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Minutes of the 2^nd meeting (Summary of sections of the report translated to English from Spanish)

The informal economy organisations of Central America and Panama

Network SEICAP (SINDICATOS DE LA ECONOMIA INFORMAL DE CENTRO AMERICA Y PANAMA)

Introduction

There is rapid growth of the informal economy in the region and there needs to analysis and discussion of the problems of the workers in the sector. There is little expertise on organizational issues and there is a need to develop an Action Plan in the region. A lack of collective representation in unions leads to a lack of agreement and framework for discussion with government at local and national levels to negotiate and deal with the abuse of human rights and labour laws taking place. The first meeting of informal economy organizations on June 9^th 2006 was a forum for these issues to be discussed in Managua, Nicaragua and there was representation of informal economy unions from Panama, Honduras, Guatemale and Nicaragua.

The second meeting took place on September 1^st and 2^nd 2006, also in Managua. The objective was to build a regional network to co-ordinate the regional Action Plan to take up the struggle of the informal sector workers.

Objectives

1. To exchange experience between organizations of the informal economy so they could gain a better understanding of the situation of the organizations in the region, their problems, their obstacles and their strengths.

2. To build a regional network to enhance the exchange of different communications and actions related to solidarity and development between the different organizations in Central America.

3. To develop an Action Plan that is going to define the framework of the work of the members of the informal organizations.

Participants:

Nicaragua – CTCP.

Honduras - FOSSIEH

Guatemala - STTIGUA, SITRAINSA-FNL

PANAMA - SUNTRACS, STIVA-CONUSI

Country Presentations:

Nicaragua - CTCP

The informal economy is mostly a family based activity, mainly craftmakers, small traders and peasants. It generates almost 50% of the GDP. It also produces 80% of employment. The state has neglected the informal economy in terms of services and policies. One of the reasons the informal economy is so precarious is because of the neo-liberal economic model that has led to massive unemployment and deregulation and to an increasingly unprotected labour force. CTCP has 25 000 works affiliated in 77 unions and 7 federations. 48% of the membership is women.

The kinds of workers affiliated are street vendors who trade at the bus stops, the shoemakers/cobblers, lottery vendors, car washers in the streets, different micro-enterprises like street cafeterias, sewing, mechanics, and craftmakers.

The organisational structure is a congress, a national executive committee, a group of monitors, and a women’s committee that is run by the women’s secretariat. The CTCP is a foundational member of FNT and also works with CONPES. It is also a member of the national commission for child labour and is working with different ministries, for eg Labour, Health, Education, National Police and the Mayor of Nicaragua. It is affiliated to StreetNet International.

Areas of Work

Increase income and wellbeing of the worker through projects;
Health support;
Multiple Services Cooperatives;
Technical Training;
Different education programmes;
Political lobbying;
Different projects to care of the working youth and child workers;
To fight against the inequalities of gender.

Limitations of the environment

Extreme poverty of the informal sector;
Lack of stable work and lack of a good labour policy or infrastructure;
Lack of security, persecution and harassment by the police;
Lack of access to finance;
Lack of access to social security programmes and health;
Competitiveness in the sector and in the broader economy;
Low self-esteem and identity of affiliates;
Invisibility of the informal economy in government reports and statistics;
Low integration of women in union activities;
High percentage of child labour;
High percentage of illiteracy;
High level of immigration of people from rural areas to the city;
Social and family disintegration;
High level of social problems such as prostitution and child prostitution and alcoholism.

Strengths

High level of organization as a sector, compared to other unions;
Good levels of influence from the ground to the civic level and mayor;
Support from the FNT, different national and international cooperation and professionals interested in development of the organizations.

Suggestions

To participate actively to obtain increased number of spaces for informal trading;
The members of the unions are empowered by a more serious involvement with the unions.

Questions posed by participants:

1. When was CTCP formed: 2002

2. What is the situation of street vendors? Street vendors have a lot of problems because they are subjected to continual harassment by the authorities. It is a permanent struggle for street vendors to stay on the street and sell.

3. What is the organizational experience in legal terms? In Nicaragua we are affiliated to the FNT, which has assisted us a lot. We have to convince the people to organize and teach them about the advantages of being strongly organized to resolve the problems they face..

