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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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3 POVERTY AND WEALTH THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORKvast majority get no maternity or health coverage – but80 per cent fear dismissal if they complain.• In China’s Guangdong province, one of the world’s fastestgrowingindustrial areas, young women face 150 hours ofovertime each month in the garment fac<strong>to</strong>ries. They havelittle option but <strong>to</strong> comply, given that 60 per cent have nowritten contract and 90 per cent have no access <strong>to</strong> socialinsurance, should they be fired. 113DOING BUSINESS THE WORLD BANK WAYThe International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank havebeen among the most determined proponents of ‘flexibilisation’. In2002, the World Bank recommended ‘eliminating labour-relatedrigidities’ in Mexico, including ‘the current system of severancepayments; collective bargaining and industry-binding contracts…restrictions <strong>to</strong> temporary, fixed-term, and apprenticeship contracts’.In 2001, the IMF ‘viewed favourably certain aspects of the [Chileangovernment’s] proposal (such as reducing restrictions on workschedules and allowing part-time contracts... )’. However, it ‘expressedconcern over other elements (such as allowing collective negotiationsat the inter-firm level...) which would reduce labour market flexibility’.114Since 2003, the most important source of pressure from the Bankhas been the labour section of its annual Doing Business publication.The labour market flexibility indica<strong>to</strong>rs of this section are often usedin World Bank and IMF country-level strategy documents <strong>to</strong> forcecountries <strong>to</strong> do away with various kinds of workers’ protection. Forexample, a recent World Bank Economic Memorandum <strong>to</strong> Colombiademanded that the government make hiring and firing decisionsmore flexible in order <strong>to</strong> improve its Doing Business indica<strong>to</strong>rs, eventhough it is uncertain whether this will have a positive economicimpact. The World Bank also made compliance a condition for loans<strong>to</strong> Colombia.The <strong>2008</strong> edition of Doing Business declared the Marshall Islands<strong>to</strong> be the world’s ‘Best Performer’ for ‘ease of employing workers’,displacing the previous champion, Palau. What the Marshall Islands155

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