WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WORKERS EDUCATION IN A CHANGING WORLD
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- WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? WORKERS EDUCATION IN A CHANGING WORLD
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CONSPIRACY OF TH£ CURIOUS
Salsa blaring
Over Sri Lankan lawns,
As conscious romantics
Sandpaper ideas,
Shape our tools.
Tigers with wings
Share programs, principles
And paper cuts,
Crystallize over arrack
Sandinista urgency
In air fares
And a kaleidoscope of words.
Is it time?
Brush
The mud off our nourishment,
Harvest
Crisp apples and pineapples.
Decide
To smile together
Into the salty breeze,
Work
To defy together
The engineers of shame.
D'Arcy Martin
Colombo, October 1986.
i
REPORT OF
THE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
ON
WORKERS
EDUCATION IN A5IA
COLOMBO .OCTOBER 23-27,1986
G> sponsored by
International Council for Adult Education
Asian & South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education
National Association for Total Education CSrilanKa)
Sarvodaya Shramdana
Sangamaya
Sri LanKa Foundation Institute
PREFACE
AN INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON WORKERS EDUCATION IN ASIA was
organised at The Srilanka Foundation Institute in Colombo
during October 23-27,
1986.
Jointly sponsored by
International Council for Adult Education, ASPBAE, National
Association for Total education, Srilanka, Sarvodaya
Sangadhama Sangamaya and the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute,
the seminar was attended by 65 participants from 34
countries of the world. The seminar was largely focused on
learning about the context of workers and worker education
in Asia and evolving a more detailed programme for the
Council on worker education. As a result, grass-root
worker educators from Asian countries were invited to be
the key participants in the seminar. Others from other parts
of the world, members of ICAE Executive Committee and
representatives of ASPBAE Region-I associations also joined
in the seminar to learn about the experiences of worker
educators in Asia.
The seminar was structured to provide an opportunity for
discussing the context in which the workers Q?iA
in
different Asian countries and focusing specially on workers
in the unorganised sectors like construction, plantation,
rural workers, workers in the free trade zones, and women
workers. Through a series of presentations, case studies and
small group discussions, a rich analysis was evolved which
provided the basis to deliberate on the broad contours of a
future programme on worker education which the ICAE could
support.
This report is an attempt to pull together various issues
discussed during the seminar as well as outline the key
elements of the future programme on worker education. The
key facilitators of the seminar were Ganesh Pandey from
India, D'Arcy Martin from Canada and Rajesh Tandon from
India. This report has been prepared by them and edited by
Rajesh Tandon and published by the SPRIA, New Delhi.
We are grateful to Canadian International Development
Agency, ICAE, ASPBAE, Cebemo, SLFI, Sarvodaya, NATE, Sri
Lanka and many others who have made contributions towards
making this seminar a success.
It is hoped that the spirit and vision generated during the
seminar will be able to guide us through the next more
critical phase of implementing this programme of worker
education.
•••••••••••••••••
Z
THE COUNCIL AND WORKERS' EDUCATION
We are 65 worker activists and adult educators from 36
countries. The majority of us have come from 13 countries of
Asia, but there are also participants from Africa, the
Caribbean, Latin America, the Arabic speaking states, North
America and Europe who have come to learn from the Asian
experience.
There are many ways to describe an international seminar of
this type. One definition which I have heard says that "An
International Seminar is a gathering of people who alone can do
nothing but together can decide that nothing can be done."
1 am, of course, more optimistic than that, but recognize the
complex web of local, national and international forces which
face worker educators. The worker educator in this way is like
the Architect whom others have written about, "How often she
expends her whole soul, her whole heart and passion to produce
buildings into which she will never enter."
The International Council for Adult Education is an international
non-governmental organization with member associations in 80
countries and six continents. Our members are from major
countries of the North, the South, the East and the West. We
are registered as an NGO on the special list of the International
Labour Organization. We are governed by a General Assembly of
members which meets every four years and a 33 person
Executive Committee which - draws representatives from 29
countries and which meets each year. This year we have just
finished three days of Executive Committee deliberations here in
Sri Lanka. The Secretariat of the ICAE is in Toronto, Canada.
The Secretariat is small, consisting of an international team of
nine full-time people who come from six different countries.
The council is financed through a combination of fees received
from its member association, sales of publications and funding
for projects which comes from a broad and diversified base of
governmental and intermediary agencies located mostly in
Canada and Europe. The single largest contributor is the
Canadian International Development Agency, which accounts for
roughly 30 per cent of an annual budget of USS 1.5 million.
We are, therefore, as international organizations go, small. This
fact plus a philosophical preference for working with other
social movements results in a structure which is diverse, plura
listic and highly flexible. The Council is a place of encounter
for adult educators and popular educators from all parts of the
world and a broad cross-section of social movements such as
Women, Peace and Human Rights, Literacy and, of course,
Labour.
The work of the Council is carried out in a highly decentralised
manner through local and regional associations and networks
which are co-ordinated from different locations in the world.
educational needs of workers and their organisations in each of
our world assemblies in Dar-es-Salaam, Helsinki, Paris and
Buenos Aires.
In October of 1977, the ICAE organised, in co-operation with
the ILO, an International Planning Forum on the Role of
Worker's Organizations and Worker's Education in Integrated
Rural Development in Udaipur, India, which resulted in a
declaration on this subject.
Since 1981, the ICAE has supported a specific program in the
field of workers' education which has had the following
objectives :
The priority programs of the ICAE include :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Workers' Education
Participatory Research
Women's perspectives
Popular education and Primary Health care
Support to National and Regional Adult
Education Associations
Literacy and post-literacy
Participatory Formation of Adult Educators
Adult Education and Peace
1. to stimulate an awareness on the part of the
adult education movement of the special concerns
of workers;
2. to support increased use of and attention to the
educational programs of existing trade unions and
other workers' organizations;
3. to promote workers' education as a central factor
in the struggle for a just and viable world.
OIRKENimiS--
WORK£R5'ED(XATION •
The education of workers has been a central concern of the
ICAE since its founding in 1972. We have discussed the
During the past three days, further clarification has emerged
from our Executive Committee Meetings which I wish to share
with you.
We re-affirm our support and co -operation with the trade union
movement and pledge our universal support for the workers' right
to learn.
isolated and vulnerable; and that we will be reinforced in our
ability to serve the needs of workers everywhere.
I stand in tribute to you.
Our priority attention is directed towards what we understand as
grass root workers' education. By that we refer to the need
for supporting worker educators who work with unorganized
sectors, with small independent trade unions, with rural workers
and women workers.
Within this, our specific concern is on health and safety in the
workplace or field; the links between learning and job security;
and countering the propaganda which blames workers themselves
for their own situations.
Earlier this month, the Women' Program of the ICAE held an
international consultation on "Women and the micro-electronics
industries the educational response" in the Philippines. This
brought together women workers and educational activists from
Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe and North America.
Delegates from that consultation are among you here in this
meeting. All of us are trying to understand the implications of
the increasingly global assembly line.
We welcome all of you to this timely and important
international seminar. We hope that through your discussions and
sharing here during these days that we will find ways to
reinforce the efforts of all of us; that we will share approaches
and methods to organizing and learning; that we will feel less
I salute you who work with little or no pay, shoulder to
shoulder with workers in dusty villages, in hot and poorly
ventilated work places, in conditions of often daily danger and
long term stress.
We may not soon see the culmination of what will be discussed
here these days, but if our work is well conceived and founded
we need not doubt the outcome.
Budd Hall
Secretary-General
International Council for Adult Education
October 24, 1986
CONTEXT OF WORKERS EDUCATION IN ASM
Workers education in Asia is to be situated in a historical
context. Asia is the largest continent and contains more
than half the the population of the world. Many Asian
countries have wide social-economic disparities (for example,
India); many Asian countries are still predominantly rural
societies (this is particularly true of South Asia). After
World War II, several Asian countries adopted the model of
importing capital and technology as the means for the
development of the country. Starting from Taiwan and
Singapore, this model has spread to Malaysia, Indonesia,
Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand as well. Japan, of course,
is a developed country in Asia and so are Australia and New
Zealand. But in many ways, the fates of these workers in
different countries are interlinked, more so today than 40
years ago. The world has become increasingly an
international arena where decisions made some distance away
affect the lives of the people.
