Falling between the cracks

Ratchaburi native Panisara Boonnarong is willing to work hard, and she is used to doing so from dawn to dusk at her own home. At the moment, however, she finds herself jobless, with no government assistance, and at 47 she is no longer healthy. Before this period of unemployment Ms Panisara normally woke up about 5am to prepare food for her family, then after finishing the morning chores she moved directly to her sewing machine, usually about 6am.

''Sometimes I used to work up to 5am in the morning without noticing the time. Because I worked at home I had to work harder to earn enough income,'' she said of her former job.

Ms Panisara began sewing when she was 14, earning about 300 baht a month. The most she's ever earned was 5,000 to 6,000 baht a month a few years back.

In 2003, she recalled, she earned 12 baht for each pair of trousers she completed. Sometimes she would be able to finish as many as 20 a day, earning 240 baht. However, she pointed out, that didn't include the cost of electricity or materials such as thread. She said she's never been able to earn enough to maintain a decent living.

Normally workers get more remuneration as they accumulate skills, but that's not how it worked out for Ms Panisara and friends of hers who also worked from home.

''I don't understand why our income gradually shrank. At the end of last year I found myself earning only four baht for sewing the same kind of trousers as before,'' she said, explaining that the people who contracted the work and then sold the trousers to factories came up with different reasons to whittle down their wages bit by bit.

Sometimes the middle-men would tell them they needed to reduce the rate by 50 satang because they had to drive a long distance from Bangkok to Photharam district in Ratchaburi. Then they would use the same excuse to lower the rate by another 50 satang.

When oil prices rose last year, the middle-men reduce the rate by three baht.

''We had to allow them to do so,'' Ms Panisara said.

Instead of complaining, they worked harder and slept less. The home-based workers wanted to maintain good relationships with the middle-men in order to get regular work, but, said Ms Panisara: ''I can't understand why we have to be considerate of others all the time and then they reduce our wages.''

For Ms Panisara and her group in Ratchaburi province, the orders have been reduced almost to zero.

''A few days back, we got a new order to sew 70 shirts; I allocated it to three other members in my group.''

Now the group is trying to sell their own blouses and trousers, but the market is not good.

''Everybody is affected by the economic crunch. Low- and middle-income earners have no money to pay for new clothes, so we cannot sell our clothes,'' she added.

Her health has also deteriorated. She has asthma, high blood pressure and hepatitis. She thinks some of her problems may be related to her work _ the cotton dust from the cloth, her feet in contact with an electric sewing machine all the time, sitting all day and night, etc.

ON THEIR OWN

The economic downturn has sent tremors through the nation's 37.1 million-strong workforce, but things are especially anxious for the approximately 23.3 million workers who are not covered by social security and have no labour laws to protect them.

These people are sometimes called informal workers, and sometimes homeworkers or self-employed workers, as they do not have a direct employer. In addition to home-based workers, these informal workers include large numbers of people in the agricultural, production, wholesale, transport and other sectors. (see graphic).

Para rubber tree grower Prapan Thongthai of Trang province said the price of the milky latex from the trees has fallen lately, from 103 baht to 40 baht or less per kilogramme, and blames it on the economic situation.

Kampaek Kwankla and some friends collect items for recycling from the rubbish dump in Khon Kaen city.

''In the past we could sell soft drink cans for 45 baht a kilo, now we get only 20 baht a kilo,'' he said. He would like the government to grant funds so his group could form a collective to buy recyclable items from collectors. He pointed out that one of the reasons they have seen their income drop is that they lack negotiating power. Mr Kampaek also said he and other members of his group had encountered health problems from working at the dump site.

The economic crush has also meant declining income for sex workers, another group that is unprotected by labour laws. Also, some say their employers have taken advantage of the situation to increase their bargaining power.

For example, Dee, (not her real name), an ethnic Akha who works in a bar in Chiang Mai, said: ''Our boss told us not to put on weight. Our weight must not be more than 50kg [regardless of height]. If our weight exceeds this, they deduct money from our wages.''

Most people on the lower economic rungs do not have written contracts, so it is hard to identify their employers, which leads to the difficulties of paying social security benefits.

Most without these benefits are also without substantial savings, and often their health is poor due to their working conditions.

Naturally there is a great deal of interest among the members of this large group of society in examining the existing labour laws and finding ways they can be strengthened to protect all the nation's workers. But so far efforts to bring this about have met with little success.

