Capre Foundation

Capre Foundation is a non-profit, voluntary organization working in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. Its mission is to promote environmental protection, sustainable and equitable, integrated rural development based on the principles of inclusivity, social justice, economic growth and self reliance guided with a philosophy of self-help and community participation.

Capre Foundation provides home workers in Uttar Pradesh with information on problems that they have to faced and what can be done about it and in support with HWW is working to support the demands of home based worker organizations for recognition and rights as workers. Capre Foundation wants to make sure home workers have a voice, and that they are recognised and respected for the work they do. Capre Foundation are working to provide a voice for UP home workers, and through campaigning and lobbying together with home workers hope to ensure this voice is heard by policy makers.

http://www.caprefoundation.org

Cividep

Cividep is an NGO based in Bangalore, India. Cividep aims to safeguard the rights of workers and communities in a rapidly globalising world and to hold corporates accountable for their impacts on society. They help workers exercise freedom at work including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.

Cividep have experience organising workers in the electronics, garment sector and leather sector. HWW and Cividep are collaborating on work to support the organisation of homeworkers in the leather footwear sector in Tamil Nadu. You can find out more about this work, and the problems faced by workers in the leather sector, in our Campaigns section.

cividep.org

Drishti

Drishti provides education, health, livelihood and legal rights to excluded communities, with a focus on women and children and helps them live a life without fear of violence in three districts of Bihar.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Ev Ek Sen

Ev Ek Sen is the Union of Homebased Workers in Turkey. They describe their primary aim as ‘By launching our union, we want to make our work visible, to be recognized as workers. We demand rights equivalent to those of all other workers. We demand our rights arising from our homebased work.’ Ev Ek Sen are currently fighting a legal battle as Turkish legislation does not recognise the right of informal workers to form a trade union.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

HomeBased Worker Concern Society Nepal

HBWCSN works with homeworkers in towns and villages, mainly in the Kathmandu region and Dharan. The vast majority of workers in Nepal are working informally, and for women this often means homebased work. HBWCSN has focussed on women doing garment, pote (beaded necklaces), weaving, carding and spinning of wool, machine knitting and paper making. They organise savings, training and marketing and have set up a union for women homebased workers. HBWCSN was founded by Prattima Pokhrel who continues to coordinate their work.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Homeworkers Association Portugal

The Homeworkers’ Association Portugal has been working to support homeworkers through research, lobbying and training activities for over 20 years. The Association brings together organisations and individuals concerned with the working rights of homeworkers.

Homeworkers Worldwide Australia

HWW Australia brings together organisations and individuals concerned with the working rights of homeworkers. In the 1980s there was a growth of homeworking in the garment industry, and the garment union TCFUA responded by lobbying for changes in legal protection for homeworkers, and adapting its organising strategies to include homeworkers. A key part of this work was the establishment of the FairWear Campaign - a network of community organisations, community members and activists working to eliminate the exploitation of sweatshop workers and home-based outworkers in the Australian clothing industry. The FairWear campaign established a code of practice for the employment of homeworkers in the garment sector. Annie Delaney, Coordinator at HWW Australia worked on these campaigns and continues to build on this legacy through research, lobbying, and campaign activities.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Kaloian

Kaloian, the Homeworkers’ Association, is based in Petrich, Bulgaria. Kaloian was founded in 2002 and later registered officially. It has grown to more than 5,500 members.

Homeworkers in Petrich and the neighbouring villages carry out the following activities:

• they sew shoes by hand and beads on blouses
• they glue gift bags, and also glue together other carrier bags for bigger supermarkets
• they finish the loose threads on clothes
• they assemble electrical plugs
• most work both at home and in the local greenhouses where they can grow vegetables or fruit to make ends meet.

In Bulgaria, Convention No. 177 on Home Work has been ratified. What is more, in 2011 a new law was adopted to protect homeworkers. However, in practice little has happened to support them.

Kaloian has been working to get health and pension cover for homeworkers, working with the national Bulgarian Homeworkers’ Association, establishing a co-op for rural homeworkers to market their produce, and identifying and organising more homeworkers to build the organisation.

SAVE (Social Awareness and Voluntary Education)

SAVE is an established and well respected NGO, based in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu. SAVE have a strong track record of campaigning for the rights of workers in the garment and textile sector. They have extensive experience in working against child labour. Their support for women working in the garment and textiles industry has included work with women living in company hostels (who may be subject to forced labour) and work with homeworkers.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) www.savengo.org

The Union of Embroidery Workers

Sindicato de Trabalhadores da Industrias do Bordado, Tapicarias, Textil e Artesanato (STIBTTA) – Union of Embroiderers Madeira

There is long tradition of intricate embroidery in Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal. Factories in the capital Funchal give out work to thousands of women in the rural areas. STIBTTA, the union for these homebased-embroiderers is the oldest example of organised homeworkers in Europe. Since the 1970s STIBTTA has fought for legal and social protection for Madeira’s embroidery workers and ensured that these highly skilled women are not forgotten, and that their rights are respected.

Tirupur People’s Forum

Hundreds of thousands of young women in Tamil Nadu work in the export-orientated textiles and garments factories, but many experience harsh conditions that damage their health and deny their freedoms. The Tirupur People’s Forum (TPF) is a network of 41 NGOs from across 26 districts in the south and west of Tamil Nadu. Since 2005 TPF has been defending the rights of young women and girls in the textile and garments sector, as well as campaigning for greater environmental standards in the industry.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)