Today, countries of Asia are witnessing as well as
experiencing the global crisis. It is this crisis which
provides the context in which we need to understand workers
education, its meaning and its potential.
THE CURRENT CRISIS
"The history of the various efforts in the field of
workers' education is almost as old as the history of the
working class itself. Innumerable individuals and groups
have made sustained and consistent efforts towards the
cause of workers' education. But today working poor are
in danger of losing the few rights and concessions which
they have' won through their struggles.
The present crisis is different from previous crisis in
three important respects. First, it is a world crisis. It has
hit countries and regions with widely differing
socio-economic structures all over the globe. As a
consequence, the prospects for overcoming the crisis in
the context of a national economy have become extremely
bleak.
Secondly, unlike previous economic crisis, this crisis does
not appear to be part of a cycle of boom and bust.
Consequently, we cannot expect the crisis to end
spontaneously in a recovery bringing economic prosperity.
Finally, the current crisis is more than an economic
crisis. The crisis-ridden capitalist order is creating the
conditions for war, and environmental collapse, as well as
the poverty and inequality which typically accompany
economic crises. In this way the crisis is threatening the
very existence of the human race.
— G/WESH PAHDEY
Several aspects of this current crisis need to be mentioned
here briefly.
1.
The last 30 years have seen a phenomenal rise of
multi-national
corporations
and
their
global
operations. These corporations have the tremendous
ability to shift technology and production facility in
search of cheap labour, raw materials, tax concessions
and huge profits anywhere in the world. For example, as
wages and technology rise in the countries of the
North, multinational corporations shift their operations
to the countries of the South. These corporations have
tremendous economic resources at their disposal and
have also tried to influence national politics in many
developing countries of the world. They have been able
to secure free trade zones in the third world countries
which are provided by the host governments to
facilitate the operations of export oriented business
enterprises. Where the multi-nationals operate with
impunity, the working class faces tremendous pressures
and their rights are highly curtailed. For example,
unionisation in free trade zones is actively
discouraged in all countries of the South as a
concession to these multi-national corporations. It has
now been clearly demonstrated that availability of
foreign capital in developing countries is always
associated with political repression and curtailment of
rights of the workers.
2.
In the last decade, the world is witnessing the growth
of new information and computer technology which is
altering the nature of work, workers and work places
throughout the world. This technology is available
presently to those who are already ahead and largely
controlled by the capital. The implication of the new
technology are still to be discovered by the workers of
the North; so the workers of the South and their
organisations are mostly ignorant about this technology
and its potential implications on their work, their
organisations and their rights.
3.
Militarisation and threat for World Peace is another
consequence of the current global order. Military
budgets are rising in the countries of the South,
production systems in the North are geared towards
Military equipments. Huge resources are being spent on
preparation for war,and peace AxS become endangered. The
nuclear arms race and stockpile has reached unprece
dented levels and threatened the very survival of
human race. The growing militarisation reflects itself
in the small battles and wars which are being fought on
the different borders of the world.
4.
Rapid ecological degradation has been another element
of the present crisis. Massive deforestation has
taken place in the countries of the South and their
produce have been used by countries of the North.
Emissions from industrial plants are threatening
water, air, land and the very survival of large
populations— tribals, fisherfolks, etc. Production of
hazardous products and use of hazardous processess has
become such an unprecedented phenomena that no
government machinery, not even in the North, is able to
regulate these hazardous and dangerous processes.
Pesticide is one classic example. The continued thirst
for profits by multinational corporations and their
allies makes them ignore health hazards at work places
and the environment pollution outside.
5.
Many countries of the South are witnessing massive
migration from rural to urban areas. As land becomes
less and less available in rural areas, as population
increases, as alienation of land takes place, as
unemployment and hunger increase in rural areas, as
more and more investment is made in urban industrial
centres, large populations from rural areas migrate to
urban-industrial centres in search of a living. They
migrate seasonally, they migrate forever; they migrate
alone, they migrate wi,th their entire families. Growing
urbanisation. and increasing slum and shantytowns are
the consequence of this phenomena. It is in this
context that uprooting of workers from rural centres
and joining in urban informal sector economy becomes a
new and crucial phenomenon.
6-
The most important aspect of current scenario is
cultural hegemony and controlling the minds and beliefs
of ordinary workers. A global homogenisation is taking
place such that every worker begins to look and think
alike, such that a worker is led to believe in her/his
inferior capacity, so that he/she agrees to voluntarily
surrender to the unilateral control of the management;
and this view of the worker and their organisations and
their struggles is perpetuated by controlling the
media. As one of the most effective tools for the
control, the control over knowledge, information and
ideas has been used very effectively in recent times to
perpetuate a series of myths about workers, their
capacity, their organisations and their struggles. This
is perhaps the most challenging element of the current
crisis and provides the greatest threat to rational,
critical thinking and reflection by the working class.
WffiS'ftWffl IN5RI LANKA
The present workers' education programmes in Sri Lanka
have drawn inspiration and resources from a number of
soirees and these programmes can be categorised into
four broad groups on the basis of their objectives and
scales of operations:
(1) workers' education programmes conducted by trade
union
(2) non-trade union national workers' education
programmes,
(3) workers' higher education programmes,
(4) international workers' education organisations
operating in Sri Lanka,
(5) (the work of the Worker Educators' Association of
Sri Lanka.
Several of the major TRADE UNIONS conduct systematic
and continuous workers' education programmes. Most of
these programmes however are heavily dependant on
support from sources outside the trade union movement.
In others, workers' education activities are irregular
and sporadic. The great majority of the 1,300 odd
trade unions do not conduct any workers' education
programmes at all.
Though the workers' education programmes conducted by
the trade unions are not widespread some of the best
talents and trained skills on workers' education and
also accumulated experience on trade union affairs are
available within the Trade Union movement itself. This
is partly because of the agitational role the trade
unions have played on socio-economic issues,
especially those affecting labour and partly because
of the support some major Trade Unions have got from
their International allies in training worker
educators.
-DR.D. IMESUV1PERUMA
MEANING OF WORKERS EDUCATION
In discussing workers education, a variety of conceptual and
definitional clarifications became necessary. One of the
first things to define is: Who is a worker? Of course, the
nature of the work force and type of work that has been done
varies from one country to another and one location to
another. But workers are those who are the labouring class,
who are selling their labour and that labour is controlled
by others.
This
includes blue-collar workers and
white-collar workers ; it includes workers in the
plantations, in agriculture, in construction, in factories,
in mines, in offices, in shops ; it also includes workers
who are working in the informal sectors where the nature of
the industry is not fully organised. It includes women
workers, child workers, adult workers; it includes workers
in free trade zones; it includes workers like domestic
servants, sweepers, cleaners, etc. etc. The important thing
is to identify a group of workers as the reference when we
talk about workers education.
Then the question is: What is workers education? and, Workers
education for What? One thing that became very clear was
that workers education has a specific meaning which is
beyond trade union education or education of trade union
leaders, etc. The discussion in the workshop highlighted
three broad categories of workers education:
1. Workers education as it relates to the world of work.
This is where skills needed to perform a certain work are
included; workers knowledge of the work that they have to
perform, the manner in which it has to be performed and the
equipment with which it has to be performed and the
knowledge of work process etc. becomes important.
Another aspect of the workers education in the world of work
relates to understanding how work is organised, how a work
organisation operates, who controls that work organisation,
whaL are the forces in the environment of that work
organisation, essentially an understanding of the world of
work beyond the specific, narrow, limited work that a worker
does. This is where the understanding of the ownership of
means of production, control over them and the manner in
which that control is exercised, is also included.
A third meaning of workers education in the world of work is
for workers to understand their rights as workers — their
rights enshrined in laws of land, their rights enshrined in
such international organisations as ILO; and this includes
not just monetary benefits and opportunities, but also the
rights of workers in respect of influencing the process of
work and the manner.in which it is organised.
Another meaning of workers education in relation to the
world of work which has become increasingly important in the
recent years is the issue of occupational health and safety.
Understanding the sources of disease, ill-health and
accidents that emanate from the process of work itself and
ways by which these can be controlled, minimised and
regulated has become an important component of worker
education in the present context.
And finally, worker education in the world of work also
means understanding how certain forces operate within the
world of work to systematically discriminate against certain
types of workers. This issue has been particularly brought
out around sexism and racism where women workers seem to end
up in low paid, low skilled jobs in an organisation; as
well as ethnic people, coloured people and minorities.
