ACTION PLAN Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions BAYARMAA Mishka RepresentativeA

SUMMARY PROJECT OUTLINE Project Title: PROMOTE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY Tentative Duration: 12 Months Starting Date (indicative): January 2007 Project language: English Preparation date: 01 September 2006

1.Background and Justification Identification Of Core Problem Informal economy situations Informal economy as a specific sector formalized in Mongolia with the transition to market economy and democracy in the beginning of 1990s. Size of informal economy is increasing continuously. It brings own challenges such as informal economy workers’ labour right, its violations, their social security, OSH and living standard. According to the Labour Force Survey-2004[1], around 126 thousand people working in informal economy by the end of It means, 8.5 percent of total labour aged population, 13.1 percent of economically active population and 13.6 percent of total employees are in informal economy.[1]

1.Background and Justification According to the National Statistical Office Information, around 13.4 percent of total GDP has been produced in the informal economy. These figures itself proves the importance of IE in the social, economical and political development of the country. However, workers in informal economy keep working in abnormal labour condition.

1.Background and Justification Labour Law of Mongolia regulated industrial relation between “formal” employers and employees by a labour contract. Therefore informal economy workers stand outside of the law and necessary standards. For example, core labour standards of ILO. Most of the informal economy workers are self employed people. Those with employers do not enjoy the freedom of association and labour rights. Creation of more jobs does not justify abnormal working condition, low salary, missing from social and labour security, avoiding of trade union right and high number of industrial accidents. Existing social insurance system almost cannot cover informal economy workers.

Current situation of IE workers in Mongolia can be described in the following way the number is expanding; the labour relations are beyond the regulations of the labour law, CBA, labour contract, so labour rights and freedom of association is neglected low level of awareness on legal issues, low skills – worked in unsafe, poor working conditions – death and injuries due to accidents which are not recorded employers (seems the owners of market, premises, cars etc) have strict control over IE workers, pressure them, make obstacles to their access to information and resistant to activities targeted at IE workers due to high unemployment, poverty, low educational or skill level IE workers are in disadvantaged situation, the need to bear unfair, unequal and sometimes illegal treatment from employers’ or owners sides

Current situation of IE workers in Mongolia can be described in the following way businesses are not sustainable, so the workers are not properly organized which gives to the employers the opportunity for violation of laws, this in turn affect the interests of employers themselves trade unions have low awareness about the informal economy, lack of experience to work with people of IE and organize them. No manual, methods, knowledge, experiences, no assessment of needs to conduct training activities among informal sector workers and on HIV/AIDS issues.

Major difficulties faced in organizing the unorganized workers: Job duration is indefinite; Most of them have no any employer; Not covered in social and health insurance, not enough knowledge about it; Trade union knowledge is very small and only people over 40 have some knowledge about trade union; They tried to fight together but couldn’t reach any success and sometimes it makes them into more difficult situation;

Major difficulties faced in organizing the unorganized workers: No enough time to meet together and discuss; No any official agreement (labour contract, job performance contract) and knowledge about it; They do not know who can protect them and how; They do not know collective activities and also cannot see how such action can help them solve problems.

OSH situations in Mongolia The Government of Mongolia has implemented a National Programme on improving Occupational Safety and health and Working conditions by two phases for and New programme on Improving Working Conditions and OSH / / was adopted in 2005.

OSH situations in Mongolia The progress has been made in development of the occupational safety and health legal framework, OS&H management and monitoring system and positive attitudes toward OS&H issues from the employers and employees, during the implementation of the national Programme on improving Occupational safety and Health and Working conditions. The positive developments have been achieved in the area of occupational safety and health, however the number of occupational diseases has not decreased significantly.

Furthermore, a lack of occupational safety and health advocacy and training for developing public awareness, and the linkage between measures that have been taking at the national level occupational safety and health is inadequate and the financial resources for OS&H preventive actions have not developed legally. Not much attention could not paid to developing professional rehabilitation services for disabled people who lose their working capacity as result of work injure and occupational diseases and re- orienting their professions and re-training. There is a need for improve the legal environment for above-mentioned issues; My union CMTU want to organise part of open market workers, to improve their working conditions and to raise their social protection.

Trade Union Strategy The strategy of the Union is to raise awareness, to reduce occupational accidents, to mobilise and organise informal economy workers, to improve working conditions and to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Mongolia.

