COTRADO ALAC

” Home-based workers we fight united and organized for our rights. The economy is informal, we are workers”
Coordinadora Regional de Organizaciones de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras en Domicilio en América Latina y el Caribe
(COTRADO-ALAC)

COTRADO ALAC

The Coordinadora Regional de Organizaciones de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras en Domicilio en América Latina y el Caribe (COTRADO-ALAC) is a regional network of organizations that fosters the unity of homeworkers in the Latin American and Caribbean region. This organization brings together home-based workers, whether they carry out their as self-employed or own account workers, they organized in different ways, whether in unions, worker cooperatives of the popular economy, worker groups, associations, networks or any other form of organization according to the reality of each country.

COTRADO ALAC Principles:

  1. Home-based work must be recognized as work and home workers must enjoy the same rights as other workers;
  2. Non-discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, philosophical ideas, militancy or political opinion, sexual orientation, etc.;
  3. Solidarity with other workers and allies in the formal or informal economy;
  4. The countries must sign Convention 177 and Recommendation 184 of the International Labor Organization, which establish a framework of rights for employed homeworkers that should be enshrined in the laws and policies of the countries. Notwithstanding this, the content of both instruments can also be used as platforms of struggle of the self-employed;
  5. Home-based workers have the right to decent working and living conditions in accordance with the provisions of the International Labor Organization ILO, including ILO Recommendation 204.

Objectives:

  1. Increase the visibility and obtain recognition of home-based workers and their associated forms of association in the region.
  2. Promote the organization of all home-based workers in Latin America and the Caribbean, coordinating for unity, action and working organically. COTRADO ALAC will promote the unity of all types of member-based organizations, hereinafter MBOs, that have workers at home, considering the realities of each country and their derived associative forms.
  3. Support the initiatives of the MBOs at the national level that aim to:
    • Work to influence national governments to ratify ILO Convention 177 and Recommendation 184.
    • Develop laws and policies for home workers and their organizations.
    • Establish better working and living conditions for home-based workers and their organizations.
    • Effectively contribute to reducing the imbalance between capital and work, and guarantee the right of all home-based workers and their organizations to organize and collectively bargain.
  4. Provide education and training activities to members on issues related to home-based work.
  5. Get involved in and promote research on home work.
  6. Share experiences, good practices and disseminate progress in the organization of home workers: organization strategies negotiation models, legal and social protections, campaigns, etc.
  7. Establish fraternal and solidarity relations with workers’ organizations and social organizations.
  8. Represent home workers and their organizations in international forums.
  9. Promote, defend and ensure the full respect and expansion of the political rights of all workers without distinction.
  10. It will promote political, social, cultural and economic changes that contribute to a deepening and consolidation of the democratic system and to an economic development of the country that, with justice and equity, effectively benefits home workers, their organizations, and society in general.
  11. Will fight for labor and social security legislation that protects the rights of all workers. This legislation must effectively contribute to reducing the imbalance between capital and labor and must guarantee the right of all workers to bargain collectively.
  12. It will reject all forms of external interference that limits the right of self-determination of the peoples, whether this is expressed in forms of militarism, colonialism or loss of sovereignty derived from the action of international capital; and
  13. It will advocate the maintenance of democratic systems and the freedom of peoples, as an essential element to achieve conditions of justice, economic development and social peace.

The member organizations of COTRADO-ALAC are:

  1. Argentina: Federation of Seamstresses, Apparel, and Textiles, affiliated with the Union of Workers in the Popular Economy (UTEP)
  2. Brazil: Association of Home-Based Workers (ATEMDO)
  3. Chile:
    1. Luis Gauthier Workers Union
    2. Textile Women Workers Union in Coquimbo-La Serena - (SIMUTED)
    3. Home-based Workers Union in Lo Espejo
    4. Revolutionary Textile Workers Union SIRETEX
    5. Mapuche Women's Association, Newen Domo
    6. National Coordinator of Home-Based Workers (CONATRADO)
  4. El Salvador: Home-Based Women Embroiderers Trade Union of El Salvador - SITRABORDO
  5. Nicaragua: Confederation of Self-Employed Workers (CTCP) affiliated with the National Workers Front (FNT)
  6. Peru: National Network of Self-Employed Workers (RENATTA)
  7. Uruguay: Sindicato Único de la Aguja (SUA), affiliated with the Intersyndical Plenary of Workers - National Workers' Convention (PIT-CNT)

Resources:

01 May Message from COTRADO ALAC

Tatiana Rojas

HNI Executive Committee Member – Santiago, Chile
Email: [email protected] 

 

Tatiana has been actively involved in social work related to gender, women, unions, and LGBTIQ+ movements for over 20 years. She is currently a member of HomeNet International’s Executive Committee and also serves as the President and Secretary of the Luis Gauthier Union of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Workers, Treasurer of the National Textile Confederation (CONTEXTIL), and Coordinator in CONATRADO

Edileuza Guimarães

HNI Executive Committee Member – São Paulo, Brasil
Email: [email protected]

Edileuza is a member of HomeNet International’s Executive Committee and the President of ATEMDO – Association of Home-based Workers of Solidarity Economy in Brazil. With a strong engagement in the Solidarity Economy movement since 2005, she actively supports workers from all segments of the informal economy. Edileuza is also a member of the Interim Committee of COTRADO ALAC, further contributing to advocating for the rights of informal economy workers.

Discussion on International Home-Based Workers Day - Municipality of El Bosque, Chile

October, 2021

Patricia Coñoman, Councilwoman of the Municipality of El Bosque and HNI IWC member talks about the history of home-based workers in Chile, their struggles and achievements.

cotrado-alac-logo

Founded:

2017

Contact:

Email

Countries:

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay.

Resources:

Search