2.
The second meaning of workers education relates to
understanding a meaning of the organisation of workers
and the concept and practice of trade unions. The
importance of collective action by workers, the need for
coming together as trade unions and organisations, the
existing laws and procedures that govern formation and
functioning of trade unions in a given context, the
forces that support or hinder the formation and
functioning of worker organisations, the nature of the
leadership and the manner in which worker s interests
are respresented in workers organisations are some of the
specific meanings of workers education in the
organisation of workers. It was pointed out that workers
control over workers organisations is as important a
purpose of worker education as workers control over
their own labour and work process. Training of workers
and activists to assume important leadership roles in
workers organisations and trade unions is also part of
the meaning of workers education in this category;
3.
Third and broad meaning of workers education is related
to worker in the society and the humanity. This meaning
enjoins workers education to focus its attention on the
living conditions of the workers outside the place of
work. This includes housing, supply of drinking water,
education of children, health care, civil rights, access
to learning and employment opportunities for self and
other members of the family, nature of neighbourhood,
broader concerns and movements in the society. It was
repeatedly argued that this broader meaning of workers
education needs to be remembered in order to ensure that
workers education does not become narrowly defined as
trade union education. It is important for the workers
to understand what are the central problems of the
society they are a part of, what are the causes of those
problems, what are other sectors of society doing — in
a sense a general socioeconomic and political awareness
and their role in transforming that situation.
It was felt that this broader meaning of workers
education will ensure that we look at the contribution
of workers education not just in strengthening workers
Understanding the sources of disease, ill-health and
accidents that emanate from the process of work itself and
ways by which these can be controlled, minimised and
regulated has become an important component of worker
education in the present context.
And finally, worker education in the world of work also
means understanding how certain forces operate within the
world of work to systematically discriminate against certain
types of workers. This issue has been particularly brought
out around sexism and racism where women workers seem to end
up in low paid, low skilled jobs in an organisation; as
well as ethnic people, coloured people and minorities.
2.
The second meaning of workers education relates to
understanding a meaning of the organisation of workers
and the concept and practice of trade unions. The
importance of collective action by workers, the need for
coming together as trade unions and organisations, the
existing laws and procedures that govern formation and
functioning of trade unions in a given context, the
forces that support or hinder the formation and
functioning of worker organisations, the nature of the
leadership and the manner in which worker's interests
are respresented in workers organisations are some of the
specific meanings of workers education in the
organisation of workers. It was pointed out that workers
control over workers organisations is as important a
purpose of worker education as workers control over
their own labour and work process. Training of workers
and activists to assume important leadership roles in
workers organisations and trade unions is also part of
the meaning of workers education in this category;
3.
Third and broad meaning of workers education is related
to worker in the society and the humanity. This meaning
enjoins workers education to focus its attention on the
living conditions of the workers outside the place of
work. This includes housing, supply of drinking water,
education of children, health care, civil rights, access
to learning and employment opportunities for self and
other members of the family, nature of neighbourhood,
broader concerns and movements in the society. It was
repeatedly argued that this broader meaning of workers
education needs to be remembered in order to ensure that
workers education does not become narrowly defined as
trade union education. It is important for the workers
to understand what are the central problems of the
society they are a part of, what are the causes of those
problems, what are other sectors of society doing — in
a sense a general socioeconomic and political awareness
and their role in transforming that situation.
It was felt that this broader meaning of workers
education will ensure that we look at the contribution
of workers education not just in strengthening workers
organisationsand workers rights, but also in supporting
social movements in a given society.
process of workers education can contribute to this
process of valuing of their own experiences, competence,
knowledge, capacity, potential and self-worth. This
becomes particularly important for certain categories of
workers, like illiterate workers, women workers, etc.
PURPOSES
The broader question therefore, is what purpose or purposes
should workers education serve? An answer to this question
obviously depends upon the sociocultural, economic and
political context of a given situation, the type of work
force that one is referring to and the ideology of the
workers educators themselves. But it is possible to list a
series of potential purposes that most workers education
programmes tend to serve, though not all of them may be
served by a single worker education effort. Some of the most
common purposes the workers education efforts seem to serve
3.
A third important purpose seems to be to understand
workers rights and how to protect and advance those
rights. It is here that understanding of various legally
provided rights as workers and constitutionally
enshrined rights need to be understood and ways to
secure those rights and to advance those rights need to
be learnt. Trade union education comes generally under
this purpose because trade unions are seen as vehicles
to secure and advance the rights of the workers.
Understanding the process of collective bargaining with
the
management
or
the
government
and
their
representatives is part of this purpose. Therefore,
understanding the meaning of trade unions and how they
function and enhancing the democratic character of those
trade unions is part of this purpose as well. Increasing
workers control over their own organisations can be an
important purpose of workers education. Most workers
education efforts initiated by trade unions seem to
concentrate under this purpose.
4.
A broader understanding of the societal, national and
international forces and the manner in which they affect
are as follows:
1.
Acquiring necessary skills (vocational, technical,
intellectual) that are needed to become a productive
worker. This is, of course, the most common, pervasive
and simple form of worker education. This is also a form
which is devoid of any political content.
2. Acquiring a sense of self-confidence, a dignity of work
and a positive self-image of being a worker. This is an
important contribution of workers education because most
workers, as a consequence of their continued oppression,
seem to deny themselves any worth, dignity or value. The
the position, the rights and the location of the
workers, the international division of labour and flow
of capital, etc. seem to be contributing towards the
purpose of enhancing the broader understanding of a
worker to begin to play a more historic role in
transforming the society. This purpose of workers
education seems to go beyond mere trade union education or
collective bargaining education and focuses on broader
questions of social justice, equality, democracy, freedom
etc. Efforts in this direction seem to be fewer, and it was
felt that this purpose of workers education also needs to be
understood and emphasised.
It was felt that neither of these purposes are mutually
exclusive and that in fact a comprehensive workers education
progranme must attempt to cover all these purposes in an
integrated and cohesive fashion, situated as it will have to
be in a given socio-political context.
Thus the debate on workers education, its meaning a",J
purposes seems to indicate that the overall contribution of
workers education towards understanding of broader social
issues in a given society and learning mechanisms to deal
with those issues was recognised. It was felt that the
workers education for the liberation of the working class and
z
for the transformation of the entire society was perhaps its
most noble as well as its most important purpose.
A crucial issue for all of us involved in workers'
education is "Who should we be working with?" For the
purposes of education the definition of "worker" must be
broadened to include rural areas, the unemployed and
those
who lack union representation. Traditional
definitions tend to be limited to urban, industrial and
unionized employees, an approach which is obviously too
narrow, especially for the realities of Asia. All labouring
people should be seen as working for capital, and
therefore all of them belong in a sense to the "working
class."
The cultural question is of great importance. Education
should look to the traditions of opposition, protest and
dissent within the cultural history of oppressed people.
Doing this will encourage workers to see the links
between their situation and other sections of society who
have been oppressed and whose rights have been denied.
Similarly, we should remember that cultural backwardness,
for example illiteracy, ignorance and superstition, are
powerful contributors to poverty and lack of development.
In such regions the battle against cultural backwardness is
a necessary condition for any kind of breakthrough.
Workers' education must also broaden the involvement of
workers in their organizations and in a range of struggles.
This is particularly relevant in view of the dominant form
of workers' organizations—the trade unions. Trade unions
have been narrowly focussed on collective bargaining on
wage questions. Labour needs other active social
movements, even to accomplish its own goals. We need to
have "social movement" unions, rather than the "collective
bargaining" unions of today which are becoming totally
ineffective. The labour movement also needs to coordinate
its efforts with groups which are taking up the questions
of women, the environment, peace, human rights, health,
and other issues.
-GAblESH RANDEV
WORKERS EDUCATION IN PRACTICE
The workshop also discussed several concrete examples of
workers education in different Asian countries. Given the
different situations obtaining in different countries of
Asia, three main examples were taken up for detailed
presentation and discussions. The first one related to
workers in the free trade zones. Free trade zones are export
oriented industries that have been operating in Asian
countries since early 60s. Taiwan and Singapore were the
early examples followed by Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc. etc. Hong Kong is in fact
considered as a free trade zone country. The second focus
was on rural workers, in particular plantation workers. A
large percentage of workers in many Asian countries are
still working in rural areas, related to land. Plantation as
a form of land management and ownership employs large number
of workers in countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia
etc. And finally, special focus on women workers was kept in
order to highlight the concerns of women within the working
class. Besides specific case studies, detailed analysis of
the practice of workers education in these three sectors was
done and factors that appeared as obstacles as well as
opportunities in them were identified.
