Workers` Education in the 21st Century
Transkript
Workers` Education in the 21st Century
WORKERS’ EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY ASIA PACIFIC WORKERS’ EDUCATION PRACTITIONERS EXCHANGE ORGANISED BY ASIA MONITOR RESOURCE CENTRE MACAO, SEPTEMBER 2003 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Asia Monitor Resource Centre Ltd Over 25 years of promoting workers rights and democratic labour movements in Asia and the Pacific AMRC is an independent NGO, which focuses on Asian and Pacific labour concerns. The Center provides information, research, publishing, training, labour networking and related services to trade unions, pro-labour groups, and other development NGOs in the region. AMRC’s main goal is to support democratic and independent labour movements in Asia and the Pacific. In order to achieve this goal, AMRC upholds the principles of workers’ empowerment and gender consciousness, and follows a participatory framework. THE ASIA PACIFIC WORKERS’ EXCHANGE PRACTITIONERS WORKSHOP: WORKERS’ EDUCATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY 21 – 23 SEPTEMBER 2003, MACAO This workshop was funded by Committee of Asian Women (CAW), Olof Palme International Centre (OPIC) and Oxfam Hong Kong. This publication would not have been possible without the contributions of all participants and organisers of this workshop. Translation from Chinese into English by: Prof. Ai Xiao Ming, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou Proofreading by: Omana George Transcription, layout and editing by: Susanne Wycisk Hong Kong, November 2003 Published by: Asia Monitor Resource Centre Ltd. 444 Nathan Road, 8-B Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel: (852) 2332-1346 Fax: (852) 2385-5319 Email: admin@amrc.org.hk Copyright © Asia Monitor Resource Centre All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any other way without the prior written permission of the publisher. 2 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 4 I. Introduction II. Issues, Challenges and Opportunities of Workers' Education - in China – Panel Presentation - in Asia – Small Group Discussion A View from a Popular Educator on Labour Education By Rita Kwok, Hong Kong A Demonstration of a Popular Educator on OHS By Rita Kwok, Hong Kong Synthesis and Input By Chan Lean Heng, Malaysia 5 6 10 12 14 III. Methods of Workers’ Education Storytelling as a Method of Workers’ Education? By Yuen Che-hung, Hong Kong Literacy Class and Workers' Education: English Lesson, By So Sheung, Hong Kong Gender Sensitisation, By Parat Nanakhorn, Thailand Gender as a Labour Issue - A Case Study from Thailand By Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, Thailand Educational work of Korean Women's Trade Union By Park Namhee, Korea Educational Work with Informal Sector Workers By Pratibha D. Pandya, India Decision-Making in a Group – The Electric Maze By Irene Xavier, Malaysia Raising Awareness on Safe Sex By Elaine and Yuk Lan, Ziteng, Hong Kong Educational Programmes on Occupational Health and Safety in Guangzhou By Juliana So, Guangzhou Working Condition Arrangements and Labour Occupational Health and Safety By Liu Wan Ling, Ching-Jen, Taiwan 21 24 30 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 IV. Evaluating Workers’ Education Programmes By Annie Luk, Hong Kong Programme of the Workshop Expectations and Evaluation 47 49 V. Resources Useful Links and Media Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 54 3 Introduction Since China opened up in the 80s, there has been a huge influx of foreign capital into coastal cities of south China. This resulted in a great demand of cheap labour and the rural young population meets this demand. In order to improve the livelihood of their family, many of the young farmers, especially young women, started to travel a long way from home to the cities to find jobs in the newly developed industrial zones. According to statistics, there are about 100 million migrant workers working in the cities nowadays and they have become a major workforce in the Chinese economy. Working in the cities has always been their dream. For them, it is a place to earn “big money”. However, they have not foreseen that working as labourers in the cities, far away from home, are not only tough but they will also encounter lots of difficulties. These include the lack of understanding about their rights at workplace, missing their friends and relatives at home, difficult to adjust themselves with factory life, problems making friends and dating and even marrying somebody. Every migrant worker, physically or psychologically, would be more or less affected by these problems. Training for workers There have been some agencies trying to provide training for migrant women workers, such as government departments, non-government organisations, Women’s Federation, women’s departments in the trade union structure and research and training institutes affiliated to universities. In order to help them to solve the above mentioned problems and to build up a healthier attitude towards life and work, they provide women migrants with relevant information and training. Through the trainings, the women migrants learn how to protect their rights when they are violated. Lack of teaching modules However, the practitioners in this field always feel the gross lack of suitable, useful, effective teaching modules and interesting materials in terms of content, form and methodology. Instead, they have to stick to the old style which is long winded, factual and non-interactive way of teaching method. This makes the workers receive the information passively and there is a lack of enthusiasm to active participation and free expression. The practitioners are badly in need of some readymade, vivid, live and interactive types of teaching modules and education kits from the experienced overseas practitioners in the same field. In order to brighten the mind of the Chinese counterparts, the workshop is going to invite some experts to explain and demonstrate the modules they bring along to share in the workshop. Aim of this documentation We are going to document the presentations of invited overseas groups which were used to educate the workers in their respective countries. We hope these pro-active, lively and imaginative education modules and teaching materials, which have been proved to be effective to arouse the attention of the workers, will meet workers’ education practitioners’ requests. Therefore the workshop tried to avoid one-way, long-winded talks, presentations like the ones used in China. Instead the mainland organisers wanted to know new and innovative methods to cheer the Chinese women workers up. Besides this English version we are going to publish a Chinese version which is not a literally translation of the English one. Besides this English documentation of the workshop there is also a Chinese version published by AMRC which is not literally translated but follows the same approach. 4 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Challenges and Opportunities of Workers' Education in China Global Alliance for Workers and Communities The educational work with workers in China is very difficult: there is generally a lack of resources like money (no funds from international organisations), but also a lack of skills and training or teaching materials. Moreover, it is very difficult to access the workers, they are cut-off from society and in other words trainers find it difficult to access them. Most of the workers work overtime, 16 hours a day, is quite normal. They are under big pressure, so workers don't have any time to attend classes. At the same time the trainers themselves are not very well organised. The question is, how to train the trainers, systematise and evaluate their work? It is difficult to meet the needs of workers and use the right strategy: “I am not sure if our workers' education is sustainable at all.” How can we train them more efficiently? The Centre for Women’s Development and Rights For the past year and a half, the Centre has been providing legal assistance for workers. We deliver newsletters, offer knowledge and skills. Our focus is on workers' rights and we train cadres within the trade unions. We organise women workers' groups and offer a hot line. Some of the problems encountered are: - The competition with the All China Women's Federation (ACWF) on training - How to connect gender issues to issues of workers’ rights - How to use the right strategy. We have to work within the legal framework; we cannot pressure the government like in the West. Workers’ Hotline Service A large amount of migrants coming from remote areas are working in Qingdao. In Qingdao, there are a lot of foreign investors which worsens the situation of workers even more, because the government protects only the interests of the foreign companies but not those of the people. Recently 100, 000 women workers lost their jobs in Qingdao. But only one percent know about labour law or trade unions. Overall the migrants’ lack of knowledge is because of their low education. Because of tough competition they have to accept any job that is offered to them, even though the employers do not accept the labour law and violate their rights. They have to work overtime, get no benefits and no life insurance. Women workers do not have equal opportunities at the work place like men, therefore to help them the hotline offers legal training for migrants and every week two hours of night-school. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 5 Issues, Challenges and Opportunities in Women Workers' Education in Asia How can we mobilise the workers? Malaysia: We also have some political parties now in Malaysia whose members basically are workers and through those parties you actually can also mobilise large numbers of workers. But these groups do not have workers' perspective and they don't really see the interest of workers in a broader context. For them workers just get higher salary, that's enough. So for us this is the issue that means the large numbers of workers are not being reached which education that can make them think and be critical. Actually we've tried before in the past and we gave up. Then now because of this new political party we are trying again to mobilise the party mechanism to do training. We've done this in a more disguised way. We've trained women leaders of the political party, it was leadership training. And in that training one of the issues and challenges which we posed to them was: what do you know about workers? Most of the members are workers, what do you know, what do you have to offer for women workers. So through mechanisms like that we are trying to reach wider numbers of people, because as an NGO you can't reach that many people. So this is one of our issues: reaching the workers, because we can not use the papers. We cannot use the media it is closed to us. India: But what we do during our campaigns suppose we are doing some insurance programme, then we will sign the leaflets, that means going house to house with small leaflets with that particular activity. Supposed there is a big get together for minimum wage campaign then that leaflet will contain something on the minimum wage. Moderator: So you are talking about the opportunities, using a campaign to reach the people through community work? India: Yeah, So for the basic leadership training there will be not more than twenty or twenty-five people. But for the members we do some programme for example sign some messages that will be 30 to 40. There are different types of training as I told. Like: What are the leadership qualities? How do we articulate ourselves? What is our status as workers? It is a curriculum designed for two days. It is a residential programme; they stay overnight and can have their chats and exchange among another. Gender topic and informalised work as a challenge for trade unions Korea: We have also a programme on several different issues. One issue was: Looking at the world through women's eyes. We discuss about the women's issues. How we live as women and what is the feminism about. We also invite some experts maybe some lawyer and then we give the information about law, women's law especially. Two sessions like that and then one session we study case studies: If I were harassed in my working place, what can I do? Maybe two times a year we have a programme for women. We inform the local newspaper and we also use our website. Hong Kong: I have a question, if you have this programme especially for women how do you get women joining? So just in our experience if you use this title "Looking at the world through women's eyes" usually very little ordinary women will come. More people who used to think before, college graduates or activists they will come, everyone who 6 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC thinks similar will come. But in my experience, if I try to do this in China facing women workers, it is quite hard to get them over. They have a very strong sense to learn. But learn means sitting like a student, writing notes and then to know actual knowledge techniques. When we do training on women's health they want to know all the details. But when you talk about other things like things going on in your head like consciousness it is a bit difficult to get into the issues. They are more willing to get more details, techniques, knowledge rather than being active or a leader. How to make them come and feel comfortable with the issue? Thailand: How we can get gender issues in trade union work, because unions are less concerned about that issue. Gender issue doesn't mean the number of leadership inside a union. That is more the content, how we can put into practice. Malaysia: Because even the informal sector for example the increase in informalisation of work particularly women's work is not really an issue of trade unions. Trade unions are not concerned about it generally. We are not talking about other alternative unions; we are talking about normal trade unions. I'll give you the example of the National Union of Plantation Workers from Malaysia. It was the largest union in the country, one of the earliest unions also, and the president of ICFTU was the secretary general of this union for many years. But that union, that whole industry has basically gone now, has become so small, but that union doesn't care. It didn't care to organise the migrant workers who replace them, now a lot of Indonesian workers are plantation workers, they didn't care all about that. And basically that is because they look at it as career and money opportunity for themselves. So I will die and that's it, not interested what happen after me. And that is the attitude of all the big unions in Malaysia. If you ask them, we spoke to the electrical union recently, we spoke to a woman who was not really at the top level, we asked her about informalised work and all that. Her only opinion basically was: actually women prefer to stay at home and work. And then she is not concerned that the work is being outsourced. They don't think about it, because the union doesn't talk about it. India: In our country those unions also have the agenda of informal workers, simply because their members are decreasing in the organised sector. More and more workers are getting unemployed or retrained, so they are concerned. Hong Kong: I can recall as an example Hong Kong. As far as I know the HK CTU has an affiliate it is the Hong Kong domestic helpers general union. And it is casual work, not like the migrant domestic work, they are more casualised in terms of the wages, in terms of conditions of work. So they get unionised and the membership is also 1.000. I think that it is one of the examples. And there is an other example of a union, the membership is coming from the personal care like hairdresser, any kind of services related to personal care, could be self-employed like the drivers they are self-employed. So, whether the union has itself this consciousness to break the traditional rule or not is important. “We need independent and democratic trade unions as a basis” Malaysia: I see that for example in Hong Kong or even in India there is an opportunity for unions to function fairly freely whereas in places maybe like China, Malaysia to an extent even Thailand we are not allowed to function freely. In Malaysia there is one industry one national union. The other unions that you register can only be company unions and company unions are severely manipulated by the management. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 7 Hong Kong: For us, gender is a very easy topic in China, because everyone gets funding and it is not restricted by the government. But if you do labour there are a lot of restrictions, you cannot do this and you cannot do that. So it is a problem how we can put labour into gender rather than put gender into labour. It is a different question. Because we have a big gender industry, a lot of research centres, a lot of academic staff going on in the gender stream whereas in labour there is very little. In the gender topic they do pretty well. In China you can have more space to do gender like women's health in factories but usually it is difficult to do law, labour laws in factories. And it is even more difficult to get labour leaders going. What we can do is to promote the law in the legal framework, you solve the problem individually. Moderator: The political situation is very repressive and it is very difficult to act in China. You are talking about your own safety and whether you can continue or not. Hong Kong: We are very concerned about our organisation. So we are very conscious what to do and what is the result of our doing so we are very careful. And the thing is every time when something comes out and the government feels very sensitive, it then tightens its policy on the labour issues. So it will be not only about us, it is about the whole thing. And then the government will step back again. It's slightly opening up but then anything back again. For all the friends here who organise women workers the approach of gender is the contact point. Talking about the health and safety issues or women's health for example is the contact point to the workers but still within your boundaries. How you move on to the issue of workers rights as women worker is the issue. A challenge and opportunity to form a women’s union Korea: As for the Korean experience: Korea has two large union federations (KCTU and FKTU) and then we are here the women's groups especially KWWAU and KWTU and one women's trade union belongs to the KCTU. Maybe the federation union they don't care about the women's issues since ten years ago. Then KWWAU submitted a suggestion to the federations to raise women's issues. And then later on women workers organised KWTU for organising women workers. We don't expect any more (from the federation). We organised the women's trade union. Now in Korea there are several women's organisations and unions and then the federation union leaders are nervous or anxious. And now they care a little more on women's issues than before. So I think we should try to make the women issues to one of the mainstream issues (and challenge the other trade unions and federations). Malaysia: Like in Malaysia we talked about this, but the law and the minister say: there is no such thing as a women's trade union. Women are not a “trade” so you cannot have a women's trade union. Which means you won't register it. So you know they just control the law and the situation so that no independent union exists. That is the main idea. India: I would like to share our SEWA experience. Even if we have 500.000 members we are not yet a recognized trade union at the national level. We are only an association. But we can function. Malaysia: Definitely I will agree that having a women's union would become a challenge and also an opportunity for other unions to take gender issues more seriously. Thailand: In Thailand when we say about the gender activities only women groups men don't want to join. I don't know why? For gender programmes we need men! 8 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Hong Kong: How about having men and women together talking about gender issues. Malaysia: I guess it is also a matter of interest. In Malaysia they have done a bit on violence against women. They have a men support group against violence against women, so you have a few groups like that those are individuals, very middleclass. The unions have a women's section but it is not elected, it is appointed by the men. Only in the national level they have elections, everybody will vote and if the union doesn't support you you'll lose. So basically it's a men's pressure to put these women they decided this time that they want this women so this women will become elected. So you still have to get the support of the man to win the women's election. They are always under the control of the men. Conclusion Moderator: The four main issues we talked about until now are: One is linking every day life to the economic and political structures in the country that will include issues of mobilising workers. Then the other one is mainstreaming gender into trade unions. Third one is development of independent, progressive trade unions. The fourth issue is about informalising workers. Korea: Yeah we need support to organise workers (support by men, by the government, by the society), but at the same time we have to ask: Who prepares this kind of programme, like us, so we need to have leaders of the workers. Moderator: That means having progressive educators. India: Having motivators among the workers themselves who can better convince the workers about their interest. Yeah, community leaders are organising them. Hong Kong: For me it is more like where to go. Even if I train leaders but what can they do when they become leaders? It is difficult and politically very sensitive to form an independent union or organisation now in China. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 9 A View from a Popular Educator - Popular Education and Labour Education By Rita Kwok, Hong Kong Baptist University All education programmes are designed to make changes. How is change defined? What needs to be changed? These are important questions that labour educators need to answer. Education does not happen in a vacuum and the educators’ interpretation about the magic word makes great differences about the content and methods of programmes. The traditional method is designed to change: information, opinions, attitude and behaviour of the target group. It is based on the assumption that individuals are responsible for their problems. Popular education challenges that position. Popular education originated in the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire who challenged the basic premises of traditional education: 1. education is neutral, that ignores the social and political causes of problem 2. education is remedial, in the sense that individuals not the social causes needed to be changed 3. teachers are the experts and students are empty vessels that needed to be filled with the teachers’ knowledge, information and skills. 4. learning is individualistic Popular education is transformational, in the sense that its emphasis is on social changes, or removal of obstacles that causes social problems. It is operated on the following principles: The transformational education module emphasise: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 10 A democratic process – allow the expression of different voices, and not just the teacher A recognition of the experience of the learners Experiential – it should be made clear that the object of study is the critical understanding of the learner’s reality and how their rights and interests operate with such condition Activity-centred - learners’ prior knowledge must be elicited to serve as basis for further discussion. Learner-centred activities may be designed to draw this out from the learners. This means the activities should provide learners a venue to share and express their experiences and knowledge. Problem-posing - the facilitator should try to challenge the learners’ prior knowledge by asking questions which try to draw- out inconsistencies or incoherence in the learners responses. Such process encourages learners to think through their thought process and forces them to rearrange their thought patterns to make them more logically consistent and empirically coherent. Participative - the techniques should encourage collective efforts in clarifying concepts, analysing themes, and carrying out the activities. Exposing the learners to the experiences of others is one way by which one’s experience and knowledge may be expanded, validated or disproved. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 7. 8. Dialectical - it is not enough to just draw-out learners’ prior knowledge (thesis). It is equally important to have them compare it with knowledge from other sources such as facts, data, statistics, etc. (anti-thesis) and synthesise the resulting idea/s. Analytic- it is important that themes emerging from the learners’ responses and the underlying principle which links these themes be identified by the facilitator and the learners themselves. The facilitator should ask the “why” and the “how” questions. Such questions make learners think about why things are and how things come to be. Learners should also be asked how things relate to one another, how they affect each other. These are the questions which help learners see what is beyond what is apparent Discussion: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Have you learnt about the transformational approach before? What is your first impression? Can you apply this in your education work? Any difficulties or limitations that needed to be overcome? Any advantages over the traditional model? Can you think of an example how you can apply it? Please look at the following cases and answer the question: Would the educator’s interpretation make a difference? Case one - Mainland China Chan aged 45, twenty two years of working experience in the same State-owed electrical appliance enterprise. He had worked there since he returned from the “send down to country side campaign”. The enterprise is now in great deficit and Chan is laid-off. He needs retraining to get a new job. Educator’s interpretation of the situation: Chan is too old. He does not possess any marketable skills. His education level is too low. His attitude needed to be adjusted. He still believes that the State has a responsibility to provide him with a lifelong tenure job which is incompatible with market economy. Chan (worker) perception: We had no choice when we were young and able. We spent our youth at the countryside and were deprived of good education. We could not change jobs and have been put on the assembly line all our life. Where can I learn new skills? We made sacrifice to contribute to building socialism. Now we are told that we must be adjusted to the competitive market and look for jobs. I am now told that I am too old. Who is responsible for my problem? Case two - Hong Kong Lee, aged 50, construction worker, came to Hong Kong when he was young and has been working in a garment factory. He had been promoted to be the foreman, but the garment factory had been moved to China ten years ago. He had not been able to get steady jobs in factories since then. He became a construction worker and had been able to make enough money for the family. With the collapse of the property market, he had not been able to find jobs in the construction industry for a long time. Educator: He is too old to learn new tricks. We should give priority to younger people. Money should go to training the young to use new technology. Lee (worker): I have never been lazy. I work hard all my life and have been contributing to the prosperity of our society. We should be given a second chance. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 11 After reviewing the above cases, what difference would be made, if the popular education or transformational module is applied? Your collective wisdom will give the answer and I hope this will give you some food for thought for the rest three days of our workshop. Demonstration of important principles of popular education A group activity on occupational health and safety By Rita Kwok, Hong Kong Baptist University Instructions I want to divide the auditorium into two groups, can be male or female, it can be anybody. I give all of you three dots. Every group has two posters of the shape of a body from the front and the back. Please think of any part of your body, the most painful part of your body, is it the head or whatsoever, everybody has some pain, whether it is your knee or your head. You think about that. Think of the three most painful parts of your body, and then use the dots to indicate those parts on the back or the front of the drawing. Let's see what happens. Description of the group results You know already what I am trying to do. I would like to put the drawings on the board. Please look at these two sets of human beings carefully. Don’t you find it very, very interesting? This is group A and this is group B. Please compare the two, do you have any suggestions? 12 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Respond: There are more similarities on the head, neck, shoulder and at the back there are more dots than on any other parts of the body. Instructor: These two groups show very similar results. What does it tell you? Evaluation Instructor: Actually I have done this a couple of times with many different groups and the results are very similar. You can try this back to China and you'll see what will happen. Can you imagine what you can use it for? Aim This a kind of material you can bring in and get people involved in occupational health and safety. And then you can start with workers to talk about it. You can also compare the differences regarding their workplace: we can ask people why is that part of your body painful? You get people participate collectively. And fortunately these results are really matching with some official statistics about occupational health. So this is easier for workers to understand instead of giving them a big pile of research about occupational health. Experiences and background information of the instructor I chose this in order to demonstrate the most important point of popular education: starting from workers' experience. I started from your experience. This method is participatory – all of you participated and didn't sit there while I talked. It is activity oriented; I don't need to use one single word. So it is trans-cultural; I can use this method with a whole group from China, Thailand, India, Korea or Mongolia. We all share; language barrier is no longer the barrier between workers. When we talk about health, it is solidarity which is important, we overcome the language barrier and we all share something in common. And that is the beginning how we as workers share so many things in common even if we look at headache, heartache whatsoever. This is not just talking about health but this is the beginning of organising. Organisers start with common things, common problems that workers share. But the most important task is: get the workers talking, get them to share, get them to disagree with you, so that they start challenging you. I am not the university teacher up there, but I make mistakes. Sometimes I make mistakes and let them talk and that is the beginning to overcome the fear of authority; the authority of experts, of teachers coming in feeding them with their experience, feeding them with their way of looking at the world, feeding them with their way of looking at the workers' problems which is definitely very far from reality. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 13 Synthesis and Input By Chan Lean Heng, University Science Malaysia This synthesis is a reflective summary drawn from what was presented in this workshop. It also includes what was not covered, but essential in carrying out workers education. There will be 3 parts to the synthesis and input (A) The meaning and scope of workers’ education (B) What is needed in doing workers’ education? (C) Beyond educational programmes – what else is needed? (A) The Meaning and Scope of Workers’ Education What is workers' education? In this workshop 2 different meanings of workers' education have emerged. One type of education that is referred to by presenters is the constant reference to programmes, to workers' education as programmes as health and safety programmes, safe sex education programme etc. Sometimes these programmes are referred to as autonomous activities in themselves. Some of these programmes are part of an integrated process of engagement and struggle with the workers we work with. That is the second meaning. It is an approach to education, which refers to education as a life long involvement and lifelong engagement and struggle. It involves people in a process of critical analysis so that they can act collectively to change the oppressive structures. The process is participatory, creative, analytical and empowering. In this approach to workers' education you cannot separate organising and collective action from education and learning. The learning from reflection leads to analysis of the situation which leads to strategising for collective action and then reflects on the action to learn from it for further action. In this approach all your specific activities or programmes are integrated into the process of struggle, learning and action, grounded on the needs and situation of the workers. Different objectives: transmission of knowledge or education for change? In our discussion some people have referred to education as transmission of knowledge and information, giving lecture, giving instruction, telling workers what their labour rights are, what the laws are. This is exactly how we have been taught in school, like what our storyteller-friend, Yuen Che-hung told us how the school-kids learn the right answer by rote learning and transmission of knowledge and information. This is in contrast to another approach to education, which is referred to in this workshop by Rita Kwok as popular education. In popular education, the emphasis is not just the participatory methods, but equally important is the methodology. The emphasis is on active participation of learners to construct their own meanings to produce new knowledge as they reflect critically on their everyday experiences. Central to the practice of popular education is taking the standpoint of the workers, of linking immediate issues with broader social struggles, and of moving from personal experience to political understanding and action. Education here is a continual process, which starts with the lived experiences, the realities, the problems, the needs of the workers. The content as an entry point is a means and an end in itself. Like the case of literacy as explained in the SEWA presentation, it helps people to learn how to read and write, as well as reflect and work together to improve their situation. So it is actually a continuous process of reflecting on your life situation, collectively analysing and collectively acting to redress their issues and problems - and this is education for change! This is not easy. You always have to review and analyse what you do, contribute towards change or conforming to or preserving the 14 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC status quo. We can teach labour rights to support and consolidate the status quo or we can teach labour rights in such a way that you critique the limitations of the law and work towards changing it. So the same programme can be conducted in two different ways by having two different approaches. The scope of workers' education The presentations and questions from the daily reflections of the previous days’ presentations have also touched on the scope of workers' education. Some people refer to workers' education as the two hours session with workers. Some people refer it to as the three days workshop. The question that always remains are how one gets access to workers. Therefore workers' education is not only a programme where workers come to attend or participate. The scope of workers' education is not only the range of issues and topics that are relevant. It needs to take on board the issue of access and sustaining participation and involvement, which leads to addressing the issues affecting workers’ lives at the workplace, in the home and community. For me workers' education starts with identifying the interests of workers and working out ways to get access to them. This is where presenters talked about interest activities: going for hiking, there were quite a number of examples shared from Korea and from Thailand. Creating interest activities and sustaining the interest of the workers through activities that bring them some joy, some fun, some life, are also important. As many of us have said workers' life is always very difficult, tiring, and stressful - they work overtime, they have no time to recreate themselves. So, we need these types of activities as well, which usually are a greater attraction at the beginning. But, we don't and must not stop at that. We also need support services, hot-line services, providing discussions on health, learn how to make democratic decisions, etc. If a worker is sick, providing the support services for her/him to get well is very important. If we don't provide this kind of support services, then we are not addressing the objective/material needs of workers. But the way we address these problems makes the difference. It can be done in an empowering, learning manner whereby the worker become more conscious and learns to take necessary action. In carrying out these activities, it is not only providing support-services but we can also organise workers to organise these services for them. We can mobilise workers to learn how to advocate and lobby for these services, which are workers’ rights. This moves into education of organising, unionising, of forming a women workers' organisation, especially when unions are not immediately possible, like the case in many Asian countries. When Mabel Au talked about CAW's networks – most of these women workers' groups are not unions, some are very informal groups, some are centres, some are workers' themselves, organising the space for themselves. These groups/centres are initiated by people who are like-minded, who have the same heart, the same vision and are allies to workers. That is where the role of other people, other professionals comes in. Pratibha D. Pandya’s presentation on SEWA highlighted a holistic integrated approach where the various sets of activities and programmes are integrated into various stages of implementation where each programme contribute to and which ultimately leads to the empowerment of the women. Here a strategy is needed, if you want education for change. You must plan a strategy. If you don't plan a strategy you cannot dabble in workers' education for change. Good intentions alone can reinforce the status quo. So, in other words, the strategy and approach, guided by the vision and objectives are important elements in formulating workers education. The above synthesis highlights some of the related points that emerge either directly or indirectly from the presentations. And now we move on to look at the broader picture of what is required to be taken on board in formulating workers’ education. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 15 (B) When we do Workers’ Education, what is needed? This workshop has emphasised programmes (hence the various types of content), about methods, techniques and tools. However, before the content of educational programmes can be decided on, there are various aspects or components that need to be considered, which affect the nature of the content and the ways educational programmes or activities are designed and implemented. I will discuss these various different components briefly – educator/facilitators themselves, providers, contexts, workers' situation, vision, methodology and methods. Educators and Providers In this workshop we didn't talk very much about ourselves as educators. We keep referring to the workers as the learners. We didn't address ourselves, which is a very important consideration in workers education: The educators or the facilitators themselves who conduct the programmes. That is you and me need to be examined as part of the package in workers’ education. The storytelling session by Yuen Che-Hung, brought up a lot of issues on this – as educators, what are our own hang-ups, privileges and power that need to be interrogated? What are the qualities, skills and orientations required of worker educators? What kind of training do worker educators need to equip them with the appropriate skills and knowledge? If the educators do not know or have not been exposed to a participatory process or the methodology of popular education, surely he or she will not be equipped with such knowledge and skills to conduct the programmes accordingly. We also need to look at the providers, who are the providers of workers education? Government also sponsor a lot of workers' education, they conduct a lot of skills training programmes, which support the capitalist market. Unions also do a lot of workers' education and training and there are different types of union, there are yellow unions and there are genuine unions. NGOs and self-help worker organisations (like worker co-operatives) are also involved in providing for workers education. What type of organisations are these, what are the limitations and possibilities offered by their organisational structures? As educators we must be very alert to how organisations can silence their beneficiaries! Contexts Programmes and methods do not exist in isolation, in a vacuum. They are always situated in a context (or even many contexts), which determines the appropriate content and methods. Workers in Hong Kong come from a econ-socio-political context, that is very different from workers from China, but they also have some similar econ-socio-political context as workers in Asia, as informal sector workers, as workers in multinationals – the global/international economic, social and political forces impinging on workers are similar but the effects may vary as they interplay with the national and local forces. Likewise, the contexts and situation of each particular group of workers are different from workers of another group/sector, yet they all are affected by a similar set of forces surrounding them. These various contexts circumscribe the conditions and position of workers and what is possible and legitimate, or legal, within the political constraints of each national regime. Context can be deconstructed into different levels. One level of context is to look at the realities and milieu (local context) where that particular group of workers are located in, next, the national socio-political and economic contexts of the country. The global and international contexts are also important. The video that was screened last night (Dust and Doll, CAW) has clearly highlighted how international contexts impinge on workers lives - the effects of industrial restructuring and its effects on labour. Likewise, when multinational corporations relocate from Malaysia to China, Malaysian 16 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC workers are unemployed but China workers are employed but underpaid, exploited, what is the connection there? How should we address these issues in our workers' education? The key guiding question here is what is affecting your specific group – from the local, to national to international levels? For example, one of the things the panel on China talked about is not having access to the work place, no space, no political access, because the government is so repressive, that is the national kind of context. The laws are so bad, the workers are not protected. These are just some examples to show you how the context, the situation, the social, political, economical environment affect not only the workers' situation. They also affect how you do your educational work. For example if you don't have direct access to them in the workplace, like many of us, we have to roam around the food-stalls, we have to roam around near their dormitories, we have to organise after their shifts instead of at the factory gate or on the shop floor. The key challenge for us is in the face of all these tribulations and difficulties not to take: ‘no’, ‘not possible’, as an answer. We need to have a different mind-set, to confront the problems and difficulties as challenges, to find where the cracks are to focus our hammering. As worker educators/activists we need to be creative, we cannot take 'no' for an answer. In many countries we are not supposed to unionise workers but there is a law protecting the organising rights of workers. We have to work around it, to subvert it! We still organise in different ways. The cartoon pamphlet that is for distribution is an example of how even though the unionisation of electronic workers (in Malaysia) is not permitted, we still attempt to organise. We have to find ways to work around it, to crack it. But of course sometimes we crack it a bit, then we get repressed, then we have to find another hole somewhere. So this is the kind of context we are trying to say we are working in. Likewise, in some countries, there have been some inspiring examples how women workers have formed women workers unions and they are quite different from the yellow unions. They are feminist progressive unions which organise differently, with different structures, with more collective decision-making, power-sharing, empowerment and so for. It must be another workshop to going to all these possibilities. Workers conditions and lived experiences What are the conditions and position of the workers that you are working with? The conditions can be at different levels and dimensions. Firstly, there is the dimension of objective conditions. What is out there that is affecting them: the occupational health and safety, the sexual harassment that is in society, which creates a lot of insecurity to walk alone after the night shift. What are their objective (material) conditions, living conditions, working conditions, family conditions? Poor occupation and health relates to their work conditions, no legal protection leads to exploitation of workers, they can work 12 hours and only get 8 hours pay. We always separate working life with personal life and with family life, but a life is a life, whether it be work, family or personal. Your individual personal life is also related to the work situation, is also related to the community. So, there should be an attempt to link and address the various dimensions of workers’ lives in our educational activities. There are also subjective conditions that manifest at a personal level. The objective conditions create a certain psychic impact on the individual or personal dimensions of the workers. For example, lot of women workers are very fearful and scared. They don't have the confidence, because of learnt messages that they are stupid, incapable and so on so for. These