1 ANNUAL REPORT PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA …PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA SELANGOR 2018. 2 Annual Report PSWS 2018 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2016 – 2018 1. PRESIDENT SARASWATHY SUBRAMANIAM

1

Annual Report PSWS 2018

ANNUAL REPORT PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA

SELANGOR

2018

2


EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

2016 – 2018

1. PRESIDENT SARASWATHY SUBRAMANIAM

2. VICE PRESIDENT PUSHPA DORAISAMY

3. SECRETARY SUGUNA PAPACHAN

4. ASST. SECRETARY CHANDRAKALA CHANDRAN

5. TREASURER KUNASELVI MURUGAN

6. COMMITTEE MEMBER MALA PAYARI

7. COMMITTEE MEMBER PUNITHA MARUTHEMUTHU

8. COMMITTEE MEMBER PUNITHA KRISHNAN

Vision of PSWS

We envision a society that is built on equality and justice for all regardless of their class and gender.

Our Objectives

• To build confidence in women workers about their rights as workers and as women

• To undertake programmes and activities that foster the interests of women workers

• To support women workers in their struggles to improve their lives, livelihoods and institutions that represent them

OUR LEADERS AND ROLES

3


2018 was a year of action for activists and the new government. CSOs built new coalitions and planning meetings to assist the new government implement changes. PSWS was involved in the following discussions – Gender Equality Bill, Sexual Harassment Bill, amendments to the labour laws. We also engaged with the government on the appointment of an Independent Panel on Migrant Workers. We organised the Cambodian migrant workers to attend a Town Hall meeting in Putrajaya for a discussion with the above panel.

It was a year of negotiating and it is a struggle to meet our expectations. One of them was the Minimum Wage of RM1,050 with a mere increase of RM50 was a huge disappointment when it was announced in December. After a protest led by a coalition of NGOs and Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) it was increased to a mere RM1,100! Things were slow in developing from our point of view but we tried to encourage the new government by negotiating with them on our issues.

While the amendments to the labour laws were suggested by the Ministry of Human Resources (MoHR) we responded quickly to add our suggestions which were many. Meanwhile, the HR Minister’s responses to the newspaper expose on the glove companies abuse of migrant workers were extremely disappointing1. The issue is being dragged on and we are expecting that change will finally come from the buyers who are sending investigation teams to the companies and recommending that public procurement from these factories to their hospitals be stopped.

What does it mean for PSWS and women’s groups?

The situation of women’s labour especially for domestic workers is far from satisfactory. We were busy this year trying to dialogue with the government and ministers. Civil society set up coalitions to coordinate the various demands and issues and a caucus was set up for this purpose

Generally, it was a busy year with some changes in the horizon. Likewise, PSWS has also made many changes in the way we operate because we have some more staff members and volunteers.

1 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/dec/09/nhs-rubber-gloves-made-in-malaysian-factories-accused-of-forced-labour

OVERVIEW OF 2018

Our Concerns • Women workers in

the informal economy

• Organising Domestic Workers

• Women's participation in trade unions

• Women Workers meeting the challenge of neo-liberal globalisation

4


We are moving in the direction of getting more systematic in our standard of operating and getting more systems into place for planning and evaluation. We will see these more in the coming year when the implementation begins.

Our Beginnings

In the late 1970s, a group of women came together to discuss the situation of women workers in the Sungai Way Free Trade Zone. The outcome was the formation of an organisation that would be committed to the concerns and interest of women workers as well as to the larger issues of democracy, justice and equality in Malaysian society.

Work we have done

• Issues of health and safety of women workers especially in the electronics industry

• Assisted women workers to form and join trade unions

• Conducted educational workshops on gender and labour issues

• Issues affecting women workers in the informal economy

• Conducted participatory research on labour and gender issues

• Creating networks with organisations to have initiatives pertaining to labour, women, human rights, and healthy and safety on a national and regional level

ABOUT PSWS

5


We are extremely proud of our five achievements that we were able to accomplish this year. They are as follows:

Formation of Domestic Workers Coalition – Kearah 189

This is our greatest achievement. After three decades of organizing domestic workers we have now a coalition of local and migrant DWs called Kearah 189 (Towards the ILO Convention 189 on DWs). After years of dedicated organizing of DWs particularly in the last two years in PSWS and through the participation of astounding women leaders in the Filipino and Indonesian network of DWs we were able to form this coalition. It was heartwarming to hear the many experiences of

exploitation of their wages and dignity as workers in our many meetings with both local and migrant DWs shared. We have held numerous pocket meetings with local DWs to allow them to share their experiences and to network with each other.