WORKERS EDUCATION IN TREE TRADE ZONES
Two detailed examples of the situation of workers in free
trade zones and the nature of workers education were
presented. The first one related to Penang. Free Trade Zone
in Penang came in 1959. Historically, they have been created
in physically demarcated industrial sites with provision
for cheap infrastructure like land, electricity, water etc.,
building of facilities like roads, storage, and provision of
special tax exemptions for three to five years. Electronics
and textiles/garments have been the two favourite activities
in free trade zones which have traditionally been very
labour intensive and have been dominated by multi-national
corporations. Most factories in free trade zones employ
young women between 18-25 years of age who come from rural
areas in search of jobs. In Malaysia, most of these young
women workers have 6 years of education and are recruited
from their villages to work in these factories. The working
conditions and. wage rates are extremely depressed and
workers are employed in shifts and many of them are asked to
do over-time despite their wishes. While the trade unions
and industrial relations acts provide protection
for workers as well as creation of unions in
Malaysia, there is a lot of effort on behalf of
the management and the government to ensure that
workers do not organise. Even after fifteen years,
the Registrar of Trade Unions in Penang has not
permitted Electrical Unions to organise electronic
workers in the free trade zones.
In Sri Lanka the free trade zones came in 1978 and
again young women workersemployed in large
numbers. According to one estimate, women workers
account for as many as 80% of the total work force
of free trade zones in 1984 in Sri Lanka. The
wage level in free trade zones in Sri Lanka is
said to be the lowest among the,Asian countries.
The wage payment in free trade zone is generally
done on basis of quotas, on piece-rate. Workers
are forced to compete with themselves in the hope
of making a little more money. While the law does
provide for the possibility of unionisation in
free trade zones in Sri Lanka,the experience has
been quite otherwise. One Politex factory strike
in 1980 led to the termination of services of 7
women workers who provided leadership to workers.
Examples of police harassment of workers demanding
their rights and pressure from the state machinery
not to unionise abound in Sri Lanka as well.
The living conditions in free trade zones are abysmal.
Normally the company provides for small rooms as boarding
facilities where 8-20 women huddle together. The boarding
hostels are also controlled by the companies. In Penang,
this has created special problems in terms of access to
women workers because there is no access at the workplace
and also no access in company hostels. In Penang, about 6
years ago, a small effort by some workers themselves, with
the help of a few other sympathisers, has created a Workers
Education Centre where small groups of workers come
together, share their problems, try to understand their
rights and acquire knowledge and confidence to be able to
protect their rights as workers. The Workers Education
Centre has assisted in the struggles of workers around
retrenchment, unionisation and wages. The activities of the
Centre focus around small group events, workshops, cultural
activities so that the workers are able to acquire a sense
of identity. The Centre has helped produce some educational
pamphlets and has also assisted some trade unions in their
educational work. By and large, the Centre has been
operating independent and autonomous of the trade union
movement.
A women's Centre in Sri Lanka has been created by some of
the women workers who were retrenched as a consequence of
their struggle in the free trade zone. Located near the free
trade zone, this Centre helps women understand their rights
and share their experiences and relate to other workers. One
of the key activists of the Centre narrated her experiences
of being a worker in the free trade zone and a worker
organiser/educator.
CRITICAL ASPECTS OF WORKERS EDUCATION IN FREE TRADE ZONES
3.
The excessive overtime and shift type of work in free
trade zones makes it diffucult for workers to have any
regular
free time available in which to pursue their
educational activities. As a result, it becomes very
difficult to bring workers together in a group to engage
in a dialogue or discussion. A related problem is that
attempts to unionise or educate workers in the free
trade zone meet with severe repression from the manage
ments and it is supported by the governments. As a
result, victimisation of organizers, educators takes
place. This means that those initiating this process may
end up supporting victimised organisers. On the other
hand, victimised workers become excellent organisers and
educators in free trade zones as has been demonstrated by
several experiences.
4.
Initially, free trade zones were seen by the workers and
the unions of the North as ways to take away the jobs
from them to the workers in Asian countries. Many of
them have now begun to realise the linkages between
these jobs and the free trade zones and their own jobs
and wages and rights. As a result, it is possible to
develop international linkages with unions and workers
belonging to the same multinational corporation or to
similar industry and create pressure in the North so
that the managements and the owners are forced to follow
a certain minimum wage rate and standard of working
condition in their subsidiaries in the South. This kind
of international linkage can create access to
The situation of workers in free trade zones of the Asian
countries presents special aspects in respect of workers
education. Some of the key aspects are as follows:
1.
2.
Free trade zones are created as a deliberate part of the
development strategy of governments to promote export
and bring foreign exchange. Many multinational companies
are invited to open their factories in free trade zones.
As a result, the governments are very sensitive to any
unionizing or educational work among the workers in free
trade zones. Even the laws are prepared in such a way
that unions and unionization are discouraged in free
trade zones (as in Korea). In other places, where the
law does not discriminate against trade unions, there is
still an active discouragement of unionization in free
trade zones.
As physically separate units, free trade zones create
special difficulty in providing access to educators and
organizers. They are debarred from entering the free
trade zone and very rarely get an opportunity to meet
the workers at their place of work. In many cases, the
workers of free trade zones live together in companyprovided hostels where also there is a great difficulty
in having access. The company buses take the workers
from the hostels to the place of work and back, and thus
make it very difficult to have access to them.
information across various subsidiaries of the same
multi-national as well as provide valuable lobbying
points.
5.
It was generally experienced that the issue of living,
as opposed to working, were very central for the workers
of the free trade zones. General conditions of housing,
health, education, cultural amenities etc. for free
trade zone workers were terrible and these could become
issues around which educational and organisational work
can be initiated. In fact, it was felt that an organisa
tion which focuses on such living concerns like health,
housing, cultural activities, as opposed to wages and
working conditions may be initially allowed to function
by the governments and the employers. Thus welfare
organisations and NGOs or church-related organisations
may be able to have access in the first stage before
more indepth educational and organisational task could
follow.
6.
It was generally felt that the educational methodology
for free trade zones workers has to be innovative and
different. For example, working through the process of
organising free trade zone workers, participating in a
variety of struggles inside and outside the work place,
and raising demands for better housing and cultural
amenities and educational provisions may, in fact, be
the most important educational process for free trade
zone workers than classroom courses which may be
accessible to workers in the organised sectors of the
industry where trade unions have been able to win the
right of paid educational leave and have the infrastruc
ture to organise such courses. In fact, the experience
of the educational work with free trade zone workers
seems to suggest that educational process of workers
needs to be viewed in a broader context than mere
courses and workshops and training programmes. It is the
daily struggle for survival, for collectivisation, for
securing and advancing their rights,
that the
educational process for workers seems to unfold more
dramatically and powerfully.
WORKERS EDUCATION IN PLANTATION SECTOR
Sri Lanka has about half a million plantation workers, and
about half of these are women. About two-third of all
plantations are owned by the state corporations. Plantations
in Sri Lanka came in 1830 with coffee, 1850 with tea, and
rubber in 1870. Plantations now also include coconut, cocoa,
cardqjnum, pepper, etc. Earlier owned by largely British
private plantation owners, the take-over of the plantation
by the state has not changed the situation much. The
plantation workers in Sri Lanka are mostly Tamil and have
also faced the problem of lack of citizenship rights in the
past. The management of the plantation in Sri Lanka has been
borrowed from the Hacienda style of management which are
very
hierarchical,
authoritarian,
semi-feudal
and
military-oriented systems of agriculture. The workers also
live in the housing provided by the Estate owners and their
children go to schools run by the Estates. As a result, the
plantations represent the situation where the entire life of
a plantation worker is controlled by the Estate owners. Even
the grot-ery and provisions stores on the plantations are
run by the owners and their representatives. So the workers
suffer from a very • high degree of indebtedness and
continuously depend on the owners of the plantation for
their survival. Unionising and educational work under such
circumstances is very difficult. The worker's day starts
very early in the morning and goes upto late afternoon. Much
of the educational work has to be done at night. There is no
facility on the plantation where workers can meet and ’in
many cases this is actively discouraged by the owners and
their representatives.
