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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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FROM POVERTY TO POWERA similar situation applies on export farms. According <strong>to</strong> oneSouth African apple farmer, ‘We employ people as we need them, butyou need <strong>to</strong> break their expectation of having a permanent position,so you hire for two <strong>to</strong> three weeks and then you let them off for a fewweeks, and then you hire them again.’ 119TRADE UNIONS CHALLENGEDIn the filthy casualty ward of a Bangladeshi hospital, two doc<strong>to</strong>rs arebent over a prone figure in the light of a single bulb. The woman on thebed is Minara, a sewing machine opera<strong>to</strong>r at one of Bangladesh’s 2,700garment fac<strong>to</strong>ries, whose workers have just joined a Bangladeshigarment workers’ union. She was rushed <strong>to</strong> hospital an hour ago withdeep cuts <strong>to</strong> her neck, face, and hands after a razor attack by twomastaans, thugs hired by the fac<strong>to</strong>ry owner. Her sister is semi-hysterical,weeping that Minara will now be scarred, and will be thrown out byher husband. 120Once the standard recourse for workers in their struggle <strong>to</strong> claimtheir rights, trade unions have suffered serious setbacks since the 1980s.Approximately 90 per cent of the world labour force is unorganised,and union membership is declining in direct proportion <strong>to</strong> thegrowth of the informal economy. 121 Unions have struggled <strong>to</strong> reachout <strong>to</strong> people working within homes, or unprotected by contracts.Workers in the informal economy are not united by the same type ofjob, or even the same employer. They are determined <strong>to</strong> hang on <strong>to</strong>even meagre jobs, and may not share common interests with formallyemployed workers.Even in the formal economy, the task of trade unions has beenmade a good deal harder by changes <strong>to</strong> labour legislation in recentdecades, including the ban on union organisation in many exportprocessingzones. Worker organisations continue <strong>to</strong> face repressionand violence; union leaders around the world confront harassment,rape, and death. Two countries in every five have serious or severerestrictions on the core right <strong>to</strong> freedom of association. 122Within trade unions, the view among many male workers thatwomen are temporary, secondary, or less valuable workers, ‘helpingout’ their male partners, has hampered the ability of unions <strong>to</strong>158

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