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PUNTO DE ENCUENTRO/POINT OF ENCOUNTER Electronic Bulletin of the Trade Union Program for the Informal Economy PROSIE CIOSL-ORIT Year VII – No 35 – October 2006 WE
ARE MOVING FORWARD WITH FIRM STEPS
THE INFORMAL ECONOMY IS BEING ORGANISED Dear readers, it is a pleasure to meet with you again to being you news from the labour, union, and social world. As you know, PROSIE, the Union Program for the Informal Economy, CIOSL ORIT, has worked hard for 5 years with the firm aim of enabling workers in the informal economy to be able to fully exercise their rights, and to achieve well-being and individual development. It is this that today ORIT,
together with ISCOD, are developing Project ASEI which is carrying out
intense campaigns of education, social alliances and educational
activities with Cooperatives, Federations and Unions. Various diverse
workshops have taken place in 9 countries, and these were oriented
towards strengthening union centrals, improving their organizational
capabilities, and giving effort and attention to the
needs of their membership. This arduous task is an attempt to ensure
that every worker in the informal economy acquires a collective
awareness of the role he/she plays in economic and labour relations. “THE GREAT AWAKENING” is a very apt phrase used by a journalist to announce the NETWORK OF UNIONS IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND PANAMA (SEICAP). We at PROSIE applaud this achievement, which constitutes a decisive step in the organization and strengthening of the informal economy in Latin America. Our work is well rewarded by such important advances, especially by the participation of FOSSIEH-CUT, one of the principal role-players in the ASEI project.
NETWORK OF UNIONS IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY OF CENTRAL AMERICA AND PANAMA Article adapted from the NUEVO DIARIO newspaper of Nicaragua
THE GIANT IS AWAKENING… . Various statistics exist
concerning the informal economy, and we have published these at one time
or another. Unfortunately, no accurate statistics exist that reflect the
working population of this sector. However, one thing is obvious:
that today the informal economy is a giant who has finally
awakened after many years of marginalization by governments. StreetNet International* is an
international organization with its headquarters in South Africa, which
currently has about 300 000 affiliated members in 25 countries on 3
continents, and today the Confederation of Independent Workers of
Nicaragua (CTCP). This confederation has hosted two meetings of Unions
in the Informal Economy of Central America and Panama (*SEWA of India,
is an affiliate and has recently been incorporated into CIOSL). During the Second Encounter
which took place on 1 and 2 September in Managua, attended by various
informal economy workers organizations from Guatamala, Honduras, Panama
and Nicaragua, Seicap (Network of Unions in the Informal Economy of
Central America and Panama) was formed, to coordinate joint action. (in
the same spirit as the
Agreement of the workers of
Lima of 2003 which ORIT was cofounder, with the networks WIEGO, IFWEA,
PLADES, WAR on WANT for Latin America). This network constitutes an
important advance in the world of the informal economy, and serves as an
example to be followed in other regions. One of the participants in this
network is FOSSIEH (Federation of Organisations in the Informal Sector
of Honduras (affiliated to CUT of Honduras). This organization, which
has worked with PROSIE since 2000, when it was called SUVANH, is today
the principal role-player in the informal economy organization. It was
founded in 2001 with 32 participating organizations. Its 55 000
affiliates are proposing the promotion of laws to assure the rights of
the sector. Furthermore, they aim to introduce wide-ranging strategies
including massive funding for the support of different initiatives
within the sector and to make the most of the opening created by the new
government. FOSSIEH is one of the unions which will benefit from the
intensive work involved in project ASEI directed by ORIT together with
ISCOD with financing from AECI.
Information provided by FNT Nicaragua AGREEMENT OF THE SECOND REGIONAL CONGRESS OF INFORMAL ECONOMY WORKERS We, the Informal Economy Workers of Central America and Panama, gathered in the city of Managua, Nicaragua, on the 1 and 2 of September 2006, agree as follows: To form a Network of Informal Economy Workers of Central America and Panama, with REDSEICAP. To elect a Coordinating
Commission to conduct the organizational process in the region, which
will have a rotating character amongst the participating countries,
charged with implementing the Plan of Action approved at this second
meeting. The Coordinating Commission will
be based in Nicaragua for one year, and is made up as follows:
The third meeting will be held in Tegucigalpa Honduras in March 2007. The commission will meet every six months and the first meeting will be on the 13 October, the date on which the Union Platform meets in Managua, to take advantage of this to meet with the delegates from El Salvador and Costa Rica who did not attend the second congress. DECLARATION OF THE SECOND REGIONAL CONGRESS OF INFORMAL ECONOMY WORKERS We, the Informal Economy
Workers of Central America and Panama,
gathered in the city of Managua, Nicaragua, on the 1 and 2 of
September 2006, declare the following intentions: 1. To carry on the struggle for solidarity and unity amongst the workers in the informal economies of Central America and Panama. 2. To promote alliances with other workers and civil society organizations at regional, national and international level. 3. To attain a greater level of organization of informal economy workers so as to permit the attainment of involvement in public policies in Central America and Panama . 4. To demand the commitment of National Governments to the International Conventions of the ILO with respect to workers. 5. To fight to reach the point where the National Governments recognize that as workers in the informal economy we generate wealth and economic and social development for our countries. 6. To demand that National Governments respect and guarantee universal human rights for the workers in the informal economy. 7. To fight to end permanently the worst forms of child labour. 8. Fight to persuade governments to promote and comply with measures for the protection and restoration of the environment. 9. Fight to improve the level and quality of life for workers in the informal economy and their families. 10. Promote gender equality in all actions taken by workers in the informal economy. 11. Finally, we will carry on the struggle to change the neo-liberal approach imposed by governments and international organizations, that exclude workers in the informal economy . Issued in the city of Managua,
on the second day of the month of September of the year two thousand and
six, and ratified and signed on the attached page.
HONDURAS - The delegates of Government listened to the informal sector Workers call for law that protects them
San Pedro Sula - Direct
credit finance, promotion of artisans and market concessions to
traders, was requested by FOSSIEH (Federation of Organisation in the
Social and Informal Sector of Honduras), from representatives of the
Legislature. Furthermore, FOSSIEH also requested the creation of an insurance fund for the protection of workers’ investments, the building of houses, crèches and the creation of laws for informal traders. “We are here because we represent the main source of generation of labour, not withstanding the lack of benefits on the part of the government”, said the Secretary of FOSSIEH, Eugenio Rodriguez. The president of the Congress,
Roberto Micheletti, said that the government would strengthen
micro-enterprises through credit schemes so that organized entities
could continue to grow.
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Over
the years, many of our brothers have seen how the number of informal
street vendors has increased. Perhaps many of us don’t realize that
the same phenomenon that is taking place in our country is mirrored
around the world. The fact that these workers some day would raise their
voices in protest against the abuse and maltreatment that they suffer
daily at the hands of the authorities, is something that could be
predicted. But it is certain that the unionization of the informal
economy that is taking place throughout the world is not an easy task,
and the process has been very long and difficult. Every day the workers
have struggled in the streets to be heard. “Unions bring strength”
on this road that they have decided to take, and organization has
crossed frontiers, and now the world, with important international
organizations