Agricultural labourers, on the other hand, in Sri Lanka as
well as other Asian countries are perhaps most deprived and
the poorest. In many cases, they have a temporary and single
individual owner; by and large, these workers are
non-unionised.
A worker on a tea estate in Sri Lanka described her
experiences as a worker. She described her life as a
continuous work, right from 4 in the morning to 9 at night!
She works on a tea-estate where there are about 3000 workers
and more than half women. Plucking tea is the most important
task which is generally given to women. The payment system
is based on piece-rate based on the weight of leaf and this
forces the women workers to compete against themselves.
There is a very high rate of illiteracy among workers on the
plantation, unlike the general situation in Sri Lanka. It is
estimated that more than half of the plantation workers are
illiterate. Many of these workers are interested in
acquiring the literacy skills but very limited educational
provisions exist. Major constraints seem to be lack of time
and infrastructure in supporting an educational programme on
plantations.
'Mien a man makes mistakes on the job,
that is an incident; but when a woman
makes a mistake, that becomes history."
CRITICAL ASPECTS OF WORKERS EDUCATION IN PLANTATION
creates a major obstacle. In fact, in most rural areas,
institutional facilities are not available; preyalence
of high degree of illiteracy makes the educational work
all the more difficult and challenging. At the same
time, the situation creates opportunities to launch edu
cational efforts, like high illiteracy rate among the
plantation workers in Sri Lanka.
£ UNORGANISED RUm. SECTOR
The analysis of experience of workers education efforts with
plantation and unorganised rural sector workers seem to
bring out several key aspects and considerations. The main
ones are listed below:
1.
2.
The plantation workers in some countries like Sri Lanka
are highly unionised; in some other countries, like
Malaysia, they are not; unorganised rural workers and
agricultural labourers in most Asian countries are
mostly non-unionised. As a result, this becomes the
greatest impediment in educational effort with
unorganised agricultural labourers. Even where high
unionisation has taken place, unions and their
leadership tend to give low value and priority to
workers education. This is partly because the role of
the union is seen in a very narrow and limited fashion
in acquiring economic gains for its members. Sometimes,
education is equated with political propaganda, and not
a creative expression, a liberating and empowering
experience. As a result, whatever workers education in a
small measure is conducted, it becomes a series of
indoctrination exercises for their membership.
3.
In some cases, the number of agricultural labourers is
very limited and some times they work alone or in twos
or threes. As a result, the place of work does not
become amenable for organising activities; in such
situations, the place of living and issues around living
become the key focus for edcational and organisational
efforts. Issues of housing, health, drinking water,
sanitation, education of children, etc. become key
educational and organisational concerns for such
situations.
4.
Unlike other means of production, land is such that it
can not be shifted from one place to another. Land infact
remains fixed in a particular place. As a result, it is
easier to focus on the issue of land, its ownership and
control as an educational and organising task for
plantation and agriculture workers.
In most agricultural areas, the lack of physical, human
and material resources for educational activities
5.
The feudal system prevalent in most rural areas in Asian
countries seems to r< inforce low self-image and negative
self-worth of workers in this sector, and adds a cultural
dimension to the problem of oppression and deprivation.
As a result, one of the major limitations of educational
and organisational work among agricultural, plantation
workers is the low self-image and negative self-worth.
In fact, improving the self-image and enhancing the self
confidence and increasing the self-worth of such workers
becomes the first task of an educational efforts.
6. The nature of land relations in many Asian countries,
its ownership and control as a means of production has
been associated with violent tensions. State repression
and militarisation seem to support direct oppression by
local
landlords
and
land-owners.
Under
such.
circumstances, educational and organisational effort
seems to get discouraged and becomes extremely risky and
difficult.
7.
Agricultural produce, particularly cash commercial crops
and products of the plantations, seem to get linked to
global markets. Whether it is cotton or sugar or tea or
rubber, these products are sold in international
markets, and if the prices of these products in the
international markets are depressed, because of forces
operating in the countries of North, then local
land-lords, land-owners and producers try to cut down
their production, reduce wages and harass, retrench and
exploit the workers further. As a result, education and
organisational work among such workers gets influenced
by global forces and markets, commodity prices, etc. and
these international forces create obstacles
in
educational and organisational work. At the same time,
the same international forces and their impact on the
workers in a local situation becomes a potential agenda
for the educational work and the educational focus
thereby creating the possibility of enhancing workers'
understanding of global forces at work.
WORKERS EDUCATION INITH KOMEN WORKERS
Several experiences of the practice of workers education
with women workers were presented in the workshop. The
experience of Filipino women workers union, KMK, was shared.
It was mentioned that more than half the working class in
Philippines comprises of women workers but only one-third of
them are engaged in gainful employment. Women workers face
series of discriminations and harrasments. The most severe
form of oppression is because women workers perform dual and
double responsibilities.They work eight hours as a worker,
and they also work as house-keeper and home-maker at the
same time. So women workers in Philippines work from early
morning till late at night, and this is the experience in
other Asian countries too. In many situations women workers
are employed in marginal, low skill, poor paying jobs. Some
workers also have informal sector jobs, contract labour
jobs, jobs without security of employment. Many women
workers in Philippines work in free trade zones, in electro
nics, garments, manufacturing, etc.
Similar situation obtains in Sri Lanka. It was suggested
that women workers in Sri Lanka take on socially accepted
occupations like teachers, nurses, in garment and textiles,
plantations, agriculture, etc. Though in Sri Lanka there is
some amount of political and social equality of status among
men and women, this is not so in the economic arena or in
case of work.
Discrimination in terms of payment is also common phenomenon
in the Philippines; women workers get lower paid jobs and in
fact lower pay for same type of work in comparison to men
workers.
Another major problem faced by women workers in the
Philippines, as everywhere else, is that, they are denied
certain rights which are available to them legally. For
example, maternity rights and leave are available to women
workers but most employers hesitate to give maternity leave.
They tend to hire very young women, single, unmarried, or
they retrench women workers when they become pregnant. Many
women workers also work in hazardous jobs like in electro
nics and these work related health hazards affect their
health. Most women workers receive payment on piece-rate
basis and this intensifies their exploitation by forcing
them to speed-up.
In the Philippines, and it was shared in many other
countries, women workers also experience sexual harassment on
the job. Their male supervisors or bosses or managers harass
them sexually in exchange of promotion or regularisation.
The KMK which started in 1979, began to organise women
workers into a separate union of women workers so that the
concerns of the women workers could be focussed upon more
clearly and directly.
It was felt that most trade unions do not pay any special
attention to the concerns of the women workers, even when
workers constitute a majority of their members. It was found
that in many cases, despite a high percentage of women
workers, their trade unions are led and most leadership
positions are occupied by men. Women workers because of
their dual responsibility, need to go home immediately after
work and look after their children, food, household,etc. The
men are able to spend time in union work and attend
meetings. Though it is organised as a separate women's
union, the KMK works within the overall labour movement and
the liberation movement in the Philippines. The educational
work of KMK is within the overall context of the KMU, the
militant trade union in the Philippines. It brings together
potential leaders for seminars and three-day workshops to
orient them to general conditions of women workers and
underlying causes of oppression in the society. It also
conducts advanced progranmes for leaders. KMK has been able
to formulate a charter of demands on the basis of a series
of seminars and workshops of its members where the concerns
and experiences of women workers were shared, analysed and
deliberated upon. These demands are the product of their
educational work with women workers in the Philippines.
THE FILIPINO WOMEN HOWS'DEMANDS-KMK
1.
Guarantee womens full participation in gainful
employment. More jobs to our Filipino women.
2.
Women should not be discriminated because of sex,
age and civilian status. Pregnancy should not be
made a basis for her termination.
3.
8.
In her period of pregnancy, the woman worker has
the right to object to any hazardous or heavy jobs
which could affect her health or her baby's health
(without any penalty).
9.
The employers especially in establishments wherein
majority are women, should provide proper facilities
for small children (nurseries or day care centers)
near the factories or in nearby communities.
10.
Hence, forced overtime should be stopped and
employers who continue doing such should be
penalized.
11.
Sexual harassment in any form should be stopped
and be taken up as a union issue.
Equal pay for equal work done and implement just
wages for all Filipino workers- both men and
women.
