Categories of non-permanent and vulnerable workers
Many categories of workers may be non-permanent and vulnerable. Some are at risk due to the nature of their employment contract, such as:

• casual

• temporary

• task

• seasonal

• contract

• part-time.

Other categories of workers have special characteristics that render them more vulnerable than others:

• rural workers

• domestic workers

• migrant workers

• indigenous and tribal peoples.

The two lists above are by no means mutually. exclusive. In fact, many workers will come under both sets of categories at the same time. For example, migrant workers are often employed under seasonal contracts.

Many of these categories are considered low status and precarious; workers in these categories are vulnerable to abuses of employment rights. The majority of workers in these vulnerable groups are female. They may not be unionized due to national legislation or practice, or the unions may not know how (or may not yet have attempted) to organize them effectively, or to service them once they are organized.

There is a growing number of workers j6ining the informal or unorganized sectors due to various factors such as down-sizing, technological changes and recession. The trend towards globalization has pushed many workers out of formal employment as companies shift to other countries in search of low cost labour and more lenient legislation. Structural adjustment policies have reduced government and parastatal establishments, and resulted in cuts in personnel and overall social programmes: in the long term this has devastating effects on the workforce in areas of health, education and welfare, all of which impact strongly on women and their families.

Unions therefore have a number of reasons to try and defend the rights of these workers, some of whom were their members when they had more permanent jobs. It is also to the union's advantage to improve their conditions so that union members with secure permanent employment do not find their conditions of work under threat or eroded due to competition from non-organized workers.

Issues for bargaining

The following issues should be considered during the bargaining process, and included in collective agreements where appropriate

I. Extension of general conditions

The application of general conditions negotiated for permanent workers needs to be extended to non-permanent workers as much as possible. This might be done on a pro-rata basis, or for certain categories. Any negotiated improvements create a better working environment for all.

The definition of "employee" within the collective agreement must be carefully considered to ensure that non-permanent workers benefit from the agreement.

Also, where the concept of "bargaining units" is used in collective agreements, it should not be assumed automatically that there is no "community of interest" between the core workforce and the non-permanent workers, since often they are doing similar work, though perhaps at a different location or within a different time frame.

It should be ensured that training opportunities are open to these workers so that they are able to improve their employment status and enrich their jobs.

Child labour

Child labour may exist in several contexts: the first where children are employed directly by the employer and receive payment for their work. Another, less apparent form, occurs when the employer relies on task work, subcontracting or home work often supplied by women. In order to complete the daily quota or to collect daily bonuses, workers may bring other family members, including their spouses and children, to assist in the work.

These family members may not be paid directly, receive benefits nor be calculated in the national statistics as workers. This situation is most likely to occur when the family is female- headed and poverty makes the worker totally dependent on the daily pay. Small children sometimes assist, or simply accompany the mother, in a

dangerous work environment such as in the agricultural sector. Other forms involve children working as family workers of the self-employed, or children, often young girls, working as domestic workers.

Unions can negotiate to avoid task work or set task targets at reasonable levels to avoid the use of children.

Unions should also ensure through their negotiating and monitoring capacity that young workers are not being employed in inappropriate or hazardous work.

Such monitoring and negotiation can take place at the national, regional and international level. Unions can also raise the awareness of workers and the community at large through information campaigns.

An agreement of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and
Technical Employees (FIET) and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers'
Federation (ITGUMF) undertakes to-

· promote awareness of the problem of child labour

· continue negotiations with the European commerce employers' association, Euro Commerce, about joint efforts to combat child labour

· secure a code of conduct from leading manufacturers so that directly or indirectly, children will not be used in the production process

· hold negotiations with employers' organizations in the textile, clothing, shoe and feather sectors to secure agreements to eliminate child labour in those sectors

conduct a campaign for the removal from European markets and other industrialized countries, of hand knitted carpets which are not labeled with the Rugmark label (indicating production without the use of child labour).<sup>1

1</sup>FIET Campaign against child labour (Geneva, 1995). For other examples, see A. Fete and M. Jankanish: Trade unions and child labour. A guide to action (ILO, Geneva, 1997).

