Each year we have a small pot of money, as part of our funding from Oxfam Novib, which is to be distributed to organisations proposing a small project to benefit women workers.

Women workers’ organisations, trades unions and other organisations working on labour rights issues, can use this funding to prepare a small report on issues that require urgent attention and that particularly affect the labour rights of women workers.

If you know of or can conceive a project benefiting women workers and would like to apply for money from this fund, please contact us.

Project reports from projects funded in 2011 - 2012

HOCCS Pakistan

Handicap & Orphan Children Charity Society (HOCCS) have been funded through the small project fund to deliver a project to create awareness, educate and protect the Human/Labour Rights of vulnerable women Brick Makers in the District of Faisalabad and Toba Tek Singh, Province Punjab, Pakistan.

Background to the project: In the present modern age, every working sector like Government, Semi-Government, Private and local has laws, rules, regulation. But unfortunately, there are still some sectors where no law, rules, regulations and system is development especially for the protection of their rights and the owners operating their own ruling.

Women Brick Makers are one of those suffering sectors. These Workers have no basic human rights as well as labour rights and are exploited by their owners vastly. They start their work early in the morning till late night. Sometime they also work continuous 24 or 48 hours without taking any rest and without any extra payment.

These workers are being treated as slaves and sometimes their kids and other family members also have to work with them. They don’t know about their basic rights and have no information about their rights of jobs. These workers are living very miserable life without any facility like sanitation, health, school, electricity and entertainment. They are totally unaware about the modern age and its facilities.

These workers are given very low salary ranges between Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 3,000 (US $ 32 – 38) per month, which is very below to poverty line. They have to do hard work without any leave and rest, sometimes if he or she is sick or busy in any matter a family member must have to go to his / her place for work.

These workers basically work as bonded laborers of the owners and have no basic human and labor rights. They cannot take any decision about themselves without the involvement or permissions of the owners / landlords. Due to extreme poverty they have to take money from their owners as loans / advance for every small thing with huge mark-up. The amount of loans increases day by day and their whole family becomes debtors of the owners and it becomes difficult for them for the repayment. For the repayment of loans their whole family also has to do work for the owners for the un-ending period.

Due to illiteracy and lack of knowledge and information, landlords/ owners exploit their basic human rights and working rights. The landlords / landowners also threaten them if they raise their voice about rights. Their children don’t go to school for getting education, they have lack of health facilities, they are sexual abused at work place, they don’t have any written agreement with the landlords / owners, etc.

For more information about the project and how HOCCS have addressed these issues through the small project fund, please read the interim report (pdf).

Reports from projects funded in 2010 - 2011: Hesperian Foundation, UTGLAWU workshop for women workers in the cotton sector.

Reports from projects funded in 2009 - 2010: Chinese Working Women Network, Lesotho Clothing and Allied Workers Union to develop a strategy for a living wage, UTGLAWU workshop on Gender disparity, Rights of Palestinian Women Workers.