4.
Abolish the "piece-rate system" and regularize
women workers who have rendered six months work.
5.
Women should have equal access to skilled work or
to protected jobs.
6.
All non-regular and regular women workers should
have four months maternity leave benefits.
7.
Workers with families have the right to parental
leave in order to respond to family or their chil
drens needs without prejudices to their job security.
o
05102
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>'
their own educational requirements. Organisers and
educators find it very difficult to contact women
workers either at work or at home. They also find
it extremely difficult to bring women workers
together to share their experiences, analyse them
and learn from then. This becomes particularly
severe because in most Asian countries, the
concept of paid educational leave does not exist.
Most employers do not give time off to workers to
pursue their educational needs and interests.
CRITICAL ASPECT5 OF WORKERS EDUCATION WITH WOMEN WORKERS
The analysis of the experiences of workers education efforts
with women workers in the Asian context seems to bring out
several key issues:
1.
The predominent context of Asia suggests that most women
workers are on double duty, so to speak. They have their
role as workers which takes 8-10 hours a day; they also
have their role as home-makers, providers for the
family, looking after the children, etc. etc. Unlike in
some other contexts where the increasing role of women
as workers may reduce their responsibilities at home,
this does not take place in most Asian situations. As a
result, poor women work from dawn to late at night,
sometimes at home, sometimes outside. This is the
greatest obstacle to workers education efforts.
a)
b)
Women are so exhausted and tired that they are
unable to find energy or enthusiasm or time for
participation or education. Education requires
alertness, attentiveness, energy, excitement.
After 18-20 hours of work everyday throughout the
year, most women workers find that they have none
of this left for their own educational needs.
Time is the greatest casuality in this context.
Women workers do not find any time to devote to
2.
Most unions and leadership are not sensitive to special
needs and concerns of women workers and, therefore, do
not pay much attention value or priority to them. As a
result, in most unions, where the membership is open to
both men and women, the needs and concerns of women
workers do not find priority or special attention. Even
demands of women workers do not get articulated in such
a context. Tt becomes particularly difficult in
situations when men occupy key leadership positions in
most unions,
even though
their membership is
predominantly comprising of women workers.
3.
Broader issues like prices, housing, health, education
of children, drinking water, etc. can be more pointedly
and easily focused as agenda for educational work with
women workers as these concerns affect them most
directly and centrally.
High illiteracy rate and lower educational levels among
women workers provide an opportunity to focus on these
educational needs within the context of overall struggle
for organising and unionising women workers.
5.
The broader workers movement and workers organisations
get influenced by focusing on specific needs and
concerns of women workers. The educational methodology
and practice becomes challenging and more creative as it
begins to address the concerns and needs of women
workers because existing models of class-room learning
or structured situations are not easily available as
possibilities for educational practice with women
workers.
6.
Several examples demonstrated the value of focusing on
services like child care and care of children as basis
for building the educational agenda for women workers. A
lack of availability of child care, particularly good
quality of child care, was seen as a common problem
affecting women workers around which educational and
organisational work could be carried out effectively.
7. Women workers also do not view themselves in their role
as workers. Other roles as mother, as home-maker, as
wife, etc. seem to have been so indoctrinated in women
that they do not value themselves as workers or do not
value their work. Therefore, part of the educational
focus with women workers is to make their worker role
more visible in their eyes and in the eyes of others.
Moreover, assertiveness training to enhance the
self-worth of women and the self-confidence of women
workers is an important component of workers education
effort with women workers.
WORKERS EDUCTION IN NICARAGUA
During the seminar we had the privilege of
learning about
the experiences of Nicaragua
through a colleague Eduardo Baez who was with us
during the seminar. Elaborating the historical
context of this central American country, it was
demonstrated that how since 1840 United States of
America has been continuously intervening in
Nicaragua, a process which has continued till this
day. The struggle for liberation, was the most popular
uprising witnessed in any of the countries in modern
history. Ultimately in July 1979, the revolution won in
Nicaragua and a popular government was installed. Because of
the history of the revolutionery struggle and active
involvement in and control of popular classes in that
struggle, the post revolutionary leadership remained in the
hands of popular classes. Its first task was to launch the
now famous literacy crusade . Nicaragua had more than half
its population as illiterate at the dawn of revolution. This
was the biggest political action taken for empowering the
people to transform their reality. Popular education
collectives were formed and the nation was mobilised to
support this literacy crusade.
An interesting aspect of popular education work in Nicaragua
is that it is directly and centrally linked to the mass
organisations - women's organisations, peasants organisa-
tions, workers organisations. Workers' organisations take
keen interest in popular education effort and view this as
the most important process of transforming their societies
and improving the dignity and life of their people.
"It's not as if workers
automatically have the most
advanced consciousness, just
because it's written, in a
book".
Eduardo Baez
ISSUES
The analysis of various experiences, particularly referring
to workers education efforts in free trade zones, with
plantation and unorganised agricultural labourers and women
workers, has brought several issues which require a greater
understanding, deliberation and strategising. Some of the
key issues are highlighted here for future reference.
evening, lunch hours, weekends, house-to-house; struggle
in itself can be a powerful source of education provided
it is used as such. Several examples of using a strike,
before and after it, as an educational experience for
workers were mentioned during the seminar.
3.
Issues of living which concern workers like child care,
education, housing, health, civil rights, environmental
degradation, communal strife, etc. need to be considered
as legitimate and important agenda for workers
education. It was felt that workers provide an important
perspective on some of the societal problems like ethnic
conflict, which need to be highlighted and used in order
to promote peace in the world. Workers' concerns for
peace is perhaps as profound as women's concerns for
peace and, therefore, peace becomes an important part of
the learning agenda for workers.
4.
The methodology of education was also raised as an
important issue in worker education. It was highlighted
that most workers education in many Asian countries,
particularly that offered by trade unions, comprises of
1. Central to the concern of workers education is the issue
of purpose of education. It became clear during the
seminar that workers education needs to serve purposes
broader than mere understanding of the rights of workers
or the functioning of trade union organisations,
important as they are in themselves. If workers and
their organisations have to play a larger role in social
transformation of societies,
then they need to
understand the macro forces operating at global level.
2. The meaning of education was another issue that became
clearer in this seminar. It was repeatedly mentioned
that workers education does not imply courses,
workshops, training programmes and reading materials
alone. Learning in the process of working and struggling
and organising is very much the sense of workers
education. When we talk about working with women workers
and their double duty, we do not think of residential
courses; we have to think of flexible programmes —
stand-up teachings and lectures and is more in the form
of political propaganda than learning. It was felt that
education has to start from and relate to the daily
experience of the workers as workers and as adults and
macro forces and analysis must be built from that daily
experience. The participatory educational methodology
and learning principles and methods need to be
incorporated more centrally in the workers education
efforts in various parts of the world.
5.
And finally, the issue of cultural hegemony, manipulation
of the minds of workers, their belief system, their
values and their opinions was seen as the greatest
agenda, and perhaps most difficult focus, for workers
education efforts. It was repeatedly pointed out how
workers themselves have been subtlely influenced to
believe in their incapacity, incapability, ignorance,
laziness, stupidity, etc. It was also mentioned that how
mass media and a variety of cultural symbols have been
carefully used to create a series of myths about workers
and their organisations and workers education. The
workers education efforts need to attempt to understand
these myths and understand those forces and mechanisms
by which they are created and perpetuated. This will be
the major function of workers education in liberating
workers and providing them an opportunity to play their
principles o£ O£ Workers Pxxjrarnrne
1 Our goal is to link grassroot workers, to exchange ideas
and develop new approaches.
2. We
should
be
service-oriented.
mission-oriented,
rather
than
3. Rather than regionalize the program, we should develop
inter-regional links, with responsibility for initiatives/
events in different regions each time.
4. The women's program is the strongest and
appropriate link for us in the Council structure.
most
5. Move to the margins, especially unorganized workers.
6. Work with the people and groups that have energy and
fresh ideas.
EXCERPTS FROM THE SPEECH DELIVERED BY
MR.SG.TAYLOR
DIRECTOR , ILO COLOMBO OFFICE.
I should start by saying that the main objective of the ILO's
Workers Education programme in Asia and the Pacific as well as
in other regions of the world has continued to be the
strengthening of representative and independent workers'
organisations to increase their effectiveness in the exercise of
their traditional roles of collective bargaining, resolving labour
disputes and organising to cope with new and changing realities.