The issue of young people working is not limited to the employing of under-age children. Children under a certain age should not be employed at all, while specific measures for those over that age, yet still youths,

should be considered: apprenticeship programmes, on-the-job and other training, medical examinations, adapted welfare services, additional rest and annual leave, bans on over time, dangerous and night work, etc.

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No.138) Minimum age for admission to employment

See the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) and Recommendation (No. 146); the resolution on child labour of the 83rd International Labour Conference; the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Home Work Convention, 1996 (No. I 77) and the accompanying Recommendation, 1996 (No. I 84).

3. Avoid non-permanent status for work that is permanent

Many women work on non-permanent status, even in cases where they are employed 12 months a year. Unions should negotiate so that such terms are not applied to workers who are hired on a continuous basis or in a job that is not temporary in nature. If the union cannot negotiate for status as permanent workers, then the union can try to negotiate for basic pay of non-permanent workers to be considerably more than that of permanent workers to compensate for the precarios status and to dis courage abuse of this status.

In 1990, the Kenyan National Union of Sugar Plantation Workers negotiated one and a half times more pay for temporary workers. As a result, the employers gave these workers permanent status.

4. Casual, temporary, seasonal and task workers

A worker may be hired in one or more of these categories, but the unifying thread is the lack of access to permanent status. Although some of these workers may work only for limited periods, a large percentage are hired on a more or less per manent basis, but never receive bonuses, leave, benefits or increases in wages.

The union must determine what are the priority areas, and make a clear attempt to cover the needs of these workers, a significant proportion of whom are women.

Task workers in particular are faced with very difficult work, since they are often assigned work which they are unable to perform in the required time; thus possibly leading to serious abuse and child labour.

- Regarding part-time workers, see booklet 2, Working conditions.

5. Rural workers

Rural workers encompass a large group of women and men world wide, often working for part of the year for wages and unemployed or self- employed for the rest of the year. Agricultural wage labourers are among the occupational group with the highest incidence of poverty, often over 60 per cent in many countries. The precarious nature of their labour leads to seasonal and low-level wages.

The first priority should be to bring agricultural wage workers, whether casual or permanent, within the scope of a collective agreement. This should aim to include all conditions of work, from wage levels to occupational health, safety and environment, working time, training and social security. -

Special attention should be given to women who occupy the lowest level and vulnerable jobs. Piece-rate or task work will also need to be monitored and addressed, since it often leads to children assisting or accompanying the family to the field. In addition, the particular vulnerability of female rural workers to sexual harassment must be addressed. It has been found in Africa, as well as in many other regions, that sexual harassment is "very pronounced in the plantation economy where women are rendered economically vulnerable and through desperation give special sexual favors to get work in order to feed their families", with resulting health, personal and family problems.

The General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana have promoted policies to enhance the participation of the rural self-employed and wage-earners in the plantation sector

In order to meet the needs of members, a women's desk was created within the Rural Workers' Organization Division of GAWU. Through the ILO IFPAAW Norway project, they were able to develop women's activities under the programme through a national women's coordinator and ten regional coordinators who work in each geographic region. Activities include awareness raising through educational activities, through participatory education techniques such as role plays and group discussions and income-generation ventures such as group farming, bakery, soap making, fish smoking, fire wood development. Social services have been promoted such as day-care centres, cultural groups and adult literacy classes.¹

¹ILO Workshop on the advancement of women in rural workers' organizations in Africa (Geneva, 1992), p.4.

Other services can be negotiated with the authorities to increase employment in the off-season such as through government-funded rural workers' employment schemes or through the development of other special services to assist members of rural workers' organizations.

