THE RIGHTS of millions of workers often forgotten or ignored - those who work for a wage in their home - will be discussed at the General Assembly of the International Labour Organisation on June 4th and 5th.
A new ILO "Convention on Homework", which will cover many homeworkers who have an indirect or "disguised employment relationship" has a number of important aims, including the regulation of intermediaries in the subcontracting - relationship, and the establishment of an inspection system. Most importantly, the convention seeks to ensure equality of treatment between those who carry out paid work in their home and other wage earners, in relation to the right to organise, protection against discrimination, occupational health and safety provisions, remuneration, maternity benefits, access to training and in statutory social security protection.
The vast majority of homeworkers are women - at least 80 per cent according to the ILO - who are sub contracted by large industries, particularly in the garment sector. Their numbers are thought to be increasing as employers look for ways to increase flexibility and cut costs.
Research suggests that home workers are numerous in many Asian countries, including India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Pakistan and Malaysia. In India the cigarette industry alone employs over two million such workers. Homework is also common in the country side, and may involve processing agricultural or forest produce, packing and cleaning fruit and vegetables or fish processing. It is also increasingly to be found in the service sector, where developments in new technology have led to an increase in "teleworking".
Homeworking is also a common phenomenon in Latin America and parts of Africa, while in Europe there are about two million people involved in a variety of industries from clothing and textiles to foot wear, electrical components, car parts and medical items.
According to HomeNet, an international network of homeworkers, it is often groups of people who face discrimination in the wider labour market - women, people with disabilities, people from ethnic minorities, or migrant workers who make up the growing workforce in the home.
As many businesses and home based workers are either classed as self employed or not registered at all, companies using home labour can avoid taxes and cut costs and overheads by bypassing labour regulations and collective bargaining agreements. They can also maintain flexibility in the face of changing global markets, since homeworkers can be easily hired and fired.
IN SUM, unregulated subcontracting passes many of the risks of production onto homeworkers. As each contractor in the chain receives a commission, which in some countries is 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the unit value, the homeworker may receive only a fraction of the final retail price. This means, for example, that for a child's dress which sells for $15 (£9.50) in a department store in North America or Western Europe, the local producer who made it may get less than 10 cents.
Studies also indicate that children, even if not directly or formally employed, may be forced to work to help their parents because of the pressure of tight deadlines and low prices imposed by contractors.
A survey of homeworkers in the garment industry by the Self Employed Women's Association (Sewa) in Gujarat in 1986 found that 90 per cent complained of pain in the feet and legs, 82 per cent reported back pain and 31 per cent suffered from pain in the hands. Eighty five per cent of the women worked up to the last hour of pregnancy.
At present there are no specific international labour standards for homeworkers. An ILO survey of 150 countries found that only 18 had specific homework legislation, though another 17 have a section on homework in labour codes.
Proponents of the new convention on homeworking, which will be voted on in June, argue that many homeworkers are not in fact self employed or independent, but are dependent workers like employees and should therefore be entitled to the same employment" and social protection as normal wage earners. Homeworkers, they argue, should receive parity with factory based employees in their terms and conditions.
One of the main arguments of employers' delegations opposed to the convention is that regulation of homework will cost jobs and drive workers into the "black economy". However, the evidence does not support this negative view of regulation. For example, increases in the minimum wage in Chile in the early 1990s played an important role in reducing poverty alongside rapid growth and low open unemployment. Countries such as Colombia and Costa Rica, which maintained minimum wage regulation in the 1980s, achieved some of the fastest levels of growth in Latin America.
Furthermore, measures to promote cheap and flexible labour markets can be economically inefficient and potentially self defeating. The ILO has pointed out that productivity will be impaired if wages and conditions fall below "efficiency levels" due to high turnover, low commitment and poor health. Oxfam research in Chile shows that legislation which facilitates "flexible"
labour markets, including subcontracting, reduces the incentives for companies to train workers, to invest in new technologies or to improve product quality.
Along with homeworking groups around the world, Oxfam is urging governments, and employers' delegations, to vote in favour of both the proposed new ILO Convention and Recommendation on Homeworking at the General Assembly in June.
Approving the convention is, of course, only the first step. It will then need to be ratified by governments and translated into national legislation according to local social and economic conditions. Oxfam believes that it will be another important step in helping ensure a living wage and just employment standards globally.