We officially launched Kearah 189 in December. About 20 women and their children came from Puchong and Semenyih areas for the celebration in Kuala Lumpur. A leader of the local domestic workers, leader from AMMPO and SERANTAU spoke at the function. Three leaders from AMMPO (Filipino network of DWs), SERANTAU (Indonesian network of DWs) and the local domestic workers group launched Kearah 189 signing on a banner demanding for the ratification of ILO Convention 189 on Domestic Workers.

PSWS is the secretariat for the Kearah 189 which is composed of AMPO (Philippines Domestic Workers Group), SERANTAU which is an Indonesian Domestic Workers Group, North South Initiative, Tenaganita and PSWS.

Our hope is that this coalition of workers can form a union and to push for better recognition and dignity for both local and migrant DWs.

Our first meeting in 2017 where local and migrant DWs shared their experiences.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS

6


Celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD) with women workers in Melaka and Rinching

Continuing our tradition of celebrating IWD with women workers for this year we celebrated it in two areas in March that is in Melaka and in Rinching (a town designated by the Ministry under the Prime Minister’s Department having earnings below the poverty line). In Melaka we celebrated with the electronic workers and in Rinching we celebrated with informal workers (DWs and contract cleaners).

The one in Melaka, with the EIEU union members was on 31 March, 2018 and attended by 35 women unionists from the Northern, Southern and Eastern regions.

One of the speakers for the session was Dr Rohana Ariffin (author and researcher) who spoke to the audience via skype. She shared about the issues faced by women workers and her research on women workers in the Free Trade Zones in Penang.

The other speaker was Bruno Pereira from MTUC (Malaysian Trade Union

Congress) who spoke on the history of the formation of the four regional unions. Many of the participants were surprised to hear about the long painful struggle in establishing the four regional EIEUs. Irene Xavier spoke about the history of IWD and elaborated on some programs of PSWS. Sham, a long-time volunteer with us, assisted us in playing some games with the workers.

Many of the workers said they were very inspired by the session and especially with Dr Rohanna’s sharing and experiences. They were curious why a grandma like her would want to devote her life to this activism!

7


In Rinching (a small town near Kajang and in the district of Semenyih), we organized a small IWD session where we had invited Arulchelvan as the guest speaker. He is Semenyih’s town council member and Socialist Party Malaysia (PSM – Parti Sosialis Malaysia), Head of National Networking Bureau. After his speech many thronged to him pleading for assistance in the many challenges they faced in their flat or housing area and also education of their children. We

had games for the women and presents were distributed to winners.

Migrant Women Workers Programme

We began working with migrants a decade ago when we had a Burmese activist (who was a young student activist who escaped from the jaws of the Myanmar militants) who assisted us with our programs with Burmese women migrants who worked in the shop lot factories in the Kajang vicinity. We held health and safety workshops for these women workers who were discriminated at work at all fronts – in how they dressed, ate and of course in their wages. The program ended because the Burmese activist migrated to the US. Not disheartened we continued the project and expanded the program to cover the south and north part of Peninsula Malaysia.

This year we were able to hire a program officer, a Malaysian, to undertake with assistance from a team, various programs which includes training workshops, outreach, case management and publications. The project began in September 2018 and its objective is to strengthen Cambodian migrant workers’ capacity to organize and create awareness of their rights

There were four training workshops held in Penang, Teluk Intan, Batu Pahat and Kajang. 51 workers, 49 women and 24 men attended the workshops. The topics were the labour laws in Malaysia. There

8


were 2 coaching sessions, one in Penang and another in Teluk Intan for the leaders. 27 workers, 24 women and 14 men attended these sessions.

There was an outreach for 56 workers (21 women and 35 men) to whom written material was given and the organisers spoke to them. Also in this period 9 workers signed up to join the

Cambodian Migrant Workers Solidarity Network which was formally formed during the International Migrants Day in December. The attache from the Cambodian Embassy, senior officials of the Ministry of Human Resources and Migrant Worker NGOs were present on this day as seen in this photo (on left). This is a network that the Cambodians formed to help them get organized to reach out to Cambodian workers working here and workers leaving Cambodia to come here. For all these activities we had a

Cambodian organisor based in IDEA, Phnom Penh. IDEA is a project partner and together we organise the Cambodian migrant workers in Malaysia.

Organising the Cambodian migrant workers was a fairly new experience for PSWS and it was a good learning point for us. Despite the languages challenges we were able to raise their awareness of the labour rights. We were also involved with the advocacy for migrant workers. It was also good to unite the local and migrant domestic workers together so that there can be a joint advocacy.