experiences affect their lack of confidence, their poor self-esteem. A lot of workers don't participate because they don't dare to participate. We have to break that vicious cycle of fear. These subjective conditions are interrelated to the objective conditions that affect the psychic, the psychology, the mindset and the beliefs of workers – their subjectivities: the conscious and unconscious thoughts and Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 17 emotions of the individual, her sense of self, and her ways of understanding her relation to the world. It is fundamental that workers education look into this as well. When we talk about the realities and lived experiences of workers we must also be analytical. Conditions alone don't necessarily analyse their position though it can imply. So you must also look at their position, especial their position of power/powerlessness in society. From the various presentations and discussions I have picked up words like inequality, discrimination, workers don't have power; they are in a marginalised, oppressed, disempowered position. When we talk about workers' realities, it came out through all the presentations that men workers are very different from women workers while there are a lot of similarities. Therefore the need to address the specific needs of women workers: their reproductive needs, their productive needs, their needs to be empowered, even by their own spouse, by their union leader. A lot of women workers I know, are often taken advantage of and sexually harassed by their male leaders. In doing educational work with women workers it also important to understand and put into practice women’s way’s of learning, doing and being. Often the weaknesses of women can be reframed as their strength. Likewise issues of difference and diversity need to be taken on board. Apart from men/women workers, there are also other different categories/types of workers – informal sector workers, sex workers, home workers, unemployed workers etc. The content focus and the way you do your education is different with different groups of workers because the needs and situation of the workers are different. Content Content is the substance that you focus on in your education programme. What do you need to do before you can determine on the content of educational programmes? You need to understand what the position, conditions and lived experiences of workers are. The conditions and position of workers are in turn circumscribed by the local, national and global econ-soc-political forces impacting on them. Presentations on SEWA told us and the panel on China highlighted issues of poverty, the illiteracy of workers, etc. We also hear specific words like: there is discrimination, there is no safe sex, there is no legal protection, unhealthy, unsafe work environment; jobs are insecure, casual work. We cannot unionise, there is sexual harassment. Workers lack confidence, they are discriminated, they feel ashamed, they feel inferior. If workers are illiterate, there is no point conducting programmes that require a lot of writing; you have to use other means. If they are very poor there is no point talking about coming together for education without addressing their stomach needs. As explained in the case example of SEWA, a lot of their programmes are linked to income generation, earning a livelihood. Vision If you want to develop a programme you also need to know for yourself: what is your own vision of the future, apart from the specific set of objectives for your educational programmes? One of the visions that SEWA talked about is building a movement. If your educational work aims to build a movement, you will in your spectrum of educational programmes, an integrated array of other areas like value education/formation, leadership building etc. However, there are people who do workers' education without a broad vision. They are only interested in rather narrow specific objectives: to teach labour rights, to teach how to read and write - in isolation and this is just transmission of knowledge. I hope by bringing your attention to this it becomes a mirror for you to reflect about your educational work with workers. Do you have a vision of bringing about change, of facilitating empowerment, of creating alternatives versus very narrow specific objectives of just learning, a skill how to sew clothes, of just learning what the law in this country are, to teach workers to operate within what the law says. If you have such visions, how are you attempting to achieve them through your educational programmes? 18 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC How should your programmes be conducted to enable workers acquire the critical consciousness for social change? Approaches and methods In any educational programme, its underlying approach will determine whether the programmes are transformational or status quo maintaining. In this workshop, most of the presentations have not referred to this but have instead emphasised on the demonstration of a variety of methods used, as well as the content focus of programmes. I want to emphasise a difference in them. An approach or methodology is broader if it looks at your ideological assumptions; it looks at your broader objectives, the whole process of how teaching and learning is conducted and its implications of enabling a critical consciousness for agency and collective action or merely the learning of facts and information. It is important to differentiate between approach, method/tool and content and to know you to integrate to achieve the objectives. For example, there are a lot of women not organised and you try to organise them in a certain way, you take a certain methodology. It is not just providing services for them. While you provide the services you mobilise them to be involved and foster a critical consciousness for further collective action and building alternatives for themselves. Another e.g. can be seen in the "river of life" activity presented by Park. It is a fun-activity but it is not an end in itself. It is a useful fun-activity but it is also a means to help workers to reflect on their life experiences. In this workshop there has been a lot of reference to the use of games. The underlying interest in games is because it fosters workers’ participation. While active participation is crucial we must not forget that genuine participation must involve workers in collective decision-making to act, to change their situation. We also have a workshop exercise facilitated by Irene on the "Electric Maze" which helps us to understand participation in decision-making. That is very, very important. Our methods should not only be participatory. Participation without analysis, without decision-making, without planning and engaging into collective action will not bring us to education for change. Designing and evaluating educational programmes In educational work you also need to pay attention to designing the programmes. The presentations in this workshop have not touched on this. Often, we take it for granted. But it is very important how programmes are designed so that there is a logical coherence in the flow of the whole programme and between the parts of the programme. The design will need to look at the general framework, the objectives, the content and process. In designing programmes you need to be clear with the objectives, to be explicit in the kind of learning you want the participants to have. In any programme there must be a rationale, there must be a flow, there must be a coherency otherwise it will be like a frog jumping around. So in programme design what is very important is not only resource materials/persons. They are important, but the facilitation process is critical especially if you want it to be participatory, if you want it to be learningful. Helping people to learn is important. So the facilitator needs to address both the content and the process, in particular, helping to synthesis and to use a variety of ways to facilitate the learning of the participants. Another essential important component is about evaluation, which Annie has talked about just now. There are different types of evaluation and different ways of doing evaluation. Annie has given us one example (see evaluation of the workshop chapter III). Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 19 (C) Beyond Educational Programmes – What else is needed? If the goals of workers education are to bring about social change, long term institutional and structural changes that can make a difference in the lives of workers, educational work must go beyond workers education and move into worker’s action to incorporate organising, advocacy and lobbying for changes in policies and laws in the country. Understanding and putting into practice what education for social change and empowerment means is fundamental, as often our educational activities may unwittingly serve to maintain the legitimacy of the status quo. Understanding the different dimensions of power and its interplay is also crucial to know how to act strategically, as well as to be able to discern programmes that can empower workers. Ways to connect with and learn from others, to continually critique our own work will assist us forward. Concluding summary Therefore to sum up, in formulating workers’ education, we need first and foremost, to analyse the contexts of workers before we can discern content that are relevant and appropriate methods to use. Part of this contexts analysis includes an analysis of the role of the state, laws and policies in the country and how, as well as what types of workers action is possible at that time and place. Participatory methods that can evoke participation is important but not enough. There must also be participatory methods that engage collective analysis and action. In any programme we need to have a vision of the kind of society we are working for and a set of objectives to guide our educational work. Finally continuous evaluation is necessary not only to assess the effectiveness of the programme but also to evaluate whether the programmes are empowering the workers apart from the attainment of the specific goals. To do all these in a sustained, creative and critical manner, worker educators must continuously learn from others, especially those outside of their own countries to find out what others are doing and how they can learn from these experiences while reformulating appropriate strategies and programmes for their own groups. Visualisation of Synthesis workers’ realities Providers Educators’ roles, needs, characteristics Scope:access support services organising Contents Workers’ education Vision Strategy Approach Contexts Realities / lived experiences local national global 20 Programmes Process of learning + collective action Conditions - objective - subjective Position - unequal - marginalised Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Vision/objectives - empowerment - skills - Approaches - Methods/ - Techniques Design programmes evaluation Storytelling - a Method of Workers' Education? By Yuen Che-hung Introduction The facilitator plays some soft music for a few minutes (either by harmonium, guitar or CD) and asks the audience to close their eyes and dream. The facilitator then asks the audience who would like to share their dream and wants to act it out in front of the audience? What is a good story? - a story which is true and has really happened a story where you don't foresee the end a story which is fun to listen to a story which touches you Whereas stories often told in schools - teach a moral want to educate pupils have to follow pupils don't have the choice or cannot intervene Skills to be trained through story telling - - to get rid of the daily routine to relax to create space for imagination to feel that you and your experience are important "Create a picture of reality through storytelling instead of conceptualising" Question of one participant: If you face a group of workers in the age of 18 to 25 under pressure to survive, how do you start to tell stories? Answer of story-teller: "Try first and then go - never mind if you are successful. Although I don't know anything of their lives, I try to sympathise with them. I'll just approach them, we can talk about something. Even very poor people must have something inside themselves that makes them happy. Let them tell their story! I will think of my own experiences and tell them about myself in similar or comparable situations. We just share common experiences. Whatever these experiences are, they are important. If we think like this we can change things." Reflections of the workshop: Is storytelling useful for workers’ education? Difficulties: - adults are not any more as responsive as children are how to get insight of workers, we hardly know how to encourage them to tell their own story story of lived experiences brings emotions or even traumas because they are real Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 21 Possibilities to overcome difficulties: - - address people properly create an atmosphere of trust, confidence, support let workers speak out and express themselves be prepared to listen carefully (active listening is important) take a story that has been shared as a starting point of a learning and healing process on the way of empower the workers during the whole process the facilitator/educator has to take responsibility for the person who speaks out The author has also published a book in Chinese on storytelling: So Suk Lin, Yuen Che Hung, Pre-school Teacher – Story Teller, Hong Kong 2002, 2nd edition, HK$ 100,-; please contact: nohurry53@hotmail.com 22 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Summary and visualisation on the workshop’s results Importance of real feelings Story telling Heart to heart encounter “talking pain” as a methodology not only as a tool implies : - method - content - person Equal relationship A case-study (as a tool) Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC -opening wounds - healing -empowerment 23 Literacy Class and Workers' Education: English Lesson By Labour Education and Services Network (LESN) Lesson I: Focus - home town and workplace Song: "All together now... with love" Lesson II: Focus - a. numbers, b. body pain and safety at workplace Song: "We shall overcome...someday" Lesson III: Focus -a. dormitory and factory; b. a day's work; c. the own vision Song: "Imagine...the world will live as one" Lesson I. Introducing Yourself 第一课 自我介绍 1. Hello everybody, my name is _______. 大家好,我的名字叫 ________。 _______, Hello! _______,你好﹗ 2. Good evening everyone! My name is _______. 大家晚上好﹗我的名字是 ______。 Good evening! ________ 晚上好﹗________。 3. How are you? My name is _______ 你好吗?我的名字是__________ 。 How are you? _________ 你好吗?_________。 4. How do you do? 你好吗? 他们是女人吗?不,他们是男人 。 7. Home town 家乡 Where do you come from? 你(们)从哪里来? I come from ________. 我从_____来。 We come from _______. 我们从_____来。 8. Directions 方向 East 东 South 南 West 西 North 北 Where is Guangxi? 广西在哪里? Guangxi is in south west China. 广西在中国的西南方。 9. Where do you live now? 你们现在住在哪里? We live in Baoan. 我们住在宝安。 Baoan is north east of Shenzhen. 宝安在深圳的东北方。 5. What is his/her name? 他/她叫什么名字? His/Her name is _______; Or 他/她的名字是 _______﹔或者 He/She is ________. 他/她是 ________。 6. Woman and Man 女人和男人 Are you a woman? No, I am a man. 你是女人吗? 不,我是个男人。 Are you a woman? Yes, I am. 你是女人吗? 是的,我是。 Are they women? No, they are men. 24 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Song: All Together Now 大家一起来 One, two, three, four Can I have a little more? 一,二,三,四 可以给我再来点儿吗? Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, I love you 五,六,七,八,九,十 我爱你 A, B, C, D Can I bring my friend to tea? A,B,C,D 我能带朋友来喝下午茶吗? E, F, G, H, I, J, I love you E,F,G,H,I,J 我爱你 (Bom bom bom bompa bom) Sail the ship (Bom bom bom bompa bom) 航船出海 (Bompa bom) Jump the tree (Bompa bom) 跳下树梢 (Bompa bom) Skip the rope (Bompa bom) 跳一跳绳 (Bompa bom) Look at me (Bompa bom) 看着我 (All together now) All together now (repeat) (大家一起来)大家一起来(重复n 次) (Bom bom bom bompa bom) Sail the ship (Bom bom bom bompa bom) 航船出海 (Bompa bom) Jump the tree (Bompa bom) 跳下树梢 (Bompa bom) Skip the rope (Bompa bom) 跳一跳绳 (Bompa bom) Look at me (Bompa bom) 看着我 (All together now) All together now (repeat 4 times) (大家一起来)大家一起来(重复四 次) Black, white, green, red Can I take my friend to bed? 黑色,白色,绿色,红色 我能带朋友去睡觉吗? Pink, brown, yellow, orange, blue, I love you 粉红,棕色,黄色,橙色,蓝色 我爱你 (All together now) All together now (repeat 9 times) (大家一起来)大家一起来(重复九 次) Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 25 Lesson II. 第二课 Part 1 Numbers 第一部 数目字 1 One 2 Two 3 Three 4 Four 5 Five 6 Six 7 Seven 8 Eight 9 Nine 10 Ten 11 Eleven 12 Twelve 13 Thirteen 14 Fourteen 15 Fifteen 16 Sixteen 17 Seventeen 18 Eighteen 19 Nineteen 20 Twenty 30 Thirty 31 Thirty-one 40 Forty 50 Fifty 60 Sixty 70 Seventy 80 Eighty 90 Ninety 100 Hundred How much is the minimum wage in Baoan? 宝安的最低工资标准是多少? ___________________________________. Part 2. Body Parts 第二部 身体部份 (人体图) This is my _______. 这是我的_______. Part 3. Pain and Safety 第三部 病痛与安全 Are you OK? 你还好吗? No, I feel sick! 不好,我觉得不舒服! No, I have a headache! 不好,我有点头痛! 26 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 头痛 头晕 红眼 流眼泪 打喷嚏 咳嗽 发红 出疹子 发痒 烧伤 英文单词 Headache Dizzy Red-eye Watery eyes Sneeze Cough Redness Rash Itchy Burnt 造句 安全标签 Safety Labels︰ Danger - Dangerous Poison - Poisonous Toxic Hazard - Hazardous Chemicals Song: We Shall Overcome 我们一定会克服困难 We shall overcome We shall overcome 我们一定会克服困难 我们一定会克服困难 We shall overcome someday 总有一天我们一定会克服困难 Oh deep in my heart I do believe 我心深处这样相信 We shall overcome someday 总有一天我们一定会克服困难 We are not afraid We are not afraid 我们无所畏惧 我们无所畏惧 We are not afraid today 今天我们无所畏惧 Oh deep in my heart I do believe 我心深处这样相信 We shall overcome someday 总有一天我们一定会克服困难 We'll walk hand in hand We'll walk hand in hand 我们携手前进 我们携手前进 We'll walk hand in hand someday 总有一天我们会携手前进 Oh deep in my heart I do believe 我心深处这样相信 We'll walk hand in hand someday 总有一天我们会携手前进 We shall overcome We shall overcome 我们一定会克服困难 我们一定会克服困难 We shall overcome someday 总有一天我们一定会克服困难 Oh deep in my heart I do believe 我心深处这样相信 We shall overcome someday 总有一天我们一定会克服困难 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 27 Motto: 小格言︰ 1. Fun 趣味 2. Trust 信心 3. Learn Together 共同学习 4. Co-operate 合作 Lesson III Factory Mapping 第三课 绘画工作间地图 Dormitory Factory Part 1 Describe your working and living condition: 第一部份 描述你的工作和居住情况: 1. I work in a 2. I live in Part 2 Describe Your Day: 第二部份 描述你的一天: In the morning: 早上 What are you doing at 8 am (or eight o’clock in the morning)? Where are you at 10:15 am (or ten fifteen)? Do you have a break from time to time when working? At noon: 中午 What do you do at noon? How long is your lunch break? In the afternoon: 下午 What are you doing at 2 pm (or two o’clock in the afternoon)? When do you start working in the afternoon? In the evening: 晚上 When do you finish work? 28 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC What do you usually do in the evening? In your free time: 自由时间 What do you like to do in your free time? Part 3 Like and dislike 第三部份 喜欢和不喜欢 Do you like your work? Why? Do you like to live in the dormitory? Why? Do you like your day? Why? What else do you dislike? 5. What is your ideal working and living place? Song: Imagine 试着想象 Imagine there's no heaven, 试着想象这世界上没有天堂 It's easy if you try, 只要你愿意尝试这并不难 No hell below us, 在我们脚下没有地狱 Above us only sky, 我们的头上只有天空 Imagine all the people 试着想象所有的人 living for today... 只为了今天而活 Imagine there's no countries, 试着想象这世界上没有国家 It isn’t hard to do, 这并不难做到 Nothing to kill or die for, 再不需要为了什么犠牲或杀戮 And no religion too, 而且也没有了宗教 Imagine all the people 试着想象所有的人 living life in peace.. 生活在和平之中. You may say I’m a dreamer, 你也许会说我是一个梦想家 but I’m not the only one, 但我并不是唯一的一个 I hope someday you'll join us, 我希望有一天你会加入我们 And the world will live as one. 而全世界将和而为一 Imagine no possessions, 试着想象没有私人财产 I wonder if you can, 我怀疑你能否做到 No need for greed or hunger, 再不需要贪婪或饥饿 A brotherhood of man, 所有的人都血肉相亲 Imagine all the people 试着想象所有的人 Sharing all the world... 分享整个世界 You may say I’m a dreamer, 你也许会说我是一个梦想家 but I’m not the only one, 但我并不是唯一的一个 I hope someday you'll join us, 我希望有一天你会加入我们 And the world will live as one. 而全世界将和而为一 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 29 Gender Sensitisation By Parat Nanakorn, Thailand Installation: Two drawings of shapes one of a women and one of a man at the wall Questions - - How are women different from men? What makes women different from men? Why are in our societies women different from men? What are similarities or differences of men and women in your society? Procedures of the activities 1. Brainstorming: What are the differences and similarities between men and women? 2. Introducing the social status and living conditions of Thai women 3. Questions and Answers: a. Why do women have to sacrifice themselves for men? b. As a woman, what do you think about women engaged with sex work? c. Why do men want to be in a dominant position all the time? Main points 1. The differences between men and women a. Biological differences b. Difference in social status — men’s social status is always higher than women’s c. Questions and Answers: i. Based on medical studies, biological difference led to difference in social status ii. Impact of “gender stereotyping” on students through education iii. In order to be more convincing in workers’ education training sessions may be we should quantify gender differences and introduce a “gender difference coefficient” 2. Introducing the social status and living conditions of Thai women i. Thai women are subordinate to men and make sacrifices for men. They tend to give up opportunities for further study in order to provide more chances for men. Low level of education always means low paid jobs. Men have bigger access to information. ii. During the financial crisis in 1997, women faced massive lay offs and their income was reduced drastically. Many of them had to support their family even after they got married. In order to support their family and send their brothers to school, many became sex workers and were treated as “bad women” and faced serious discrimination and social pressure. On the contrary, men would not be treated as “bad guys” if they buy sex services as long as they are educated and had well paid jobs. iii. Women’s sacrifices in return deepen inequality in social status between the two sexes. 3. Questions and Answers: d. Why do women have to sacrifice themselves for men? Factors controlling women: government, culture, social norms, social division of labour, class, etc. The question is: How does society look at domestic chores. Why is domestic work seen as low-end work? This is all because of the social division of labour (men are for work and women are for family). We need to discuss whether 30 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC looking after family is a right or an obligation. We need to re-define and re-evaluate the social rights and obligations, the power relationship between sexes. e. As a woman, what do you think about women engaged with sex work? Transformation of economic status led to the change in social status. f. Why men want to be in a dominant position all the time? Why can’t men cry in front of others? Gender as a Labour Issue - A Case Study from Thailand By Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, Thai Labour Service and Training Centre Instructions for the group 1. Read the attached paper of a real Thai case study carefully and 2. Answer the questions mentioned there! The role of the instructor He has to challenge the audience in order to argue on the case. Role of the audience The audience has to judge on the attitude of the women and plead her guilty or not guilty of murder in a consensus. CASE STUDY about Mrs. Somsri Chanta - A true story from Thailand On 23 rd of March 1993, Thai newspapers carried a report that shocked many people. One newspaper had the headline: “Mother kills baby, son like a monster.” Another paper announced: “I can’t afford my child-evil mother, who broke baby’s neck and buried it”. The report then gave the details: On 9th of January Mrs Somsri Chanta, a shoe factory worker, gave birth at the children’s hospital, abandoned the child and disappeared. The hospital managed to locate her and told her to fetch the baby. On 5th of March she came and collected the child. Later the hospital again contacted her to say she must bring the child back because they had given her somebody else’s baby by mistake. She did not respond. The real parents then called the police. The police arrested Somsri at her house. Tearfully she confessed to having suffocated the baby. She had then dumped the body in the wasteland. The police then locked her up and interrogated her for more information. She told them her husband had left her when she was pregnant. She now lived alone and had no money. This is why she killed the baby also because it was sick and half blind. She was afraid it would become an outcast when it grew up. She told the police, the factory would not allow her even one day of maternity leave. Somsri is now under trial for murder. The prosecution lawyer, who is a famous lawyer, opened the case pleading she should get life imprisonment or be executed because she had committed premeditated murder. Questions to the groups: 1. Do you agree with the prosecution lawyer’s idea that Somsri should get life imprisonment or be executed? Why? Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 31 2. Do you agree with the mass media that condemns Somsri as an evil mother who broke baby’s neck and buried it? Why? 3. If you were the judge, what would be you verdict? Give reasons. Interaction instructor - audience Instructor: justifies life long imprisonment of the women who obviously murdered her son. Arguments from the audience: - participant from Taiwan doesn't agree on strong punishment, because it is the fault of society and the limitation of the law who are responsible - participants describe similar cases in Taiwan and about domestic violence in mainland China - the reason of the "evil" is not the women herself but the fact that society doesn't allow her to educate herself - you have to change the social conditions as you also see in Hong Kong or Macau, father killed two daughters and made himself suicide because of economic hardship Interference of the instructor The audience have to come to a final common judgement either life imprisonment or death penalty, because it is not in our capacity as a judge to change society. Audience - Judge has to balance between the right of the mother and the children rights - You have to take into account the social circumstances - The woman has the right to decide whether she wants the baby or not Result: No real consensus in the group; wide range between release, punishment for social work and punishment up to 15 years. Trainer tells real story Background of the real story: In fact boyfriend urged her to an abortion, but she refused, that's why he left her before she delivered the baby. The Thai judge sentenced her to 20 years of imprisonment. How to use for workers' education With this story you can raise different questions or tackle different topics which are worthwhile for trade union work, besides the personal responsibility of the mother: 1. first of all lack of money and low wages, but also the fact that she didn't get maternity leave raises the question for responsibility of the employer as the invisible killer 2. secondly society has to provide facilities like nurseries for working mothers Take the case study as a good starting point 1. to analyse women and men (power)relationship within society 2. to analyse society and social situation from the point of reproductive needs to raise responsibility of unions for gender issues and link family life with working environment 32 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Educational Work of the Korean Women's Trade Union (KWTU) By Park Namhee O. Song for warming up Instruction: You know how a water melon (papaya, banana stem) looks like? All participants and instructor stand up in a circle and show the shape with their hands. For the last part, demonstrating the fruit salad, the participants have to move the hips and stir with both hands in front of their body the imaginary fruit salad. Melody: according to the song Frère Jaques. Contents of the song: "Water melon, water melon, Papaya, papaya Bana-nana-nana, bana-nana-nana Fruit salad, fruit salad The song can be repeated several times with faster speed. 1. "River of Life" Method: Every participant gets an A4 sheet of white paper and is asked to think about his past for about 10 minutes. Then the participants are asked to mark as many points they like which they remember from the past and link them to a line. The graph consists of an x-axis as the time frame and y-axis of good and bad experiences. Then the participants who are willing to tell their life stories are asked to explain their drawings. Modification: Instead of telling every story to the whole group you can also put the drawings at the wall and ask the participants to have a look at them. The participants are allowed to ask the individuals for clarification, but must also accept if somebody is hesitant to explain more on the details. Aim: - sharing of personal life stories even of sensitive ones in order to get to know better and create a sense of familiarity and bonding in the group Instructions: - play this game only with smaller groups with a maximum of 10 -15 people, divide bigger groups otherwise - don't force people to tell their stories, it is depending on their mood - be patient, you need some time to create atmosphere and make people listen to one another Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 33 Life Experiences good 8 6 1998 1997 2000 2002 bad 2 0 2003 1999 4 1996 2001 -2 2. Visualise your life through symbols Method: The participants have to fold an A4 sheet of white paper into three parts. On one part they are asked to draw a symbol which represents the image of themselves (a flower, a picture, a thing, any symbol), the second part of the paper should symbolise the strength and the third part the weakness which you like to overcome. The participants are again asked to explain the symbols to the audience. Aim: to encourage self esteem and self confidence Instructions: - do not comment on the explanations of the participants - you can ask for further explanations never intimidate people - listen carefully and be patient Self images from the participants as examples: 1. life symbol: stairs (hard struggle in her life); strength: education and teaching; weakness: not enough time 2. life symbol: mountain (tough climbing is a double burden as a mother and in the workplace at the same time; strength: strong character, strong physics; weakness: do not care for herself, should relax more 3. life symbol: candle (light in the darkness); strength: responsible person; weakness: anger, loss of control 3. Practising solidarity Method: The participants of the game played the game forming a circle and holding onto the shoulder of the person on front and with one leg folded at the knee being held by the person behind. The whole group moved according to the music played (a song of solidarity or an encouraging folk song) in one direction without loosing contact to the neighbours. Aim: - to create trust and support of the neighbours - to experience solidarity, working together for a common aim - to show that each individual is very important for the whole group 34 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Educational Work with Informal Sector Workers By Pratibha D. Pandya, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India SEWA provides need based, demand driven programmes according to the priorities of women and at the pace they are able to absorb through these women’s participation. Training and education are effective tools for capacity building to enhance the self esteem and self respect. This empowers the women to utilise their new skills and knowledge for development of their families, communities and society as a whole. Various types of training 1. Vocational-technical training: skills upgrading, diversification, marketing, accounting etc. 2. capacity building training (i) basic leadership training (ii) advanced leadership training (iii) trainers’ training 3. workers’ education classes: awareness about status and rights as workers 4. members’ education programme (i) globalisation (ii) SEWA as whole (iii) Women’s power (iv) Values 5. Literacy classes 6. activity related training e.g. formation co-ops, savings groups, insurance, health, housing etc. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 35 Methods of training 1. Start of the day with all religion prayer and Gandhiji’s 11 virtues on which SEWA’s ideology is based 2. Self introduction in details and co-workers introduction as self; ability to memorise and articulate is tested through drawings and narration 3. use of posters and charts 4. use of games for – organising; - communication; - evaluation 5. use of songs, folk songs and slogans with messages 6. video documentary replays as a tool. Different uses e.g. organising new groups, technical information; discussion before and after replays through members’ participation (analytical observations). 7. Use of satellite communication to reach more members simultaneously e.g. 1 studio reaches 10 centres with 35 women each saves time and energy 8. Exposure dialogue programme to experience women workers situation ourselves: gives new insight, sensitivity and perception 9. role plays on real life situations of women workers - struggles and actions for law enforcement, change in law/ policy - insurance, HIV – Aids - communal harmony Impact of trainings’ education (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Increase in self esteem and self confidence Awareness and eagerness to acquire information and knowledge Increase in ability to articulate the issues and problems Becoming leaders in their communities Ability to confront the exploiters e.g. merchants, contractors, money lenders, police and officials, locals Important points (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) 36 Design the curriculum according to the needs and demands of the women Speed and pace of the sessions according the ability of women to absorb Sessions should be participatory and interactive Time and schedule according women’s convenience e.g. festival days, earning – season, marriage seasons have to be avoided Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Decision-Making in a Group - The Electric Maze By Irene Xavier, Electronics Women Workers Association, Malaysia Objectives 1. To evaluate the dynamics of the team 2. To assess communication mode and leadership within the group 3. To evaluate how collective decisions are made Directions 1. Make a grid of 6 boxes by 9 boxes using string or masking tape. Each box should be big enough for one footstep. 2. Facilitator sits on one side of the grid with the design of the maze. Keep this out of the sight of the participants. 3. Tell the participants that they walk through the maze without getting electrocuted. Every time they step on forbidden boxes a sound will be made by the facilitator. 4. Tell the participants the rules. 5. The team will be awarded a total of 20.000 marks at the beginning. Marks will be deducted according to the discretion of the facilitator. 6. Before the game begins the team is given 3 minutes to discuss their strategy. The team will be given another 2 minutes whenever they requested during the game. 7. The team is given 20 minutes to achieve the objectives. 8. Discuss the experiences of the team. Rules 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. No talking during the game. You can only move one step to any neighbouring box around you in any direction. Whenever the facilitator makes the electrocution sound you have to leave the group. The team members will only be allowed to step on the forbidden boxes once. Marks will be deducted for any mistake. The decision of the facilitator is final. You cannot point directly to any box. You cannot use writing materials. 8. The team must take turns in the same order in each round. To be used for educational work with workers/ unions - shows the employer-employee-relationship through sanctions and deduction of pay make adults struggle for a common decision within a given frame of strict rules and limitations Reflections and possible problems of the group - emotional instability within the group cultural differences anger and discouragement inside the group Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 37 Arrangement to be marked on the floor: Facilitator sits here Exit Start here 38 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Raising Awareness on Safe Sex By Elaine and Luk Yan, Ziteng, Ziteng, a Hong Kong based sex workers' organisation about the work "The selling of sexual services, one of the longest surviving professions in the world, has long been dismissed and discriminated against. Sex workers, with women the majority; have been deprived on their basic and rightful rights that other workers in other professions are entitled to. They are facing the exploitation of the pimps, the violence of the customers, not to mention the risk of all kinds of sexually transmitted diseases. They have been denied by society at large, living a life with no human rights and dignity" (source: flyer of Ziteng). Ziteng has a staff of three people. They make street work and sometimes even bang the doors of the women, workshops are not so well attended. First of all Ziteng has to establish trust. They have to speak the language of the target audience otherwise they lose interest. Sometimes they even speak about pets, families i.e. for having a contact point. Ziteng tries to open a dialogue on the behaviour of customers but also on working conditions of the sex workers like their health situation. What is the situation of sex workers in Hong Kong? Sex workers are in a vulnerable situation, even police takes their money, and they are not protected by them at all. In some areas women are even arrested by police if they carry condoms. They are discriminated by society and need more legal protection. Sex workers are also victimised by their customers although it is not seen as rape according to law. The aim of the work is, - to protect sex workers from violence - to protect them of unsafe sex practices i.e. oral sex without condoms - to teach them their legal rights Sex workers have to pleasure both sides and make also the customer happy about their practice. That is one of the reasons why Ziteng has to teach methods how to use condoms in a more joyful way, so the customers are more willing to use condoms. Sex workers have to inform the customer beforehand, but if he is drunk, the sex worker has to make him at least feel happy. They are mostly not concerned about health but Ziteng has to pay attention for the health of the women workers. Why is this topic a question of workers' education? In fact they are (sex) workers like in Macau but they don't have the same rights, because sex/prostitution is a taboo to speak about. I. Play a game of dialogue: audience and facilitator Aim: to break a taboo and learn to talk about sexuality Method: the audience is divided into two groups who compete with one another. The facilitator chose in advance a number of words and drawings which are related to sexuality and writes them on the board. Within five seconds the groups have to react and tell other associated terms in their language. The group with the most associated terms will win a price. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 39 Examples of chosen words and associated terms of the participants: 1. Make love - sex intercourse, go to bed, sleeping, lose virginity 2. Vagina - private part, triangle area, flower, woman's organ 3. Oral sex - trumpet or flute blowing; cigar smoking; sucking, blowing, licking 4. Penis - bird, little brother, hammer 5. Premature ejaculation - you can't do it, misfire, sending out newspaper, early blossom, half mast The price for the participants: a banana and a condom for each participant, which is used in the following demonstration II. Demonstration of the facilitators: How to use a condom One male participant was asked to show the usage of a condom with the banana Facilitator gives certain instructions: - open the condom gently - pay attention: the condom has two sides; where is the bottom and where is the top? - role it slowly down the banana, do it gently Now the whole audience has to practice it. Second demonstration from the facilitator: She blows the condom with her mouth, in order to show how a condom can be used for oral sex. Reason: We know that a lot of men don’t like to use the condom because it is no satisfaction for them. That is why we introduced this method especially for oral sex but also as a second choice to put it on. 40 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Educational Programmes on Occupational Health and Safety By Juliana So Lai Wa, Women Worker OSH Education Centre, Guangzhou The concern of the work is to help workers who have occupational health and safety problems (OHS) to find a strategy, to plan action, to find a lawyer in order to get their compensation. The centre formed a group of concerned workers to take up their issues Background According to Chinese law labourers are allowed to go to hospital because of occupational health diseases, but a diagnosis as a case of OHS is hard to get. As patients in the hospital in Guangzhou are men and women (50:50) the centre works also with male patients. Although most victims are very young in the beginning of their twenties or even younger they suffer from chemical hazards (poisoning), ear problems (noisy surrounding) or other problems. Most of them worked in shoe, plastic or electronic factories before. I. Workshop A Song for introduction and warming-up “Left shoulder – shake Right shoulder - shake Shake, shake, shake No more pain” 2nd verse about “hands” 3rd verse about “body” Songs are used for educational work in order communicate to with patients and to raise their consciousness. For example one very sad song was written by a patient about the life of a migrant worker coming for seasonal work to Guangzhou. The lyric starts from spring the departure time to Guangzhou and covers the whole year. Role plays are used in the OHS-hospital for workers’ education - to raise awareness among workers as actors and the audience (here patients of the hospital): how to prevent dangerous situations and poisoning in the future - to discuss problems related to working conditions in the factories in order to find possible solutions even for desperate situations (like common cases of self suicide) - to become more self-confident and solve the problems properly An example of one role play on the problem of self suicide: One of the patients plays the role of a worker who tries to get his money back from the boss in threatening him with self suicide because the worker didn’t get his wages for months. Other patients take different roles: a journalist, who likes to spread the exciting news; a policeman who tries to arrest the worker whereas others stand in a crowd and comment on the event. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 41 Role plays like this are used to explain the situation of migrant workers who got the hardest job without but no payment. It shows the unprotected and vulnerable situation of workers like him: “I have no influence, no knowledge, that is why I want to threaten the boss, but I don’t want to die.” The audience discuss about his situation and possible solutions: - It is his own problem, just let him do. There are so many cases like him. - He will create problems for the business - Where shall he go? Whom he can approach? In the end the worker made up and changed his mind finally: “I don’t want to make a show for you. I’ll try to find another way to solve the problem.” Advantages of role play - a role play is a better way than a lecture to reach and involve the audience a role play is useful in order to talk about one’s own problems a role play is useful as a training method like for gender issues and domestic violence cases Group game: blind man’s buff Patients walk in small groups with blind eyes in a row behind one group leader in the garden of the hospital and have to overcome certain obstacles. Aim of the game a. b. c. d. To share common experiences To build trust among the group To take responsibility for the group members To raise consciousness that they successfully can act together in a team But it is difficult to evaluate the concrete output of the training as games are more long-term oriented. II. OHS -Trainings for shoemaking companies Adidas, Nike and Reebok 1. Investigation for OHS-training on risks of workplace/ assembly line inside the factories with the support and permission of the company management. The money for the training comes form the concerned companies and from a US-foundation - together with 4 Hong Kong based NGOs - training with workers on body consciousness to raise awareness of workers to pay more attention to their working environment 2. Organising a committee on OHS 3. after 4 months education centre goes back to the factory to evaluate if the situation improves Q&A: Questions of the workshop participants 1. How do you reach the workers? We do mostly training of the trainers for example 20 people of one factory are trained on OHS and they should present their experiences to their colleagues 2. How to spread the news and how to raise consciousness inside the factory? You need the support of the management to spread the news and information; they advertise the OHS programmes and recommend to us the workers who should take part. 3. You went to the big factories, but how about the smaller ones? 42 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC We also do training in Industrial Zones and communities but with different effects. 4. The close cooperation to the management is it really worthwhile for workers’ training? I don’t see that as the best way because it has also many traps. 