With this objective in view, the ILO's most recent workers'
education programmes have paid special attention to the
development of rural workers organisations, the expansion of
trade union participation in economic and social development and
the promotion of workers education institutions, their staff,
study materials, and their training methods.
There has been an increasing trend towards the emergence of
non-governmental trade union support organisations and some
foreign-based foundations in the region providing technical
assistance and/or financial support to trade unions workers
education and research activities.
There is a clear need for trade union specialists in the areas of
iabour statistics, productivity, occupational 'safety and health,
the organisation of rural workers and workers in the informal
sector, the management of social and economic services of trade
unions, international labour standards and others. Recent regional
and sub-regional seminars among trade unions have expressed
this need, urging the development of a broader range of
workers' education courses.
and educational work as, for example, linking up with
like-minded or same industry or same multinational
workers in other parts of the world. It was felt that
with increasing internationalisation of the world
economy and international division of capital, the only
way to understand and deal with these forces was by
developing an international network of organisers and
educators.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
"As conscious romantics, we aim
for authentic dialogue, based
on shared experiences, shared
contexts, shared images. Our
goal is cultural synthesis,
which requires mutual respect,
equality
of
power...and
clarity."
D'arcy Martin
Based on the preceeding analysis, sharing of experiences and
critical reflection, participants in the seminar identified
a series of directions for future — essentially discussing
what are we going to do after the seminar. Several broad
future directions emerged from this analysis :
1.
It was repeatedly felt that our work in our different
countries and contexts can become fairly isolated and
lonely. There is a tremendous need to share the
information with grass-root workers educators and to
exchange experiences in a manner that we can sustain,
support and reinforce each other's work. Therefore,
building linkages across regions, countries and nations
was seen as perhaps the most important future
direction. It was also felt that building linkages can
provide support and strength to our local organising
2.
Learning from each others' experiences in particular
around common themes and sectors, was seen as another
important future direction. It was pointed out that the
popular education experience of Nicaragua, the
educational methodology used in Philippines, the health
and safety related educational work in Malaysia,
Indonesia, India etc. are various concrete examples
around which sharing of experiences can be done so that
knowledge and skills can be acquired to utilize them in
our different contexts.
3.
4.
It was felt that the image of the worker, their
organisations, their education and their struggles was
a matter of great concern and that concrete educational
efforts were needed to deal with this problem of perpe
tuating the images and influencing the minds of the
workers themselves. Sharing of information relating to
concrete experiences, reflecting on them and linking up
grass-roots worker educators beyond their immediate
contexts could in a way help break some of these myths
and these walls. It was felt that this is a priority
direction for future work as very little has been done
in this area and without focusing attention on this, in
this day and age of sattelite communication and video
technology, workers education will be failing in its
historical role.
It was felt that grass root workers education efforts
and grass root workers educators do not have the
channels and mechanisms for exchanging learning
materials, audio-visual aids and documentation. They
neither have much resources nor infrastructure to pro
mote this either. As a result, many such grass root
efforts, particularly in remote areas or rural settings,
are denied access to these materials and learning aid.
It was felt that a mechanism needs to be created which
will help support these local initiatives through disfenniination of information on a regular basis.
5.
It was suggested that perhaps some efforts should be
made to strengthen as well as build collective
education and research centres in different parts of
the world. Some small efforts in this direction have
been made in places like Jamaica where several trade
unions have come together and supported a workers
education and research centre. Around the issues of
occupational health and safety, in India, for example,
efforts are being made to create four or five workers
education, research and documentation service centres.
This was perhaps a desirable future direction to pursue
in those situations where such facilities and
perspectives do not exist already.
.
It was felt that very little documentation exists on
non-formal educational processes and learning activi
ties of workers outside the context of residential
courses and prograiitnes. A lot of learning and education
takes place in daily living, working and struggling.
But very little, in terms of analytical, reflective
documentation, exists on this. Therefore, it was felt
that special efforts are needed to create such documen
tation which highlights the theme, Struggle as Educati
on, in workers education. This will also take away the
focus of workers education from structured courses and
programmes to more efforts in informal organising,
struggling, learning processes.
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7.
It was felt that some thrust of sustaining worker
education efforts with hitherto deprived sections of
the working class needs to be made. For example,
workers education efforts in unorganised rural sectors,
with fisherfolk, with landless labourers, with
construction workers and other workers in the informal
sectors of the economy need to be strengthened
supported and encouraged
8.
And finally it was felt that efforts should be made to
link up with a variety of existing workers education
institutions, trade unions, associations, organisations
and workers education associations in different parts
of the world and seek their support to grass-roots
workers education initiatives that the seminar
represented.
"There is nothing very radical
about individuals seeking pri
vilege;
but when workers
demand equality, that is revo
lutionary."
PRO
GRAMM
Introduction to ICAE Worker
Education Programme
INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON WORKERS EDUCATION IN
ASIA
OCTOBER. 23 - 27, 1986
October 23
Small Group Discussion on future direc
tions of ICAE Programme on Worker
Education
Small Group reporting, general discu
ssions on future directions
Arrivals,
Field
visits
to
Worker
Education Programme in Sri Lanka
•Reportage from small groups to the
Plenary
October 25
October 24
Presentations of Case Studies
October 27
Inauguration
Worker Education among Plantation
Workers, Women Workers and Free
Trade Zone Workers
Dialogue with Dr. A.T. Ariaratne,
Sarvodaya Shramadana Headquarters
Introduction of Seminar, its objectives
and design
Introduction of Participants
The context and issues of Worker
Education in Asia by Mr. Ganesh Pandey,
India
Worker Education in Sri Lanka by
Dr.D. Wesumperuma, Director, Sri Lanka
Foundation Institute
Small Group Discussions on-What is
Worker Education
Group Discussions on Obstacles and Opp
ortunities in Workers Education with
Plantation/agricultural workers, free
trade zone workers and women workers
Plenary presentation of small group
reports, general discussion
October 26
The ILO Worker Education Programme
in Asia by Mr.Stanley Taylor, Director,
ILO, Sri Lanka.
Review of the Seminar
Acknowledgements/Thanks
Sharing of personal experiences by
Women Workers of Sri Lanka from
Plantation and Free Trade Zones
LIST OF PARTICIWNTS
Participants to Seminar on
Workers Education in Asia
Mr. Yusuf Kassam,
Director of Programmes,
Interntional Council for Adult
Education,
29, Prince Arthur Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1B2,
Canada.
Ms. Evelyn Murialdo,
International Council for Adult
Education,
29, Prince Arthur Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1B2,
Canada.
Ms. Lynda Yanz,
Women's Programme Co-ordinator,
International Council of Adult
Education,
29, Prince Arthur Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1B2,
Canada.
Mr.Stanley Tayler,
Director,
International Labour Organisation,
Sri Lanka Office,
Bauddhaloka Mawatha,
Colombo 7,
Sri Lanka.
Ms. Rashmi Sharma
Canadian International Development
Agency,
69, Gregory's Road,
Colombo 7,
Sri Lanka.
Alan Davies,
Centre for Continuing Education,
G.P.O. Box 4,
Canberra ACT 2601,
Australia.
Rachel Epstein,
PRG,
29, Prince Arthur Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1B2,
Canada.
D'Arcy Martin,
17, Garnock Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M4K 1B2,
Canada.
Ms. Rita Hoi Kwok,
73, Ho Pui New Village 1/F,
Kwok Shui Road,
Tsugn Wan, N.T.,
Hong Kong.
Mr. Ganesh Pandey
House NO.104A/23, Rambagh,
Kanpur - 208 012(U.P.),
India.
Mr. Julissar An-Naf,
Lembaga Studi Pembangunan,
Institute for Development Studies,
Jala Raya Kebon Jeruk,
No. 20, Palmerah,
Jakarta 11480,
P.O.Box 1 KBY SB/Jaksel,
Indonesia.
Ms. Leith Dunn,
Association of Development Agencies
14, South Avenue,
Kingston 10,
Jamaica.
Mr. Woo-Ho Cho,
Director,
Youngman Labour Education Institute,
35, Chongro 2 - ka,
Daegu 630,
Korea.
Rev. Joseph Platzer,
Director,
Catholic Workers' Hall,
35, Chongro 2 - ka,
Daegu 630,
Korea.