Rural workers' organizations may provide a range of services for their members in addition to their negotiating role, such as technical and vocational services, health services, agricultural production services, employment and income generation and savings and credit schemes.²

See the Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951 (No.99) and Recommendation No. 89; the Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) and Recommendation (No. 133); the Plantations Convention, 1958 (No.110) (and Protocol of 1982) and Recommendation (No. 110). Also the Rural Workers' Organizations Convention, 1975 (No. 141) and Recommendation (No. 149) give guide lines for the formation and operation of rural workers' organizations.

6. Home workers

Millions of women throughout the world are home workers. They may work for an employer or intermediary or they may produce goods which they sell themselves or through an agent. Many of these workers are ''invisible'' or unknown to authorities. They are often excluded from legislation and organizing efforts.

Home workers are often at a disadvantage for a number of reasons: their pay and conditions are generally inferior to those of their counterparts in factories or other workplaces and the employment relationship is often precarious. Home workers tend to have few employment rights and very little social security protection. Where home workers are paid at a piece-rate, their pay may be significantly less than that of a worker paid at an hourly rate to perform the same work. Health and safety conditions may be poor in the home.

An additional concern regarding home work is the potential involvement of children. Home workers may be compelled to call upon their children for help, thus contributing to the spread of child labour.

Unions should ensure that home- workers are adequately represented within the union movement. Existing unions may include home workers in their membership or assist home- workers in organizing their own effective unions.

It is vital that unions protect the rights of homeworkers and ensure that they are included within the terms of collective agreements. Conventional recruitment approaches wiH not be effective when aiming to organize homeworkers, since these workers are not found at the traditional workplace where union representatives make their visits. Creative organizing efforts aimed at reaching these workers are needed, such as visiting them at home, organizing events specifically for them, etc.

In India, the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) was set up in the 1970s to organize women working in the internal sector. Their members include thousands of home-based workers: bidi-rollers; garment-workers; incense makers and others. SEWA has adopted a dual strategy of organizing home-based workers to negotiate for better pay and conditions while at the same time developing cooperatives as a way to offer alternative employment.¹

Our union struggles for the right to work, fair wages, better working conditions, legal protection, social security and welfare measures. In rural areas, we emphasize creating additional employment opportunities, thereby strengthening our bargaining capacity.²

¹Reported in HorneNet" Bulletin No.1, Summer 1995.

² SEWA General-Secretary Ela Bhatt, quoted in IUF newsletter Women at Work, Winter 1994-95.

Steps have now been taken to establish links between home workers' organizations around the world. In 994 Home Net was set up to link home workers' organizations in different countries and continents; to exchange information and ideas; and to coordinate a campaign for better pay and conditions and alter native employment for home-based workers.

The formulation of international labour standards for the protection of home workers was discussed at the International Labour Conference in I 996 and a Convention (No. I 77) and similarly, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) Executive Committee recently recommended that SEWA act as an international clearing house for information on home-based workers.

Recommendation (No. 184) were adopted. Among other things, the Home Work Convention promotes equality of treatment between home- workers and other wage-earners.

Article 4(2) of the Home Work Convention, 1996 (No.177) states:

Equality of treatment shall be promoted, in particular, in relation to:

(a) the home workers' right to establish or join organizations of their own choosing and to participate in the activities of such organizations

(b) protection against discrimination in employment and occupation

(c) protection in the field of occupational safety and health

(d) remuneration

(e) statutory social security protection

(f) access to training

(g) minimum age for admission to employment or work and

(h) maternity protection.

Collective agreements are foreseen as one possible means of implementing such policies.¹

¹Article 5.

7. Migrant workers

The World Bank estimates that worldwide the value of remittances from migrant workers amounted to more than US$65 billion in 1989, making the value of remittances second only td trade in crude oil. None the less, migrant workers suffer exploitation because they are far from home, often not covered by relevant labour legislation and vulnerable due to their status, lack of knowledge of the local language and culture, and separation from their families, etc. Migrant workers are often offered "the 3 D jobs: dirty, dangerous and difficult".³ Women migrant workers are faced with even greater problems due to societal attitudes towards women.⁴

Special terms of recruitment and employment often exist for these workers. At the international level, the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention,  1975 (No. 143) states that ratifying countries shall respect the basic human rights of all migrant workers, and encourages them to pursue national policies to promote equality of opportunity and treatment. A number of other international labour standards also seek to protect and enhance the rights of migrant workers.

