SOLIDARITY. Reflection on Solidarity Building Initiatives for Female Garment Workers. SEEMA PROJECT May Linkage.

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1 SOLIDARITY EKATA Association Linkage Reflection on Solidarity Building Initiatives for Female Garment Workers SEEMA PROJECT May 2014 European Union

2 ABOUT THE REFLECTION WORKSHOP A one-day learning-reflection workshop with the female garment workers who were involved in solidarity building initiatives was arranged in order to explore the changes and challenges they faced in their daily life and livelihood as a result of those initiatives for solidarity building. It also captured the suggestions for the improvement of those initiatives for future intervention. This document is the synopsis of the findings and experiences shared by the participants in the learning reflection workshop facilitated in a participatory and experiential learning approach.

3 Introduction of SEEMA and Solidarity Building Initiatives Female garment workers are poor and marginalized women, which results social exclusion in urban areas. Work to engage this impact group forms a key part of CARE's Women's Empowerment Program. CARE believes that workers can attain empowerment in terms of agency, relationship and structure - which are the three basic levers for women's empowerment. CARE through Solidarity and Empowerment through Education, Motivation and Awareness (SEEMA) Project aims to promote and protect the rights of female garment workers (who are the most marginalized women in urban communities), through improving their human condition and social position. Different types of Solidarity building initiatives have been taken by SEEMA Project to build solidarity among female garment workers. Formation of EKATA groups was the base of solidarity building initiatives. Through EKATA female garment workers have built solidarity among them. SEEMA has provided different types of awareness and taken initiatives to build solidarity among EKATA members. To sustain and to enlarge the solidarity Area Based Workers Association has been formed by SEEMA Project. SEEMA provided various capacity building initiatives for the association members. SEEMA has formed Area Based Committees (ABC) in community to support workers solidarity groups. Linkage of ABC and EKATA/ Association has formed a broader solidarity Workers Associations have formed in 5 areas with Female Garment Workers ekata GROUPS have FORMED WITH FEMALE GARMENT WORKERS

4 CHANGES DUE TO SOLIDARITY BUILDING AT EKATA CENTRE: In Personal and Family Life Female Garment Workers are now courageous and confident They can save money for future They can read and write, and also help others to read and write Now they have good communication skills and inter-personal relationship Able to take care of their personal and family health issues Their family values their opinion They give advice to family members regarding rights of women They now take their parents to different service centers In The Community They protest child marriage in the community Community people value their opinion They bring others to the service centres They take initiatives to protest all kinds of Violence Against Women (VAW) They protest Eve-Teasing They can go for legal action for themselves and for others At The Workplace They can calculate their salary and overtime They can comply with rules and regulations They can take care of their health and hygiene They can write their name and the application for leave They developed good relations with the factory supervisors and others They know how to convince the authority to get ID cards and appointment letters They can unite to solve their problems They can teach others about factory norms and regulations

5 HAS Larger Association made any Difference? IN PERSONAL & FAMILY LIFE They can share family responsibilities IN THE COMMUNITY Interpersonal relations and communication power has increased among the participants They are now conscious about rights and try to exercise it They are self motivated and can decide important matters They take initiatives to stop Child Marriage, Polygamy and VAW They share information related to rights and responsibilities They move as a united entity They help anyone in time of need They help women take legal support Community people value them AT THE WORKPLACE They arrange jobs for former colleagues They claim and get IDs and appointment letters from the authority Some of them have trade federation memberships They inform others what they have learnt about the association They meet to find solutions when they face problems They try to develop relations with the federation so they can get help after the closing of SEEMA project

6 ESTABLISHING LINKAGE: CREATING OPPORTUNITIES To create more opportunity for female garment workers SEEMA Project has established linkage between Solidarity Groups and Service Providers. Female garment workers were unable to get services due to mismatch of time with the service providers. By building linkage, the service providers are in agreement to provide services at the convenient time of female garment workers. Moreover, many of the female garment workers did not know about all of the services available in her area. Now they know what services they can get from service providers. By this linkage, both service providers and female garment workers can reach each other easily. IN PERSONAL & FAMILY LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY LIFE AT THE WORKPLACE Some of them have been able to increase salary with the help of the federation They enjoy medical services and help other family members to get the services They get medical service at a low rate They have successfully freed a woman s husband from jail with help of the federation Now community people value them The community people are being conscious about rights, child marriage, dowry etc They help the community to get government services They share their knowledge among others With the help of the federation, unpaid salaries have been paid back They have obtained appointment letters They enjoy labour rights They have established good relations with the Lineman and Supervisors They help unemployed women by providing jobs They are brave, and work confidently

7 CHALLENGES WOMEN FACED TO BUILD ASSOCIATION AND ESTABLISH LINKAGES IN OPERATING ASSOCIATION AND LINKAGE BUILDING Time management problem Some of them disagreed to be with the Association There was no committee to guide Association and lead, so they faced trouble in arranging meetings Office time of service providers and garment workers clashed Association did not have any fixed place to meet IN THE LEARNING APPLICATION PERIOD When they talk about labor rights, MD and PM rebuke them When they protest against illegal actions and torture, the authority cut the attendance and bonus When they try to talk about the social matters, local people don t take it easily FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS Need to make the family and factory management aware about the purposes of EKATA and Associations For EKATA Workers should be trained to be more tactical to apply their learnings Arrange meetings and keep better relation with BGMEA and BKMEA Flexible meeeting time in consultation with EKATA members For Association & Linkage Building Meeting times should be set in consulation with members Develop associations as a self-help group, to reach objectives and goals Train them to develop and run the associations as a self-help group Need to develop guidelines to run the associations effectively To form an Executive Committee for the associations Advanced training for the EKATA members about organization, gender, empowerment, governance, leadership, and advocacy Need to launch and perform policy advocacy for better and conducive labor rights Need to develop and implement a long time plan for the associations Members should give more time for the activities of the associations To ensure proper execution of the work distributed among the members

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