Engaging with government, unions and NGOs to bring change

For the first time this year, we saw a light in the long tunnel of darkness of the previous years. The light was that we were involved in the following discussions – Gender Equality Bill, Sexual Harassment Bill, amendments to the labour laws and were engaging with Ministries such as KPWKM, MoHR and Foreign Affairs Ministry. We also engaged with the government on the appointment of an Independent Panel on Migrant Workers. We organised the Cambodian migrant workers to attend a Town Hall meeting in Putrajaya for a discussion with the above panel. We worked with coalitions like R2R (Right to Redress), Decent Work (coalition of unions and NGOs working on worker issues) and NGOs which work with migrants such as North South Initiative (NSI), Tenaganita, Archdiocesan Office for Human Development (AOHD) and many others. Some CSOs have taken the initiative to start whatsapp groups on various platforms that PSWS is part of. It is through these platforms that we are able to engage with various CSOs on various issues that affect our nation. We were able to push the government to have Parliamentary Select Committees (PSCs). R2R is the cluster lead for the PSC on Labour, HR, Migrant Workers and Refugees. JAG is on cluster lead for the PSC on Gender and HR.

9


As a grassroots NGO, this area is a very demanding aspect of our struggle and it is our hope to strengthen our volunteer corps to be able engage at this level. We also need a strong training programme and funding for this level of engagement.

Moving to our new premises in Taman Restu

In late August the office shifted to Taman Restu. The biggest job was moving our office. It was an exciting experience to choose a new location, plan the renovations and set up the office which is still not quite done yet as we balance our need against our budget.

The stuff in the old office had to be sorted, disposed of, some items like the baking ovens were sold and the rest were packed to move. The setting up of the new office was also time-consuming and many repairs had to be made. The training room has been set up and used many times in the year. Generally the new office is a better space for us and we are happy with the way that it has turned out.

10


STRATEGIES

1. To build confidence in women workers about their rights as workers and as women

Pocket meetings with Domestic Workers

The program has now expanded from Kajang/Semenyih area to Rawang, Batu Caves. Pocket meetings are continuously being conducted to engage DWs. In January Domestic Workers (DWs) started a whatsapp group to share news of each other and keep members abreast with issues facing DWs. A workshop with 15 domestic workers was conducted in December at PSWS office.

Internal Training

There were several trainings of staff and ExCo members between June and August on the history of PSWS, forming habits, self-analysis and other skills. This was carried out especially to assist the new staff, Program Officer in carrying out her tasks.

Attending external Training Programmes

Staff members attended leadership training workshops and Early Child Care and Education conducted by KPWKM (Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga dan Masyrakat - Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development). A staff member attended as ILO training on case management.

Leadership Training for Electronics Union leaders A training for Electronics workers from Melaka and Pahang in April was organised. The training was held in MAKPEN (Malay acronym for National Council of Social Development Malaysia) in Kuala Lumpur. It was an interesting training as we invited Sisters in Islam to conduct a session on gender and Islam. The training was on women’s leadership for women leaders in the Electronics Trade Union. For the first time we looked at the effects of religion on women leaders. It was an interesting experience and we invited Sisters in Islam to conduct a session on as most participants were Muslim women. The response to the training was good and the participants responded actively and asked lots of questions.

May Day celebrations

PSWS was part of the organising committee made up of young people from students groups and other networks. The March was well organised with street plays, banners and attended by several NGOs. PSWS members spoke on the issues of women workers at the March.

Protest against the minimum wage

11


Three women from PSWS attended the protest on minimum wage of RM 1050 together with participants from trade unions and other CSOs infront of Parliament. More than 300 protested against the low minimum wage. The government took note of the protest and changed the minimum wage marginally to RM1100. The organisor participated in the discussion on raising minimum wages in National Union of Bank Employees in November. A memorandum was submitted to the Parliamentarians. The coalition continued to protest against this minimum wage.

Review of New Government’s Performance

PSWS attended a roundtable discussion with CSOs to review the performance of the new government. This was organised by Kementerian Wanita dan Pembangunan Masyrakat (KWPM) and attended by 20 CSOs and It was an effort to give feedback to the new government so that our issues will be attended to.

Reviewing PH Government after 100 days

In August there was a meeting with MPs organized by Chinese NGOs, as a representative of Jaringan Ibu Tunggal our organizer attended the session on review of PH government after 100 days.

Independent Panel on Migrant Workers

The Minister of Human Resources set up an Independent Panel on Migrant Workers whom we met together with other civil society. There was extensive discussion on issues with the panel. We also asked for a private meeting for the migrant workers themselves to speak to the panel. This was organised and PSWS organised 6 workers from Penang and Selangor to come to KL for the meeting. It was a well-attended meeting and the Cambodian workers made a good presentation in Bahasa Malaysia as we had no translator for them.

