Summarised position on. for Informal Sector

Transcription

1 Summarised position on Social Protection for Informal Sector 1 StreetNet International agrees with the idea of a basic Social Protection Floor to be applied in every country, as envisaged in ILO Recommendation 202 on Social Protection Floors. Informal workers who are members of StreetNet International have a platform of basic demands a basic package of securities that have emerged in workshops on decent work. 2 1

2 Social Protection Floors should be based on a package of basic securities Informal workers have a right to social protection. The elements of the package of social protections below are based on their economic and social realities. Health care Informal workers across the world identify health care as their first priority for social protection. From the perspective of informal workers, a system of universal health coverage should include free primary health care free essential medicines subsidized hospital care & surgical procedures for poorer workers. Services should be geared towards the specific health risks and needs of the working poor in the informal economy. 3 Health care cont Primary prevention should receive special attention. Preventive health care should include immunizations and health education. It should also engage with the appropriate authorities for the provision of water and sanitation in informal work places, and include occupational health and safety services. There should be worker participation in the design, implementation, and monitoring of health services. Priority should be given to member based organizations of the poor and, especially, of the working poor in the informal economy. 4 2

3 Child care Child care is not normally considered as part of social protection. But children have a right to be brought up in a safe environment, and to fulfil their potential. They need good child care, especially in their earliest years. Parents in low income jobs often cannot afford child care. Children who are looked after in the parents workplace are exposed to high levels of risk. Having to care for a child while trying to perform a job lowers the productivity of a worker, and thus lowers income. Affordable child care facilities are needed that will protect the safety of children, and that will increase the stability of work and productivity of informal workers, both men and women. In the case of street vendors, these facilities should be near vendors places of work, where possible and appropriate. Core features of child care centres should be as follows: 5 Child Care cont. They should focus on the overall development of children including physical and intellectual t l growth. They can serve as centres for immunizations, and for ante and post natal care of mothers. Children should be provided with nutritious meals. Children should be regularly weighed and measured, and referred to specialised centres if they fall behind. 6 3

4 Food security StreetNet supports the position of the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations) that chronic food insecurity among agricultural workers and their communities is indivisibly linked to the chronic violation of their collective rights, and therefore calls for a firm commitment to the creation of decent work and living wages in agriculture. The same applies to other sectors of the informal economy. The IUF also emphasizes that the ILO must be designated as one of the UN agencies with a specific mandate to work on eradicating hunger from the world. 7 Public infrastructure Informal workers need the same basic infrastructure for productive work as formal firms are expected td to source for their workers water lighting & energy sanitation storage waste disposal transport All of these services, if provided in a way that is reliable and affordable, contribute directly to protect the health of workers (and of their families, if they work from home). The tendency to privatise infrastructural provision makes these services more expensive. 8 4

5 Financial security for older people Informal workers should be included in contributory retirement schemes, which are affordable, reliable and flexible. The flexibility can be by means of allowing different levels of payment, payment for a certain number of months in a year, rather than every single month. Incentives can be given by governments to encourage people to save for their older years. 9 Social Protection Floors should include formalisation in the interests of workers in the informal economy The Recommendation also includes a call for formalizing the informal economy. Elements of formalisation identified by workers in the informal economy are as follows: Recognition in law of workers in the informal economy; Integration of indirect taxes and other revenues already paid by informal workers into official tax systems (in accordance with the principle of progressive taxation); Extension of social security to all; Statutory negotiating forums, including at local government level; Participatory budgeting, at both national and local government level; Formalisation into genuine worker controlled cooperatives; Transformation of the informal economy into social solidarity economy. 10 5

6 1. STREETNET INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATED IN ILO DISCUSSIONS ON GLOBAL SOCIAL PROTECTION FLOOR. STREETNET WORKED WITH WIEGO ON A BOOKLET CALLED WELCOME TO THE GLOBAL SOCIAL FLOOR BUT INFORMAL WORKERS HAVE ADDITIONAL NEEDS, AS WORKERS. 2. PROIRITY IS: AFFORDABLE HEALTH SERVICES WHICH DO NOT TAKE TOO MUCH TIME -TIME IS MONEY- -3. INFRASTRUCTURE SANITATION, WATER, SHEDS ETC. -PROBLEM OF PRIVATISATION OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE -SASPEN RESEARCH WHAT IS THE COSTS AND BENEFITS TO INFORMAL WORKERS OF PRIVATISATION? 11 6