2.Target Groups 2.Target Groups And this work-plan is meant for: Informal economy /Open market workers Trade union activists/trainers/organisers The project will be implemented with the help union organisers who will trained on OSH issues.

3.Development Objectives The work-plan will contribute to: –CMTU’s capacity for advocacy, research and training on OSH issues for the informal economy workers. –Raising occupational safety and health standards for informal sector workers in Mongolia;

4.Immediate Objectives (1) (Immediate Objective 1) At the end of the project, skilled trade union organizers to work with informal economy workers would have been trained with further view to unionize them, and improve their working conditions. (2) (Immediate Objective 2) At the end of the project, the awareness among open market workers on OSH would have increased.

5. Key Outputs End results to be Achieved /Situations to be created: (1) (For Immediate Objective 1) Education 2-3 training material produced 100 skilled trade union educators trained, including 6O-65 women. (2) (For Immediate Objective 2) Education and campaign material on OSH produced /posters, leaflets, situation reports, and etc/ Awareness education camps held /public meeting, open forum/

6.Activities (1) Immediate Objective 1: Skilled trade union organizers to work with informal economy workers would have been trained with further view to unionize them, and improve their working conditions. Output 1.1: Effective training manual targeted to TU activists, trainers, informal economy workers

Activities Activity 1.1.1: To develop practical and easy to use training materials, methods focused on the train-the-trainers approach and training curricula on occupational safety and health and HIV/AIDS Activity 1.1.2:. To develop an occupational safety and health training mechanism to reach all workers and employers on supporting preventive action and on finding practical solutions at workplaces. Activity 1.1.3: To expand the coverage of the Mongolian Trade Unions Confederations’ POSITIVE training package

Activities Output 1.2: Skilled trade union trained trainers and organizers Activity 1.2.1: Training for the TU activists and trainers Activity 1.2.2: Guidelines for TU organisers Activity 1.2.3: Conduct a survey on FOA and labour rights situation of informal economy workers Activity 1.2.4: CMTU strategy and policy for organising informal economy workers Activity 1.2.5: Follow up trainings

Activities (2) Immediate Objective 2: Awareness among open market workers on OSH would have increased. Output 2.1: Education and campaign material on OSH produced Activity 2.1.1: To organise OSH training and information services on the basis of collaboration with information centers under the enterprises and NGOs.

Activities Activity 2.1.2: To conduct researches in cooperation with the ILO on particular issues of occupational safety and health and disseminate the research findings to decision makers and public. Activity 2.1.3: To launch a campaign on promoting occupational safety and health at national level. Activity 2.1.4: To establish an occupational safety and health information network that has potential to provide OSH related information to the state, non governmental organizations and enterprises and expand the accessibility of the network Activity 2.1.5: To take preventive actions on 28 April annually a day to respect for workers’ commemoration who injured or die as a result of work injure and occupational diseases and acute toxicity.

Activities Output 2.2: Awareness education camps held /public meeting, open forum/ Activity 2.2.1: To organise open forum after training Activity 2.2.2: To conduct nationwide review of Labour Code.

7.Inputs The main inputs for successful completion of the project will be: One project co-ordinator to be attached to the union secretariat; Advice and assistance from ILO Turin Centre; Availability of Resources: Finances.

8. Indicators of Achievement At the end of the project will be developed the following results will be achieved: (1) (For Immediate Objective 1) Occupational safety and health and HIV/AIDS training and advocacy developed systematically. Trade union trainers exist

(2) (For Immediate Objective 2) Existance of union with a membership among open market workers Occupational safety and health information system and statistics developed And OSH related research and development expanded. Number of work injure and occupational diseases will be decreased, and informal economy workers’ working condition at workplaces will be improved.

9.Monitoring/Reporting/Evaluation Procedures Preparation of annual/monthly workplans Reporting will be submitted at the end of every training workshop Self evaluation - 3 months Independent evaluation can take from each participant at the end at the training programme.

10. Preliminary Budget Estimate

Main itemLocal currency /tugrug US$ 1 US$=1175 tugrug Personal costs /2 people/ 1.Project coordinator 2.Project secretary /accountant/ Total x12= x12= Preparation and Printings of Education material /Reports 5000*40= Training workshop Including once trng budget *4= Travel Miscellaneous Total

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