5. Isn’t it the duty of the government to protect the workers’ health? We promote the labour law but in fact the government cannot cover such a big / huge area. They mostly raise/propagate only slogans. Working Condition Arrangements and Labour Occupational Health and Safety By Liu, Wan-Ling, Ching-Jen Labour Health & Safety Service Center, Taiwan Starting from official classification of statistics for occupational diseases by Taiwan authority. - Types of accidents: falling, hitting, nipping, exposing to contamination, electrical shocks, explosion and inappropriate operation. - Equipment: power machine, loading and unloading machine, equipments of pressure vessel, chemical or electric and other mechanisms, building under construction, equipments for construction materials, environment. - Different types of injury on the body: head, face, neck, shoulder These classifications only show the physical or chemical factors but do not highlight any social factors. The issue of occupational health and safety arises from the relationship between employees and employers. Therefore, the issue of occupational health and safety has to be dealt taking into account the relationship between Labour and capital, or the arrangements of other working conditions. Why is it necessary to discuss the arrangements of working condition? - What is Labour: Labour means people who use their capacity of work (working ability) to earn a wage for living without any capital or means of production - Working ability is a buyable commodity but it can’t be separated from a worker’s physical ability to work. Therefore capitalists are under obligation to ensure the health and safety of workers in addition to the payment for their labour. Working ability should not be treated as disposable stuff or a cheap commodity that can be thrown away when its use is exhausted. That is why there are pension, dismissal wage (redundancy pay) and compensation designed in the statute of the legislature. - For capitalists, because the money should be paid under the market price for materials, land and factories, the easiest way to reduce the cost is to lower the salary or demand more products under the same pay. Therefore, the arrangements of working conditions are set differently to lower costs and problems of health and safety of workers occurring accordingly. The relation between arrangement of working condition and occupational health & safety Wage 1. Piece-work: The premise that more work will increase the salary of the worker is not true. In fact, piece work causes more competition among workers, and strengthens the Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 43 intensity of hard work. Sometimes the normal working procedures are not followed due to the competition to get the job done and the ratio of accidents therefore increases. The increased production of products causes the decrease in unit price, so the real wage remains in a relative level. Paying by the job is in fact paying by time 2. Profit allotting: Money earned is directly proportional to jobs - no job, no money. The products are sold under the price, the money earned from the sale is then allotted in proportion for both parties of labour and capital. The way to calculate wage is the same as the way to calculate work. Workers are affected directly from the price war in the market for products. The capitalists pay only for the cost of labour and they don’t like to secure the reproduction of labour force (workers themselves physically). 3. Low base pay plus efficiency bonus plus over-time pay: according to the ten year statistics from 1989 to 1998, the average normal working hours in Taiwan manufactures have been decreased from 190.2 to 182.6 per month, however over-time working hours have been increased from 13.4 to 15.5 per month. The statistics show how serious the situation had been for workers to be called back to work, which added heavier burden to workers and increased the rate of accidents in workplace. Piece-work bonus and overtime: all those ploys are designed to induce workers to work more, which causes competition for bonus among workers. The tricks also undermine the solidarity of workers and deprive their consciousness. Working hours 1. Flexible working hours and flexible holidays. Flexible working hours are allowed in the Labour law in Taiwan. The normal working hour is at least one day off every week, and 8 working hours per day. Now it can be changed in two weeks, even two months as long as the total working hours does not overrun the limit by regulation. However, under such a changeable time schedule, there are days where there will be more than 8 hours of work per day without over-time pay and the holidays are varied. It is in favour of those representing capital for a flexible adjustment to output; it saves money for them and gives the flexibility to their production plan. 2. Fixed night shift: the natural biological timing and family/social life have to be adjusted in accordance with the night shift. 3. Shift work: If work has to be in shifts namely (day to night, night to day in turn ), the human body needs one or two weeks to get adjusted, so the time for turning one shift to another should not be too short, otherwise it will be hard for workers to adapt. 4. Jobs at night open to female workers. It weakens the protection to female workers since they also take traditionally the responsibility for domestic work and care for kids. If jobs at night open to female workers, they will face the conflicts as they are burning the candle from both sides. The flexibility of working hour demands workers to adapt accordingly. It causes trouble to their routine, both in their family and community; It adds burden to workers’ shoulders biologically and psychologically. The arrangements in the process of production and workplace 1. Tailor-made assembly line: De-technology (it is easy to be replaced by cheap labour force); repeating motions (liability to occupational disease); boring task (lack of value and achievements). 44 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 2. Density of production lines and machinery: in a limited working space, if the density of production lines and machine is high, it worsens the working environment with noise, radiation, dust and the high concentration of chemical solvent. 3. Protecting measures: For capitalists, it cannot make profits for taking protecting steps in terms of workers’ interests, so they prefer to ignore these measures. The capitalists make arrangements for work and work place based on the consideration of cutting down the pay down and making more profit. Pay for job and low basic salary are reasons that cause accidents and improper movements of workers in the work place. Relationship between employers and employees 1. Informal contractual workers: no job security, compensation for occupational disasters is not secured, no place to voice their complaints about occupational diseases. 2. Small-and-medium sized enterprises, general contractors and sub-contractors: Working conditions are very bad. Lack of security for Labour rights plus intensity of hard work, working overtime is inevitable, high risks of occupational disasters, false consciousness as independent contractors Accidents have happened frequently because of the lack of equipment and technology, (e.g.) many accidents caused by sub-contractors in the Chinese Petroleum Company. New technology New technology = progress? → automation - unemployment! 1. Workers should share the achievements of new technology in the society if this new advancement of technology represents human progress. 2. The issue of Occupational health and safety should be included into new technology, because there might be some potential elements for new occupational disasters, such as unknown occupational disease caused by new chemicals. Two examples from western countries - Technology Bill of Rights by International Association of Machinists (see appendix). The provision on use of new technology should be part of the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) between employers and workers, through their trade unions and bargaining units. Trade unions and workers have the right after a pilot project to vote down the change in the process of production. - VOLVO Uddevalla in Sweden from 1989 to 1992: Humanizing the manufacturing process. When the workers lacked of values and switched around in high ratio, alongside with the pressure by Labour movement and support from left wing social democracy party in the government to improve the situation, VOLVO Uddevalla changed process of production and improved it as a more humane one. The Taylorist assembly line had been changed into group work, technology as an substitute means for production: the way of playing a supporting role, cooperating with workers. It was called ergonomics. A detailed account, see Christian Berggren , Alternatives to Lean Production -- Work Organisation in the Swedish Auto Industry, 1992, Ithaca: ILR Press Conclusion Labour health and safety is not only the issue in terms of physical chemistry technology. To discuss occupational health and safety has to do with other working conditions of labour, so that the connection between employees and employers can be seen clearly. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 45 Appendix: The International Association of Machinists’ Technology Bill of Rights On April 30, and May 1, 1981, William Winpisinger, then president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), AFL-CIO, hosted the IAM Scientists and Engineers Conference in New York City. It was chaired by Seymour Melman, Professor of Engineering and Operations Research at Columbia University. The purpose of the event was to bring social scientists from major universities and engineers from large manufacturing corporations into direct dialogue with each other and with top IAM officials and rank and file members, an attendance of about forty people in all. Their assignment was to examine what was happening to the nature of work and employment as the mechanized forms of automation get replaced by those involving computers and robots. The Technology Bill of Rights was produced as a direct result of the conference. Beyond circulation given the bill directly by the IAM staff, it was also published in the quarterly journal democracy (Sheldon Wolin, Ed.) New York, Spring 1983, pp. 25-27. International Association of Machinists Congress hereby amends the National Labour Relations Act, Railway Act, and other appropriate Acts to declare a national Labour policy through a New Technology Bill of Rights: 1 Technology shall be used in a way that creates jobs and promotes community-wide and national full employment. 2 Unit Labour cost savings and Labour productivity gains resulting from the use of new technology shall be shared with workers at the local enterprise level and shall not be permitted to accrue excessively or exclusively for the gain of capital, management, and shareholders. Reduced work hours and increased leisure time made possible by new technology shall result in no loss of real income or decline in living standards for workers affected at the local level. 3 Local communities, the states, and the nation have a right to require employers to pay a replacement tax on all machinery, equipment, robots, and production systems that displace workers and cause unemployment, thereby decreasing local, state, and federal revenues. 4 New technology shall improve the conditions of work and shall enhance and expand the opportunities for knowledge, skills and compensation of workers. Displaced workers shall be entitled to training, retraining, and subsequent job placement or re-employment. 5 New technology shall be used to develop and strengthen the U.S. industrial base, consistent with full employment goals and national security requirements, before it is licensed or otherwise exported abroad. 6 New technology shall be evaluated in terms of workers safety and health and shall not be destructive of the workplace environment, nor shall it be used at the expense of the community’s natural environment. 7 Workers, through their trade unions and bargaining units, shall have an absolute right to participate in all phases of management deliberations and decisions that lead or could lead to the introduction of new technology or the changing of the workplace system design, work process, and procedures for doing work, including the shutdown or transfer of work, capital, plants, and equipment. 8 Workers shall have the right to monitor control room centres and control stations, and the new technology shall not be used to monitor, measure or otherwise control the work practices and work standards of individual workers at the point of work. 9 Storage of an individual worker’s personal data and information file by the employer shall be tightly controlled, and the collection and/or release and dissemination of information with respect to race, religion, or political activities and beliefs, records of physical and mental health disorders and treatment, records of arrests and felony charges or convictions, information concerning internal and private family matters, and information regarding an individual’s financial condition or credit worthiness, shall not be permitted, except in rare circumstances related to health, and then only after consultation with a family or union-appointed physician, psychiatrist, or member of the clergy. The right of an individual worker to inspect his or her personal file shall at all times be absolute and open. 10 When the new technology is employed in the production of military goods and services, workers, through their trade unions and bargaining agents, have a right to bargain with management over the establishment of Alternative Production Committees, which shall design ways to adapt that technology to socially useful production in the civilian sector of the economy. David F. Noble, Progress without People --In Defense of Luddism, 1993:127-129, Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company. 46 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Asia Pacific Workers’ Education Practitioners Exchange Programme --Workers' Education in the 21st Century: Challenges & Opportunities-21 – 23 September 2003 20 Sept. 2003 (Sun) - Arrival and Welcome Dinner 21 Sept. 2003 1:30 – 2:00 Welcome Address by Organisers and Co-organisers • Mr. Apo Leong, Executive Director, Asia Monitor Resource Centre • Ms. Mabel Au, Co-ordinator, Committee for Asian Women • Mr. Chan Wai Chi, Executive Director, Macao Association of for the Rights of Labourers 2:00 – 3:30 Introduction (Annie Luk) • By participants • Leveling of expectations • Overview of programme (why, what, how) • Housekeeping and logistics 3:30 – 4:30 Workers Education: A View from a Popular Educator (Rita Kwok, Social Work Dept., Baptist College, Hong Kong) 4:30 – 4:45: BREAK 4:45 – 5:45 Demonstrating/Sharing of Experiences on Methods of Workers Education • Case study/discussion (Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, Thai Labour Service and Training Centre) • Using literacy as an entry-point for labour rights education (So Sheung, Labour Education and Service Network, HK) 5:45 – 6:30 Workers Education in China: Challenges and Experiences Women Development and Rights Study Center, Xian Global Alliance for Workers and Communities, Guangzhou Qingdao Workers Hotline Service 7.00: DINNER 22 Sept. 2003 (Mon) 9:00 – 9:45 Introduction (Chan Lean Heng, University Science Malaysia) • Group profiling • Overview of Day’s programme • Comments and insight from first day • Housekeeping and announcements 9:45 – 10:45 Educational work with informal sector workers (Pratibha D. Pandya, Self Employed Women’s Association, India) Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 47 10:45 – 11:45 Gender Sensitization of Women Workers (Parat Nanakhorn, Thai Labour Organiser and Mabel Au, Committee for Asia Women ) 11:45 – 12:00 BREAK 12:00 – 1:00 Raising Awareness on Safe Sex (Elaine and Yuk Lan, Ziteng, HK) 1:00 – 2:30 LUNCH 2:30 – 2.45 ENERGISERS 2:45 – 3:45 Educational Work of Korean Women Union (Park Namhee, Korean Women’s Trade Union) 3:45 – 4.45 Reaching out to Women Workers in Malaysia (Irene Xavier, Electronics Women Workers Association, Malaysia) 4:45 – 5:00 BREAK 5:00 – 7:00 Storytelling DIY as a Method (Yuen Che Hung, No Hurry Story Workshop, HK) 7:30 DINNER 9:00 – 10.30 Video and discussion on “DUST and DOLLS” 23 Sept. 2003 (Tue) 9:00 – 9:45 Introduction (Chan Lean Heng, University Science of Malaysia) • Music and movements • Overview of Day’s programme • Comments and insight from first day • Housekeeping and announcements 9.45 – 10.45 Demonstrating/Sharing Educational Programmes on Occupational Health and Safety • From Taiwan (Liu Wan Ling, Ching-Jen Labour Health & Safety Service Centre, Taiwan) • From South China (Juliana So, Women Worker OSH Education Centre, Guangzhou) 10:45 – 11:00 BREAK 11:00 – 12:00 Small Group Discussion on Issues, Challenges and Opportunities in Workers Education 12:00 – 1:00 Report Back 1:00 – 2.30 LUNCH 2:30 – 2:45 ENERGISERS 2:45 – 3:45 Evaluating Workers Education Programmes (Annie Luk) 3.45 – 4.45 Synthesis and Input (Chan Lean Heng, University Science of Malaysia) 5:00 – 6:30 Evaluation (of this workshop) and Closure 48 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Expectations and Evaluation By Annie Luk Expectations of English speaking participants To learn from other experiences - about workers' educational material and programmes (techniques and content from each country), - how to organise and educate workers - to learn demonstration of labour education games - to learn new forms of interaction To share experiences with each other - of organising women workers in various countries To explore - chances for co-operation and further interactions with participating persons and other NGOs Expectations of Chinese speaking participants To learn - about different conditions, experiences and challenges of labour education in the Asian Pacific Region - how to design teaching materials for labour education - how to do training for women workers - training skills in labour education, learn about different methods - new training methods in education - more games and activities, learn better – eat better – play better Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 49 To share - experiences in labour education with other organisations - and exchange in wider range of topics, learn from friends their working experiences, - the results of the conference and find solutions to the problems To become - more lively in future labour education in China To establish - a network for labour education to enhance our own standard in training and join efforts in labour education General expectations - help workers to gain more rights - hope young workers will concern more about the work and life situation and problems - hope the SAR government will take serious the problem of „black market labour“ (illegal workers) and of unemployment hope employers will no longer deprive workers of their rights and benefits - promote labour rights together, to awake the consciousness of the government and top investors Evaluation as a Method A real evaluation process at the end of an event can: ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ help people consolidate their learning strengthen a sense of solidarity put closure to a group experience provide helpful suggestion for improving a course suggest appropriate follow-up to the course be instructive to the leadership about their memberships’ needs, desires, views and awareness. The purpose will shape the kind of evaluation you use at the end of the programme. We would like participants to take this collective experience and apply it in their work. That’s why, we try, whenever possible, to bring closure to an educational process and to follow up as much as the organisation and our own time allow. Our concern with evaluation and follow-up isn’t technical. It is an evaluation by impact. Written evaluation A written evaluation is important for detail, for follow-up ideas, and for building up support for education in the union. 50 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Evaluation by impact New understanding, feelings New knowledge gained from the workshop New skills we can use in our work Ask participants to draw their head, heart, feet on a paper, using markers. Ask them to record new ideas they learned on the head, new feelings on the heart, and new action ideas or skills they can use on the feet. Use words or visuals to describe their learning. Source: Adapted from Marsha Sfeir, a Toronto educator Evaluation of the Workshop Written Evaluation Summary For the programme, 11 participants rated the programme over average (rated above 6). The programme was rated in terms of able to participate, learning from others and taking away new ideas. Regarding the logistics, majority of our participants found the accommodation, venue and meals satisfactory for 10 participants rated above 7. However, some expressed better logistics would save time. Definitely, there are rooms for improvement. Most participants found the workshop was helpful in terms of skills and new ideas. Participatory learning methods, discussions and sharing experiences are found as best learning format. Some participants felt the workshop should be more focussed and the workshop would be better if more information was given. Need assessment was suggested as a significant process before the training would be conducted. Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 51 Suggestions for a follow-up were the following - to publish a detailed report of this workshop - next training on certain topic, method and content i.e. workshop on module writing - to follow-up the implementation, activities conducted by participants - to develop a series of activities related to the focus of the workshop (action plan) - to run an exchange/study programme between organisations to deepen the experience - to enquire on educational materials of each organisation Evaluation by impact English speaking audience: New knowledge (see head!) - informations about East Asian groups’ activities and spirits is impressive - educator = learner - education is more than mere talking: take action with care and be true to your own humanity - story telling as a method - popular education method - know how friends from China work - necessity of clear instruction for trainings New feeling (see heart!) - togetherness mixed feeling = tiredness relaxed warm feeling impressed by the intellectual level of the participants more solidarity with China diversity of people who participated New skills (see feet!) - 52 reflection of your work as an organiser and a union leader is needed better communication skills acquired new techniques for training and workers' education story telling new co-operative games and activities to make participants open minded Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Chinese speaking audience New knowledge (see head!) - sharing of experiences of India, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong on labour education - knowledge about other organisations’ situation and development - deeper understanding of the difficulties, challenges and opportunities of labour education - interactive learning methods - labour education meaningful for learning, empowerment and change New feeling (see heart!) - though lots of difficulties and challenges, but also lots of opportunities commitment on worker’s education more and more support in doing worker’s education learn how to communicate, how to build up a team, how to start activities respect every individual, because these individuals make our existence become meaningful respect heart to heart communication communication by story telling: being equal, interactive and having respect games can help to create an atmosphere of learning feel and think the same as workers (by story telling method) Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 53 New skills (see feet!) - various kinds of training methods and forms of expressions, teamwork visualising as a method: outline of a body for gender training and OHS; river of life, to look at turning points of someone’s life all forms of games as a tool for education: games to warm up, co-operative games to make participants open minded storytelling as a method opening workers’ mind and soul using media as a tool for communication education Resources: Useful Links Asia Monitor Resource Centre See Webpage: www.amrc.org.hk Korean Women’s Trade Union (KWTU) See Webpage: http://kwunion.jinbo.net The Centre for Labour Information Service and Training (CLIST) See Webpage: www.workers-voice.org Committee for Asian Women (CAW) See Webpage: http://caw.jinbo.net Self employed Women’s Association (SEWA) See Webpage: www.sewa.org Ziteng - Sex Workers Organisation See Webpage: http://ziteng.org.hk Ching-Jen Labour Health & Safety Service Center Taiwan See Webpage: www.catholic.org.tw/ cicm/cicm_works/Chingjen 54 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Available Media I Always Dream of Tomorrow Korean Women Workers Associations United and the Korean Women’s Trade Union Production: 2001; VHS; 38 min; Korean with English dubs and subtitles This short film is unusual in that workers’ voices predominate. It addresses the problem of the latest and growing investment wheeze to transfer workers’ status from formal to informal – this saves money big time, as the film goes on to show. The film begins by telling us that informal workers suffer severe discrimination, which bosses get away with because irregular workers are always in fear of dismissal. It tells us that half of South Korea’s workers are now informally employed, and that 70 percent of these are women of all ages. Informal workers interviewed include golf caddies, private academy instructors, dispatched clerical workers, contracted cleaners, ‘script writers’, and cooks. Such a variety of jobs working informally shows that irregular working can now be forced on almost any kind of workforce. The interviews immediately show the problems that all these workers have in common – job insecurity, easy dismissal procedure, no insurances for unemployment or health, no pensions, no severance pay, long hours, minimum wages, erratic and irregular employment on an asand-when basis, and more. The film has many interesting insights; it shows that those employed informally as script writers are actually doing many other jobs, including that of producer. Flexibility is being forced on many groups of workers, but with irregulars, managers can get away with it by threatening to hire other workers if anybody complains. A particularly dramatic part of the film shows workers at 88 Country Club, a golf club, demonstrating for reinstatement after caddies who joined a union were all sacked. We see managers (all men) shoving, prodding, and yelling at the caddies (all women), clearly upsetting the workers who however remain defiant in tears, and complain loudly about the Ministry of Labour failing to enforce its Labour Standards Act. And finally we hear that 88CC management backs down, reinstates the women, and promises to bargain collectively with the union. This film is definitely worth watching. Review from Ed Shepherd, AMRC Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 55 Committee for Asian Women (CAW): Video Dolls and Dust A Video Documentary on the Impact of Economic Restructuring on Asian Women Workers Dolls and Dusts provides a forum for women workers in three sub regions of Asia (i.e. Sri Lanka, Thailand and South Korea) to communicate in their own voices and in their own languages about the impact of industrial restructuring, globalisation and 'mal(e)-development' on their lives, communities and the environment. Videographed by Wayang, 1998, 45 Minutes, English PAL version The following 14 Asian language versions of the video (with sub titles and / or narration) are also available: Thai (Thailand & Laos), Singhala (Sri Lanka), Japanese, Korean, Cantonese (Hong Kong & Macau), Mandarin (Taiwan & Singapore), Putonghua Chinese ( China), Hindi ( India), Bengali(Bangladesh), Urdu ( Pakistan), Nepali ( Nepal), Bahasa (Indonesia, Brunei & Malaysia), Tagalog ( Philippines) and Khmer ( Cambodia). Dolls and Dusts Manual The manual not only examines the impact of industrial restructuring on women workers, but also includes analyses and perspectives of certain Asian thinkers and activists besides women workers about "globalisation," about "globalisation and gender division of labour" as well as "strategies to wage for change". December 2000, 240pp. 56 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Other sources Health and Safety Workshop, Edited by: Labour Occupational Health Programme (LOHP) and Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network, China 2001 (in English and Chinese); 500 pages Contents of the teaching module: - What is Occupational Health? - Chemical Hazards - Occupational Exposure Limits - Controlling Chemical Hazards - Noise - Stress - Ergonomics - Other Safety Hazards - Occupational Safety & Health Laws /China - Effective Communication - Health & Safety Committees - Inspection Checklists - Training Others: Lesson Plan For copies in English: LOHP , University of California, Berkeley 2223 Fulton Street, 4th Floor Berkeley, California 94720-5120, United States Tel: (510) 643-3271 Or (510) 642-5507 www.lohp.org For copies in Chinese: Chinese Working Women Network (CWWN) Tel: (825) – 2781 – 2444 (Hong Kong) For further Information look at: Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network www.igc.org/mhss Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 57 Helping Health Workers Learn David Werner and Bill Bower Publisher: The Hesperian Foundation, 1982; 12th reprint 2001 (ISBN 0-942364-10-4) This book is a collection of methods, aids, and ideas to stimulate the imagination, written in clear basic English, for use by village instructors, including those with a limited formal education. It contains hundreds of drawings and photographs to illustrate and emphasise key points. Ideas in the book are based on 16 years of experience with a village run health programme in Mexico. One section is aimed at helping health workers learn how to use the health care handbook Where There Is No Doctor by David Werner. The focus of the book is educational rather than medical, and has been written especially for instructors and health workers who identify with the working people and who feel that their first responsibility is to the poor. Rather than trying to change people’s attitudes and behaviour, this community-based approach tries to help people analyse and change the situation that surrounds them. Enquiries: Hesperian Foundation, 1919 Addison Street, Suite 304, Berkeley, California 94704, USA; P.O. Box 11577, Berkeley , California 94712-2577 USA, Tel: (510)845-4507 FAX (510) 845-0539 e-mail: bookorders@hesperian.org www.hesperian.org Education for Changing Unions Bev Burke, Jojo Geronimo, D’Arcy Martin, Barb Thomas, Carol Wall Publisher: Between The Lines, Toronto 2002 (ISBN 1-896357-67-X) This book is written by five labour educators with diverse experiences but whose common ground is that popular education is about transformation. Their aim for this book is to engage in a learning experience that can enlighten new union recruits as well as veteran union educators. One third labour education tool kit, one third autobiography, and one third reflective conversation on the craft of union education, the book engages readers in an exploration of designing and delivering education for transformation. The authors are honest about discussing some of the more difficult educational situations that they have encountered, including mistakes they have made, and what they have learned from all this. This book is a collective writing project that develops Educating for a Change, published in 1991, whose five authors included three of the authors here. 58 Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC Education for Changing Unions intentionally plays with the word ‘changing’, and celebrates the unions that use education as a strategy for change and offers tools and strategies to further their work. The book is divided into three parts, the first of which looks at education as a job within the union context. Part 2 looks at union education as a craft and how to design courses, programmes, and their key elements, including activities that experienced educators will turn to first for new ideas and activities. Part 3 discusses how education can develop democracy and participation in unions. Enquiries: Between the Lines, 720 Bathurst Street, Suite 404, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2R4, Canada; www.btlbooks.com Workers’ Education in the 21st Century - AMRC 59