Sujin Roongsawang is a leader of a sewing group in Bankok's Rom Klao area. She has made connections with many groups of home-based and other self-employed workers.

Two weeks ago she joined a meeting of taxi drivers in which they discussed ways in which the government might be made aware that people in their situation should be protected by labour laws as well.

''It was a brief meeting, as everyone had to go to work, but we agreed in principle that we should ask the government to provide social security for us,'' said Ms Sujin.

She said she wished the government's stimulus initiative to allocate 2,000 baht to workers who earn less than 15,000 baht a month could be extended to home-based workers.

Mr Prapan thinks farmers should also be eligible for the 2,000 baht payment.

''But we are outside their consideration because we work in the agricultural sector,'' he lamented.

Ms Panisara said she also had not benefited from the government programme to supply electricity free for minimal users because her sewing machine puts her usage over the limit.

NO EFFECTIVE MECHANISM

Thailand has not ratified the 1996 International Labour Organisation Convention on Home- workers, which defines a homeworker as someone who works for remuneration in his or her home or in other premises of his or her choice, other than the workplace of the employer, resulting in a product or service as specified by the employer, irrespective of who provides the equipment, materials or other input.

Thailand's National Statistic Office (NSO) has included the homeworkers in a category described as ''own-account'', or self-employed workers, which as mentioned earlier includes more than 23 million workers.

These workers' conditions may not be clearly defined, and it may seem they are invisible to the government, but they supply many essential components of the nation's economy.

The 13.8 million formal workers who ''have a certain workplace'', or a permanent employer, are mostly insured under the Social Security Fund (SSF) and have other social benefits as well. Overwhelmingly, the informal majority do not.

Napaporn Atiwanichyapong of Thammasat University has conducted numerous research projects on homeworkers, the most recent titled Basic Social Welfare of the Homeworkers.

In her research she points out some barriers to extending social security to these workers.

''There is no effective mechanism to identify the employers of home-based workers. There is a ministerial regulation for homeworkers, but it cannot be enforced,'' she said, adding that this has relieved the responsibility of employers to contribute to the SSF.

Ms Napaporn noted that homeworkers, can enter the SSF on their own, paying their own premiums, but throughout the country only 47 have done so.

One reason for this is the complicated process of calculating the income of the workers. Ms Napaporn added: ''Many fear that they would have no money to pay for the funds in some months when they earn little or nothing.''

A regulation in the SSF law stipulates that insured people must earn at least 1,650 baht a month. However, according to the NSO, last year about 28.6% of home-based workers earned less than 833 baht a month, so they would be ineligible.

Ms Napaporn suggested that homeworkers should help determine their level of income for eligibility.

Homeworkers and their networks have been pushing for approval of a draft bill called the Homeworkers' Development and Protection Bill, which is under the consideration of the Council of State.

Rasi Benjatikul, director of the Ministry of Labour's Homebase Protection Division said she is aware of the crucial contribution of homeworkers to the nation's economy.

''I asked the Provincial Labour Office to identify the needs and problems of the home-based workers. We would like to collect more information in order to well represent the whole spectrum of the home-based and own-account workers, which make up the majority of the workforce in Thailand,'' Ms Rasi said.

She added that providing social security for these workers is a daunting task.

''My division wants to provide social security for the majority of workers, but the contribution from the workers is still a problem because they don't have regular income, it is hard to identify employers and the workplaces are scattered around,'' she said. The division conducted research last year which indicated homeworkers should pay 280 baht a month into the SSF. This was unacceptable to the workers.

''It would became a burden to a majority of the workers, since their income is not consistent,'' Ms Rasi said. She added that the coverage under the SSF was also limited, covering ''only those who became disabled relating to their work, needed maternity leave or their relatives when they die''. She noted that most of the home-based workers are middle-aged women who would not benefit from maternity leave. One of the recommendations of Ms Napaporn's research was to set up a social welfare system in which members of the community and workers help each other, something which Ms Rasi agreed with and said her division was working on.

Ms Napaporn has identified four major focus areas to provide for the welfare of home-based or self-employed workers_ health protection and safety in the workplace; a just social security system; empowerment of the workers to negotiate their rights; and organisation and cooperation among workers.

''Homeworkers have no bargaining power like workers who have unions. They might be able to push for some changes but they cannot protect themselves. They need to improve their own skills in order to negotiate with their bosses, but at the moment they need immediate assistance,'' said Ms Napaporn.