4. Which is the main limitation among those you have listed? Low self-esteem of the members.

Honduras - FOSSIETH

The informal economy is defined as the most marginalized and unprotected sector in relation to the state’s policies on development, ie public services, health, education, housing and work.
Since the 90’s the informal economy has been increasing in size because of the failure of agrarian reform, and growing rural urban migration, poverty and corruption. In Honduras, 70 out of 100 workers survive through informal economic activity.
In 1995 the first union was launched. Today the workers are organizing not only in unions but also as associations, federations and into cooperatives. The percentage of workers organized is 15%.
FOSSIETH is the principal member of the informal economy founded in 2001 in San Pedro Sula and is affiliated to CUTH. It has 32 organisations affiliated, 55 000 members, 60% of whom are women. The leader is Eugenio Rodriquez Obando.
The founding organization is the Asociacion de Vendedores de Mercados y Alimentos de Honduras. There is a national federation of independent workers (FENTAIH) affiliated to CGT (Christian tendency), and another (ANABIH) affiliated to ORIT.
In many regions of the country there is no organization and no legislation for the sector. The laws that benefit the formal economy workers do not protect the informal economy workers.
There is a cordial relationship with the Central Government. Some progress has been made through the representations made to Government.

Difficulties

Lack of resources for the capacitation of leaders;
Lack of strategy to expand the organization;
Lack of research and diagnosis to know the information about the sector
Lack of networks between the organisations;
Lack of national and international solidarity;
Very low confidence and morale of the sector;
Lack of identity within the sector;
Lack of unity;
The problem of child labour;
Low participation of women;
There is no social security nor public health services;
Marginalisation of the sector;
Permanent harassment and physical and psychological insecurity;

Strengths

People who have a reservoir of knowledge about the informal economy;
Information about the informal workers in the different regions of the country;
Well trained leaders in the organizations;
Contacts at International level;
A newly created system for access to credit that has been agreed by the national government;
Laws that protect the cooperativism;
High motivation in the sectors to be organized.
Reform of the laws on social security so as include the informal workers.

Suggestions

To develop strategic alliances with different productive sectors and find mechanisms to build production capacity;
Build commercial exchange in the region and by creating points where people can buy raw materials and buy in bulk.
To create teams of technicians, consultants and strategists at a national and regional level.
To create inter-sectoral co-ordination at regional level to establish alliances and regional solidarity.
To promote laws that consider the legal rights of the sector;
Consolidate organization in the country.

Questions by participants

What is the participation of women in informal economy organization? We have been in a process of building leadership over the last two years, and in this process 45 are men and 75 are women.
What is the relationship between workers and Deputies in the national political congress? Through Arcadia we can find the contacts with the local deputies and build the necessary political links.
How is the legal recognition of the union organisations? 75% have been registered and they are improving.
What occupations do the informal economy union members fall into? Photographers, street vendors, crafters. The majority are street vendors.

Guatemala (STTIGUA, SINTRAINSA-FNL)

FNL (Frente Nacional de Lucha), is comprised of 90 unions, four of them are informal workers’ unions. The unions STTIGUA (Trabajadores y Trabajodoras Independientes) and SINTRAINSA (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores Independientes de Sulud) are informal unions and a part of the FNL.
Three quarters of the total of occupied people (5 million) work in the informal economy sector.
There is a high increase in the cost of living and a big encouragement by the transnationals to privatize public services. Social inequalities are widening and there is corruption and abuse of power by those in government.
The problems that most affects the sector is an increase in the crime, repression and militarisation.
The market vendors have to pay bribes to gangs in order to avoid arrest and there are already many cases of murder of street vendors who refused to pay.
The term “informal” is not good in Guatemala and in the union work we prefer to say independent.
There is a widely held opinion that street vending has no economic, social or cultural values and there is a negative perception that the street vendor is dangerous, and of low social value.
The local authorities frequently harass informal workers. There is also conflict between the informal traders who have conflicts over trading space.
There are no negotiations or interventions to influence public policy on informal economy regulation.
A law is being discussed which is against labour rights that seeks to introduce flexible labour conditions, and peg wages to productivity, and the deregulation of the worker and employer relationship.

Questions

Are you opposing privatization? Yes, we are encouraging people to join unions to fight the privatisation of the health system.
Are you organizing informal money exchangers (los cambistas)? No, they are not generally being organized, but there is an organization of money exchangers, it is not affiliated to FNL for ideological reasons.
Are there other organizations? There are many others, for example the la Fundación de Vendedores Ambulantes (street vendors’ foundation) which is for market vendors.