Ms. Nabila Breir,
C/o. UNICEF,
P.O. Box 6902,
Beirut,
Lebanon.
Mr. Chan Lean Heng,
394-N Beuty Park,
MK-16, Ayer Jlan,
Penang 1 1500,
Malaysia.
Cop : Eduardo Baez,
Ministerio de Educacion,
Managua,
Nicaragua.
Ms. Penny Eames,
305, Dowse Drive,
Lower Hutt,
New Zealand.
Ms. Ling Porte
C/o. Centre for Women's Resources,
2nd Floor, Mar Santos Building,
43, Roces Avenue,
Quezon City,
Philippines.
Ms. Zapanta Cleof,
Women's Centre,
Room 406, R & G Tirol Building,
831, EDSA Corner Scout Albano
Street,
Quezon City,
Metro Manila,
-Philippines.
Mr. Jacob Meimban,
Ecumenical Institute for Labour
Education and Research,
Rm - 311, Social Communication
Center,
Magsagsay Blvd. Sta.Mesa, Manila,
Philippines.
Mr. D.S. Senanayake,
Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement,
98, De Soysa Road,
Moratuwa,
Sri Lanka.
Ms. Sujatha Wijetilleke,
National Association for Total
Education,
176/22, Thimibirigasyaya Road,
Colombo 5,
Sri Lanka.
Chandra Gunawardane
University of Colombo
Sri Lanka.
Mr. George Mendis,
Director, Institute of Workers'
Education,
University of Colombo,
Colombo 3,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. M. Sivalingam,
Ceylon Workers' Congress,
72, Green Path,
Colombo 7,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. P. Devaraj,
Congress Labour Foundation,
72, Green Path,
Colombo 7,
Sri Lanka.
Dr. D. Wesumperuma,
Director,
Sri Lanka Foundation Institute,
100, Independence Square,
Colombo 7,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. K. Paramanathan,
Department of Labour,
Labour Secretariat,
Colombo 5,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. G.S. Fernando,
Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya,
416, Kotte Road,
Pita Kotte,
Sri Lanka.
Huang He Hua (Vice-President)
14 Xin wai Avenue
Xicheng District
Beijing, China.
Mr. D.Y. Devendra,
Sri Lanka Independent Trade Union
Federation,
213, Dharmapala Mawatha,
Colombo 7,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. T.M.R. Raseedin,
Ceylon Federation of Labour,
457, Union Place,
Colombo 2,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. Milroy Fonseka,
National Workers' Congress,
941/6, York Building,
York Street,
Colombo 1,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. Mahendra de Alwis,
Conference of Public Service
Independent Trade Unions,
10, Bambalapitiya Drive,
Colombo 4,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. Somyot Pruksakasemsuk,
Union for Civil Liberty,
446, Soi Kaitchai,
Asoke-Dindaeng Road,
Huaykwang,
Bangkok 10310,
Thailand.
Yu Nina (Beijing TU University)
Room 107 (home address)
Building 44
Central Party School
Beijing, China.
ICAE Executive Committee
Ms. Isabel Hernandez,
Secretaria, Consejo Educac.,
Adultos de A.L,-Argentina,
Las Heras 3169 6 B,
(1425) Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
Dr. Budd Hall,
Secretary-General,
I.C.A.E.,
29, Prince Arthur Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1B2,
Canada.
Mr. Jack McNie,
66, Forsythe Avenue North,
Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4E3,
Canada.
Mr. Ian Morrison,
Executive Director,
Canadian Association for Adult Education,
29, Prince Arthur Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1B2,
Canada.
Dr. Francisco Vio Grossi,
Secretary General
Consejo De Education De Adultos,
De America Latina (CEAAL),
Casilla 6257, Correo 22,
Santiago,
Chile.
Mr. Yao Zhongda,
Secretary General,
National Association for Adult
Education of China,
No.37, Da Mu Chang Hu Tong,
Beijing,
China.
Mr. Poul-Erik Kandrup,
Secretary,
Danish Council for Adult Education,
Longangstraede 37, 2,
1468, Copenhagen K,
Denmark.
Mr. Bernard Smagghe,
Secretaire-General,
Peuple Et Culture,
108-110 Rue St. Maur,
7501 1 Paris,
France.
Ms. Halimatou Traore,
Directrice,
Union National Des Femmes du Mali,
CFAR-UNFM,
Ouelessebougou,
Republique du Mali (Africa).
Mr. Janusz Gorski,
Chairman,
Towarzystwo Wiedzy Powszechnej,
Palac Kultury I Nauki, XIIP,
Warszawa 00-901,
Poland.
Dr. Rajesh Tandon,
Society for Participatory Research
in Asia,
45, Sainik Farm,
Khanpur,
New Delhi 1 10 062,
India.
Dr.(Ms.) Jaya Gajanayake,
55, Alwis Perera Mawatha,
Katubedda,
Moratuwa,
Sri Lanka.
Mr. Paul Wangoola,
Acting Programme Director
African Association for Literacy and
Adult Education,
P.O. Box 50768,
Nairobi,
Kenya.
Mr. Musari Al-Rawi,
Director,
Arab Literacy and Adult Education
Organisation (ARLO),
Mohamed V St.,
P.O. Box 1120,
Tunis,
Tunisia.
Mr. Jong-gon Hwang,
President,
Korean Association for Adult and
Youth Education,
23-405 Changmi Act.,
11 Shlnchun-dong, Kandong-Ku,
Seoul 134,
Korea.
Mr. Edmund J. Glazer, Jr.,
Department of Education,
George Washington University,
Washington, D.C. 20052,
U.S.A.
Dr. W.M.K. Wljelunge,
30/63A, Longdon Place,
Colombo 7,
Sri Lankn.
Mr. John R. Mackenzie,
Coalition of Adult Education
Organisation (USA),
C/o. Labor Studies Center,
724, Ninth Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20001
U.S.A.
Ms. Rosa Paredes,
Apartado 17, 676,
Caracas 1015 A,
Venezuela.
Dr. Pat Ellis,
Lot 15, Sandford,
St. Philip,
Barbados,
West Indies.
Dr. Ana Krajnc,
Edvarda Kardelja University,
Filozofski Fakultet,
Princiceva 3,
61210 Ljubljana,
Yugoslavia.
Mr. John Mwanakatwe,
Trustee,
Adult Education Association of Zambia,
P.O. Box 31619,
Lusaka,
Zambia.
ASPBAE Region 1
Mr. Inayatullah
Pakistan Association for
Islamabad,
Pakistan.
Mr. W.A. Jayawardena ,
176/22, Thimbirigasyaya Road,
Colombo 5,
Sri Lanka.
Observers/ Others
Ms. Amelework Zewge,
International Council for Adult
Education,
29, Prince Arthur Avenue,
Toronto, Ontario M5R 1B2,
Canada.
Ted Jackson,
151, Slater St.,
Suite 712,
Ottawa, Ontario KIP 5H3,
Canada.
Mr. Jahangir Alam,
281/3, Jaferabad,
Shanker,
Dhanmondi,
Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
Ms. Juoieta Fernandez,
75, Halsey Avenue,
Apt, 112,
Toronto,
Ontario, M4B 1A8,
Canada..
p.r' T.P. Sharma,
o- Sri Ram Lamichane,
Mr. Jean Le Monnier,
Peu le Et Culture, '
108-100, Rue St.,
Maur,
75011, Paris,
France.
^azinpat,
Kathmandu
Nepal.
Mr. Wolfgang Leumer,
Deutscher Volkshochschal Verband
Fachstelle for Internationale,
Zusammenarbeit,
Rheinalle 1,
5300 Bonn 2,
Republic of Germany.
HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT
(RECESSION VERSION)
Send the workers from the factory, shake them loose, and let
them fall,
Say your profits arn't enough, send the workers to the wall,
Cos the world is in recession, there's no money, so you say
So us workers have to go, thousands of us from today
Do I care who's right or wrong? Do I try to understand?
All I know is I've been sacked, babe, All I know I need a
job
Yesterday is dead and gone, and tomorrow's out of sight
And it's sad to be alone, so come on workers let's unite
Yes I care who's right or wrong, yes we try to
understand (all sing)
We will fight for all our rights and we'll go forward
hand in hand
So come on brothers, what d'you say? Come on sisters, by our
side;
It's no time to be alone, help us make it through this night
Workers Education Centre, Penang
- Media
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