2. To undertake programmes and activities that foster the interests of women workers

• In January a Ponggal (a south Indian Thanks giving festival) celebration in a Rawang community was organised

12


• A Mother’s Day celebration was held in Puchong which was organised by KKP Puchong. • Cancer Screening for women

In June 13 women from Puchong were taken for a health screen for cancer organised by the National Cancer Society. All of them had mammogram and PAP Smear testing done. It was part of community service to women in the Puchong area that helps the organisor to work more closely with the community.

• In August with the help of students from Putra Intellect International College gathered women from the community to have health screenings on cancer conducted by MAKNA (National Cancer Society). 57 women above 40 were able to do a mammogram.

• Distributed survey forms to teachers in the Puchong Tamil school - Data collection on single mothers

• Contributing to research on plantation workers: Accompanied some researchers to a plantation in Kuala Selangor in July.

• Conducted several legal clinics in Puchong and Kajang. Issues of divorce, SOCSO matters, labour laws and other legal aspects were discussed at these clinics.

3. To support women workers in their struggles to improve their lives,

livelihoods and institutions that represent them Yes-No Touch awareness workshop for students

13


PSWS conducted this workshop for 150 students from the Kajang Tamil School in October together with trainers from JITU (Jambangan Informasi Terperinci UntukMu – Bringing detailed

information for you). There was a good response from the students and the teachers. For the children it was the first time that such a topic was discussed with them openly. They were able to share their experiences in their small groups, despite their shyness.

Applying for Funds

The Administrative Officer gave support by preparing the budgets for the four foreign funding proposals that we submitted in 2018. Two have been approved and another funder has short-listed our application. It took a bit of time to prepare the budgets that matched our proposals. There were also calls from our current funders that the Administration Officer handled together with the Secretary of PSWS.

Surveys

• A survey was done in December on living conditions of women workers which were carried out at the low cost flats in Semenyih.

Outreach In September contact was made with a key person in Batu Caves. This was in order to meet and discuss with single mothers, factory workers and domestic workers in the area which is a new area for PSWS work. 14th General Elections

PSWS helped the local candidate in Semenyih from PSM in the 14th General Elections. This is to strengthen our ties with the candidate who actually has helped us solve many cases in the past. Many of PSWS members also helped and acted as monitoring and counting agents for PSM.

Publications

The Migrant Workers programme developed the following publications:

1. Infographics Migrant Workers in Malaysia. The draft copy was translated into Khmer and would be printed and distributed soon.

2. Booklet entitled: Thinking of working in Malaysia produced by the Right to Redress Coalition has been translated into Khmer has not been given yet for printing and distribution.

14


3. Translated leaflet on Universal Declaration of Human Rights

4. One training module was drafted on labour rights and a Coaching module was also developed.

5. Migrant Right to Redress Coalition printed an advocacy booklet entitled: Comprehensive Policy for Migrant Workers. PSWS is part of this coalition.

15


ADVOCACY AND NETWORKING

Jaringan Ibu Tunggal PSWS participated in the discussions to prepare for a meeting with the ministry in October. The meeting with the Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita dan Keluarga Malaysia took place in December where PSWS presented the issues and needs of Single mothers and asked for the following services from the ministry – child care, counselling, tuition for children, low cost housing for single mothers and monthly aid for poor mothers. The Department officials listened to our presentations and said that they would come back to us later with a response.

Decent Work

The organisor together with other PSWS staff and volunteers attended the discussion to finalise amendments to the Employment Act (EA) that this group of trade unions, migrant domestic workers organisations and civil society groups are proposing to the Minister of Human Resources. Included in the amendments after some discussion with the trade unionists was a call for equal pay for work of equal value; that domestic workers be given all rights for workers covered by the Employment Act and that for sexual harassment the ministry guidelines on sexual harassment formerly issued be included in the section of sexual harassment in the EA.

Domestic Workers Coordinating Group

The Domestic Workers Coordinating Group planned to have a solidarity event together. However this did not take place because of timing and venue and later the group decided to focus on International Mirant Workers Day.

PSM Conference

The Organisor and President of PSWS attended PSM Congress in Ipoh on behalf of PSWS. They extended solidarity to the Congress and met some of the plantation worker organisors in Ipoh.

Raids on Migrant workers

In mid-August members of Tenaganita, Foreign Spouses Support Group and PSWS met Ministers in Parliament on the campaign to stop the arbitrary raids on migrant workers.