Panama (SUNTRACS, STIVA-CONUSI)

An estimated 45% (467, 303) of the workers in the country are informal workers. This year R100m dollars investment made in the construction that is the other face of Panama (formal economy). Unemployment is 30%, poverty 40% and 70% of the poor workers are in the informal economy. The wealthiest 10% take 43% of the national wealth. The agricultural sector is disappearing and there is a strong investment in the formal capital-intensive sector. The organizational level of the informal economy is low, especially for the crafters and casual industrial workers. They are afraid to organise themselves. The biggest sector of the self-employed are the street vendors. There is a union for pedlars/hawkers and informal workers, Sindicato de Buhoneros y Trabajadores Informales and Jocinto Chavez is in charge.
CONUSI has 35 unions, 4 federations, 1 confederation, but none of them are from the informal economy sector.
There is no co-ordination between the informal sector and the government, so those who don’t pay taxes don’t have rights.
There are constant policies introduced for harassment. They propose alternative places for trading that are not accessible (where there is no traffic/people).
STIVA is the union of the textile industrial workers with a membership of about 500 women and is affiliated to CONUSI. The participation of women in unions is low. It is bigger in cooperatives and also community activities. In the informal economy women’s participation is slightly bigger than men’s (women 47.2%, men 46.1% 2005).
There is no legislation in the country that protects the informal economy workers, and receive no benefits from social security and have no access to credit.
CONUSI is committed to work for the creation of communication and exchange of experiences between the informal organizations and to form a formal co-ordination structure to take care of the programmes for the region. They support the demands of the informal economy workers from all the unions (regardless of their ideological position).

Questions from participants

What opinion do have of President Torrijos (a popular pro-worker president)? He was one of the promoters of liberal opinion but today he became one of those in favour of privatization.
Are there any unions of own-account workers in Panama? No.
How are the workers organized at the Canal? They are militant workers even though at the Canal they have no right to strike because it is an international territory. The minimum wage is 20 times higher in the Canal zone than in the rest of the country.

Countries absent from the meeting:

Even though not present at the meeting some points were given on informal organization in the countries.

Costa Rica

They have a high organizational level and it seems they don’t have much interest in integrating in the regional activities;
The regional office of the ILO is situated here and they have been giving them a lot of support.
The informal sector organization is called SITECO. They are waiting for the rest of the region to be organized before joining.

El Salvador

The majority of local government are left-wing;
Majority of the informal workers are right wing;
There are no organizations in the informal sector.

What to do:

The Network will try to include the countries at the next meeting of Mesoamericano meeting. Visits need to be made to the countries and build relationships with the informal economy organizations.

Functions of the regional Network SEICAP:

Promote solidarity among organizations at regional level and to influence policies and programmes for the sector;
The Co-ordination of the Red is responsible for supervision and co-ordination of the implementation of the Regional Action Plan and Activities;
The Committee will meet every two or three months, depending on resources;
Call the meetings of the members of the Network when they are necessary and if there are enough resources to do so;
Expand the Network, promoting the integration of new organizations of the informal economy sector;
The Committee to visit the organizations of the countries that were absent to invite them to join the Network.
Raise funds to develop the activities of the Network.
Organize the 3^rd meeting of the Network.

Plan of Action (Brainstorming session)

Labour rights

Promote the creation of laws to protect the informal economy workers;
Demand public services in the labour and working environment;
Demand the governments to consider the demands;
Demand the Governments implement the conventions and Recommendations of the ILO.
Demand recognition of the importance of the informal economy to their economies.
Demand from government the rights of informal economy workers.
Look for human and financial resources to support their activities.
Demand the end of harassment of informal economy workers.
Demand provision of micro-credit facilities from government.
Demand inclusion of the sector in civil society, ngos and government organizations.

Identity and self-esteem

The people have lost their wealth, their value and their wealth and national identity. The dominant policies of the neoliberal economic system have not benefited the people, and it is the cause of the behaviour of the citizens and the growing informal economic activity. It has resulted in ignorance, neglect and alienation, lack of capacitation and education of the informal workers, a diminished cultural and labour identity in the sector, and the stigmatization of the informal work like a worker who has no worth.
Discuss and analyse the intervention and projects international and the decisions of each country. Analyse the effects on the informal sector of the TLC, like, DR CAFTA, and the Plan Puebla Panama and others.
Raise the level of literacy;
Demand equal rights as citizens;
Organise to overcome social disintegration and work to strengthen the family;
Demand technical training to strengthen income earning capacity;
Fight against the negative stigma attached to informal economy work by organizing and raising visibility;
Work with the issues attached to poor security, harassment and low morale as individuals and collectively;
Work to raise the identity of workers as holding worth to their families and to society.

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