Conventions and Recommendations concerning migrant workers

Female migrant workers are often employed in domestic service, one of ~he most vulnerable occupations. Due to the "invisibility" of immigrant female domestic workers, employers can often evade labour legislation. The women are often required to work long hours for low wages. A common complaint of women in domestic service is sexual harass ment.⁵ In some cases, unions have set up support services for abused women migrants.

Regarding sexual harassment, see booklet 5, Dignity at the workplace.

Migrant workers

• maintaining statistics on the number of women migrants who are members of the union

• establishing a welfare fund for migrant workers and their families

• promoting the education of children and other family members

• encouraging the regular flow ot remittances

• improving access to national legislation on migrant workers maintaining close liaison with government

• maintaining close liaison with other bodies dealing with migrant workers

• negotiating for internationally acceptable employment contracts for migrant workers

• representing migrant workers at all fora at the national level

• assisting returnee migrants

• linking trade unions of migrant-supplying and migrant-receiving countries.

Migrant-receiving countries

• arranging for the reception of new entrants

• promoting equal opportunities and elimination of discrimination at the workplace

• promoting training and education services

• ensuring desirable living conditions

• promoting cultural identity

• educating national workers about the contribution of migrant workers to the economic development of the host country

• improving access to national regulations on migrant workers

• maintaining close liaison with government

• ensuring that the legal rights of migrant workers are accepted and providing legal advice where necessary

developing a network with other organizations concerned with migrant workers

promoting ratification of ILO Conventions

promoting racial harmony and peaceful coexistence between nationals and migrants

representing migrant workers on all relevant platforms in the host country (not permitting language to be a bar)

ensuring equality of treatment and avoidance of discrimination atihe national level.¹

¹See S.D. Barwa andAli Ibrahim. Protecting the  least protected: Rights of migrant workers' and the rule of trade unions (Geneva, ILO, 1996), pp. 34-42.

In April 1991, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the Union of Arab Maghreb Workers (USTMA) held a conference on migrant workers from the Maghreb in the European Union. The conference aims included redressing the imbalances in rights between EU workers and Maghreb migrants, and formulating a common trade union policy on Maghreb migration. The common policy is to be used as the basis for common representation to EU member governments and to the EU itself.

The position of the unions is outlined in the background document to the conference: ICFTU, ETUC and USTMA Conference on Migrant Workers from the Maghreb in the European Community (back ground document), Tunis, 18-20 April 1991

Extracted from the Social and Labour Bulletin 2/91 (ILO, Geneva).

Sri Lanka being a migrant-supplying country, the All Ceylon Federation of Free Trade Unions provides individual counselling to women migrants and orientation courses. The Pakistan Labour Federation, working in collaboration with the All Women Employees' Association, and the All Pakistan Federation of Trade Unions, provides education and training programmes as well as distributing publications to educate migrant workers. The Union Nationale des Syndicats Autonomes du Senègal (UNSAS) organizes educational courses in collaboration with the unions of countries where women from Senegal are based.¹

¹S.D. Bareva and Ali Ibrahim: Protecting the least protected: Rights of migrant workers' and the role of trade unions Geneva, ( ILO, 1998), p.15.

8. Indigenous and tribal peoples

It is estimated that there are approximately 300 million indigenous and tribal peoples throughout the world, representing the largest identifiable disadvantaged group. Although the situations will differ, this group is perhaps the most vulnerable, infor mal and excluded group of workers. Their earnings are much lower than other workers, and their female members are often the most exploited and socially ignored group in society.