Visitors

Mr. Kevin from Liberty Asia visited us in May and we shared with him our previous work on plantation workers and the current situation of plantation workers in Malaysia.

16


SERVICES

PSWS provides free counselling and legal services to those who visit or call us. They are available to everyone regardless of race, creed, religion, sexual orientation, status or geographical location. We are able to provide these services in Tamil, Malay or English. We have conducted legal clinics with assistance of LAC in Puchong and Kajang.

Our cases

In addition to the migrant workers cases there were eight cases from the community and eight walk-in cases this year. Some were people who needed long-term support because of disability and re-settlement of refugees. The other cases had to do with domestic violence, divorce and problems with children. Most cases received counselling from our staff and volunteers and some were referred to Legal Aid Centres to file cases.

The highlight was the a refugee woman fleeing domestic violence and death threats from her family in Pakistan finally had hope that she would be re-settled in the United States of America. She applied for re-settlement and waited seven years before she and her two teenage sons were considered for re-settlement. Unfortunately this glimmer of hope came when she was undergoing treatment for cancer which was still on-going.

We continued to assist a single woman suffering from cerebral dystrophy whose condition took a turn for the worse this year.

We also successfully helped a young woman who was being stalked by her ex-boyfriend causing her to live in fear and embarrassment. The stalking stopped by the end of the year and a more confident young woman emerged out of this experience.

- Single mother in Puchong to seek help from the State Assemblyman to settle her outstanding mortgage on her house and was able to get an extension to settle her loan repayment.

- Retrenched worker registered with a skills training programme to upgrade his skills. - A woman from Kajang filed for divorce which is still pending completion. - Woman faced harassment from money lenders by referring her to an organisation that

works on this issue. She now banks in money to this organisation which then settles the loan with the money lender.

- A person obtained an Identity Card. This case was dragging since 2017 and it is only this year that the Registration Department agreed in June to register the girl who is now in her teens.

- Helped a welfare department counsellor who was handling case of a young woman about a relationship with a guy whose background she’s unaware of.

- Two walk-in cases in February One was a SOCSO case and the other needed counselling.

17


Migrant worker cases: In Penang: • A Cambodian woman restaurant worker wanted to return home because she faced problems

of excessive hours of work that affected her health.

• The employer refused to allow her to return home for her mother’s funeral. • She had never received her full wages. Employer only gave her parts of her wage whenever

she asked. Another case referred to us by NGO in Cambodia (CENTRAL): • This was a suspected trafficking victim (1 female). In Selangor: • 1 Cambodian woman was raped and sexually harassed after the rape in a household in Klang • 1 Indonesian worker (female) felt that she was in danger of similar harassment in the

household as the above Cambodian worker in Klang.

• These workers’ passports were held by the employer & they were unable to confirm their legal status, i.e. if their work permits were renewed’.

• There were also a few complaints of extortions of the Cambodian male workers by local

thugs on migrant workers on their way from work. 4 cases of women migrant referrals were documented.

18


FUND RAISING

PSWS is a non-profit organisation and it relies on sponsorships, donations and partnerships with funding organisations to support our activities and our work with women workers.

We have begun in a small way to raise money through our own effort such as the sales of craft items and bottled preservatives and jams.

APPRECIATION AND GRATITUDE

Volunteers and individual who have supported our work:

Renu

Mira

Chandrika

The girls at the Chateaux Iza

There are many more who, while not named, provided support without which we would not be able to carry out our mission to improve women’s lives in Malaysia.

Supporters

Joint Action Group (JAG) for Gender Equality:

Association of Women Lawyers Malaysia (AWL) Justice For Sisters

Perak Women for Women (PWW) Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower) Sabah Women’s Action-Resource Group (SAWO) Sarawak Women for Women Society (SWWS) Sisters in Islam (SIS)

Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO)

Women’s Centre for Change (WCC)

Tenaganita

All Women's Action Society (AWAM)

Legal Aid Centre (LAC)

Right to Redress Coalition (R2R)

Domestic Workers Coordinating Group (DWCG)

Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC)

19


EIEU (Electronics Industry Employees Union) Northern Region, Southern Region, Eastern Region and Western Region

North South Initiative (NSI)

AMMPO (Filipino DWs group)

SERANTAU (Indonesian DWs)

Koperasi Kredit Pekerja (KKP – Workers Credit Cooperative)

Documents

1 ANNUAL REPORT PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA …PERSATUAN SAHABAT WANITA SELANGOR 2018. 2 Annual Report PSWS 2018 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2016 – 2018 1. PRESIDENT SARASWATHY SUBRAMANIAM