of demands, so struggles tend to develop militancy. Since the power dynamics were imbalanced at the beginning, when irregular workers have a small win, they tend to end the struggle easily and wrap up. This has negative effects on organization.

Our Struggles Did Not Advance into Struggles against Root Problems

Facing the possibility that irregular workers become hardened by harsh oppression and expose the problems rife in neo-liberalism publicly, the government proffered its hidden card of “trade union stabilization,” in return for acceptance of irregular work as a normal form of employment. That is, after continuous oppression and refusal to recognize the union, the government offered to improve working conditions so long as workers recognize irregular work as a valid form of employment. If irregular workers’ unions accept this, it could mean that irregular workers’ unions become complicit in sustaining and enlarging the scope of irregular work in Korea.

Over-Expectations of “Institutional” Reform: Understanding the Costs of Inaugurating Lasting Institutional Change

One problem has been that we do not understand the basic character of the government’s flexbilization offensive, and thus, are liable to make the mistaken calculation and harbor the false hope that if only we revise our demands to best win some “institutional” reform, that we can somehow further the cause of basic labor rights. Capital claims that labor flexibilization is the irresistible tide of the times, and has already forwarded the argument that instead of resisting the swell toward irregular work, that we should accept irregular work if its worst excesses are moderated by government measures to mitigate discrimination against irregular workers. If we accept—even partially—such a proposition with the noble intention of furthering even just a little bit some kind of lasting change, we will have undermined in reality our position for any longterm movement resisting the spread of irregular work. Rather, we will have acknowledged or be seen as having given our stamp of approval for the stable mass production of irregular workers and continued erosion of regular work. Our demand is clear. All workers must be recognized as having basic labor rights, and as a movement, we will not accept irregularization of work, though individuals may turn to irregular work to sustain their needs. When the stakes are high because they shape the terrain for future struggle decisively, we must know how to stake our ground and endure. If the situation is NOT one where we can reasonably reach some middle ground through compromise, we should choose endurance, even though we know we will be broken in the process. We must steel ourselves to go through that if we are really to create a credible movement that has a future and a struggle that can turn the tide of encroaching casualization of work.

4. The Tasks Before the Movement

Here are some thoughts on the political and social tasks before us that are necessary for impelling the irregular workers’ movement forward beyond being confined to a trade union movement.

Organizing on Irregular Work Must Go Beyond the Enterprise-Level Workplace

The field of struggle for the irregular worker’s movement must go forward beyond the walls of the factory or office or individual workplace and into the institutional and political arena. Up to now, one stumbling block before all irregular workers’ unions in struggle has been institutional constraints. Since such institutional constraints affect everyone, it is very important for irregular worker’s unions to share their strategies and thinking on this problem. The Solidarity Conference must rise to the challenge of addressing social and political issues, and speaking out on those issues instead of remaining content with assisting individual unions in struggle. This would include the struggle to gain basic labor rights, the struggle to demand secure jobs, the struggle to win basic social insurance (in Korea, unemployment insurance, health insurance, retirement pension, and industrial accident insurance are considered the 4 basic forms of social insurance), the struggle against deepening impoverishment and for raising the minimum wage, and demanding social rights such as the right to live in good health and the right to receive an education.

Subjects of Struggle: Beyond a Struggle of Irregular Workers to a Struggle of the Whole Democratic Union Movement

We must organize to make the countering the growth of irregular work into a task for the entire democratic union movement and not just the struggle of irregular workers. If we don’t block the casualization strategy of capital with all our combined strength, then the problem of irregular work will become a huge problem for all workers and all the dispossessed (Minjung). Regular workers must transform their perspective from one of “protecting” workers exploited under the “particular” or specific form of irregular work into one of understanding irregular workers as equal subjects to fight alongside of in the common fight against neo-liberal restructuring. Recently, capital has been changing its divide-and-conquer (irregular from regular) control tactics into a more aggressive one where capital has taken irregular workers hostage in order to exert pressure on regular workers. In doing so, capital has distorted the democratic union movement as being simply about, “representing regular workers.” In order to combat this new attack, the democratic labor camp must, together with irregular workers, fight the state and capital on the current issues of the day—restructuring, neo-liberalism, and within that, the institutions reproducing and expanding the realm of irregular work.

Popular Organizing of Irregular Workers Must Go Beyond Organizing Unions

Vast numbers of workers in Korean society suffer from irregular work. Realistically, it will be difficult for all of these workers to form trade unions. However, for a long time now, we have thought of building agency and empowering subjects of struggle as organizing into unions and taking it from there. The problem of deepening impoverishment, the minimum wage, and receiving the 4 basic forms of social insurance are not necessarily the urgent and pressing issues for irregular workers’ unions. Thus, it is important for irregular workers’ unions to go out into the masses of unorganized irregular workers who ARE facing those issues as their immediate problems and build mutual empathy, lend a listening ear, and facilitate the unorganized’s ability to speak out without claiming to “represent” the unorganized. We must not only build such dialogue among irregular workers but also do some space-clearing so that unorganized irregular workers can join the struggle in myriad spaces and speak their own voices in the absence of having established a trade union.

Undertaking Struggle with a Vision for Building a Better Society

At heart, the basic character of the irregular workers’ struggle is to resist and challenge “neo-liberalism” which compels the flexibilization of labor. A counter struggle against the neo-liberal assault is not in the realm of “the economic,” but rather, “the political.” When the irregular workers’ movement transforms into an openly political struggle of the masses, we can win. We can go beyond a reactive, defensive struggle against neo-liberalism and instead struggle to establish human dignity and the value of community, no longer a fight to just defend ourselves but a fight to live fully, and we must fight and struggle and organize to voice in public our vision for a new paradigm beyond only stemming the onslaught of neo-liberalism.

Irregular workers’ unions and the irregular workers’ movement are exactly the subjects of struggle at the forefront of this fight. As such, we must be able to voice a vision and forward this as our own political demand. The struggle to get to the place where we can voice our political demands would be the clearest opposition to neo-liberalism, a system that plunges workers and the dispossessed into ever deepening impoverishment and makes employment insecure. All workers have the absolute right to work in health and security. We must challenge the neo-liberal system that makes work dangerous, the work environment a cause of injury, and the pace of work mind-numbingly fast. Everyone must strive to create a work environment of freedom, health and dignity no matter whether one is a regular worker or an irregular worker. These are not rights that can be won through a minority’s struggle on behalf of the majority nor are these rights a kind of alms that can be handed down to us; rather, we assert and take these rights through our struggle. It is essential to have a qualitatively new social reorganization program to realize and achieve this “politics of rights.”