Public Services International (PSI) has recently published a report and modules on Indigenous Tribal Peoples and Trade Unions. The report begins with a working definition of indigenous peoples:

First, an indigenous people is a unique, identifiable group of individual human beings who share a common ethnic background, history, culture, tradition, cosmology, language, sense of community, and connection to the earth (the land certainly, and perhaps the sea, as well).

And second, an indigenous people is a .unique, identifiable group of individual human beings con tending with external forces (political, economic, cultural) which threaten its very collective survival, including its use of traditional lands and territories.¹

¹Indigenous / tribal peoples and trade unions: A PSI report, 1996, p.7.

Although some of the concerns of these peoples may not fall within trade unions' usual coverage, there are grounds for joint ventures between the indigenous and labour movements, particularly in the current context of labour market deregulation and growing concern for the degradation of the environment.

PSI Composite Resolution No. 31/32 on Indigenous Peoples:

The world congress of the Public Services International, meeting in Helsinki, Finland, from 2 to 6 August 1993,

calls on PSI to:

· encourage affiliates to take measures in their own countries which directly assist indigenous people. These measures will vary in accordance with the circumstances of each affiliate but may include setting up dialogue with representatives of indigenous people, providing information to union members on issues of concern to indigenous people, providing particular avenues of representation to indigenous people as members of the union, and where affiliates' members are the providers of government services to indigenous people to educate and assist members to provide services in ways acceptable to indigenous people;

· through its regional committees, set up information and other exchanges on matters related to the struggles of indigenous people;

· represent at appropriate international fora, such as the ILO the concerns of indigenous people;

· prepare for the consideration of the 1997 PSI congress a model statement encompassing recommendations for the implementation of the united Nations draft declaration on rights of indigenous peoples in countries which include indigenous peoples, for actions by affiliates in those countries.

Article 3 of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169),~ states that these peoples must enjoy fully human rights and fundamental freedoms without hindrance or discrimination and the benefits of the Convention without discrimination between males and females. Among the measures that ratifying governments are to take to eliminate discrimination, the Convention states that workers belonging to these peoples must have equal opportunities and equal treatment in employment for men and women, and protection from sexual harassment.

The CLC seeks to reconcile support to aboriginal rights
with the safeguarding
of non-aboriginal labour interests.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) represents 60 per cent of the total membership of trade unions in Canada. It is estimated that aboriginal people account for 2.1 per cent of the labour force and 1 per cerit of unionized workers.

In June 1992, the CLC adopted the Aboriginal Rights Policy Statement which proclaimed the Congress' obligation to help redress the injustices which still affect aboriginal peoples.

This was followed by nationwide consultation to determine practical strategies for the labour movement to support the aboriginal cause.

After six months of consultation with unionized workers, government, social movements and aboriginal organizations, the CLC decided to pursue a twofold approach:

(i) promoting social justice and collective and individual rights of aboriginal peoples: and

(ii) minimizing the adverse effects of the assertion of aboriginal rights on union members and non-aboriginal workers.

M. Tomei: "Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and Trade Unions: Recent Initiatives", in Labour Education Bulletin, 98-1995/1, p.14.

Notes

¹ILO workshop on advancement of women in rural workers' organizations in Afdca (Geneva, 1992), p.R.

² See Structure and functions of rural workers' organizations:A workers' educafion manual )2sded.) (Geneva, ILO, 1990); and Special services of rural workers' organizations: A workers' education manual (ILO, Geneva, 1994) for further details.

³ S.D. Barwa and All Ibrahim: Protecting the least protected: Rights of migrant workers and the role of trade unions (Geneva, ILO, 1996), p.4.

⁴ Jane Hodges and Patricia Morgenstern: Problems of discrimination against female migrant workers and possible solutions (ILO, Geneva) INTERDEP/MIG working Paper, 1994-95.

⁵ S.D. Barwa and Ah Ibrahim: Protecting the least protected: Rights of migrant workers and the role of trade unions (Geneva, ILO, 1996), pp.16-17.

⁶ ibid., p.17.

⁷ Ratified by ten countries as at October 1997.