ITCILO COURSE A-105066 Trade Union on Employment Relations & Informal Economy 20 February to 2 March 2012 Organising Atypical and Informal Economy Workers: Opportunities and Challenges for Trade Unions

Objective Aims: To improve the visibility and status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy through increased organisation and their effective representation by trade unions. To achieve rights at work for informal economy workers in law and practice, including the: - rights to organise, - right to represent, - right to negotiate and of their voices to be heard through collective power - right for decent income, working conditions, social protection & social dialogue

Objective Achieve collective trade union protection for informal economy workers Create conditions for the empowerment of informal economy workers through knowledge development, management and dissemination Reinforced unity and solidarity among informal economy workers and between them and other workers, including those within the formal economy

Targeted Workplaces and Groups Streets Markets Open spaces Construction sites Vehicular parks Shops Workshops Yards Homes and households Fields Forests water Vendors Waste collectors Road side shoe shiners hairdressers Construction workers Transport workers Embroiderers Garment makers Waster sorters/recyclers Shoe makers Metal good producers Coffin makers Craft producers Electronic assemblers Toy makers Domestic workers/care givers Small farmers/agricultural labourers/shepherds Forest gatherers Fisher folk Water transport workers

Opportunities Strategy for: - Rebuilding the trade union movement - Increasing the membership and strength of the trade union movement - Enhancing unity and solidarity of workers - Improving the financial position of the trade union movement - Extending union protection to atypical and informal economy workers, including women workers who constitute the majority of workers in this locale - Curbing child labour, forced labour & discrimination

“Combining our Efforts” Building a Movement Informal Worker Organisations Trade Unions Support Organisations Women’s and Social Movements , NGOs etc Social Movements and other organizations

Challenges Solidarity and collective action is not always a natural tendency among own-account workers as they may be in competition with each other Many atypical and informal economy workers perceive their work as an extension of domestic or family duties and lack a sense of a worker identity Labour laws often encompasses only workers in clearly defined employment relationships – not informal contractual relationships Many informal workers are situated in scattered, individualized workplaces or are mobile – for them, time away from work means loss of earnings

Challenges Trade unions have enough on their hands, let alone free up resources to devote to hard-to-organise atypical workers. Most atypical workers face extreme poverty – their ability to pay regular union dues is severely restricted and may be erratic and vulnerable to external shocks. Also, organisng workers in the informal economy is often seen as a drain on union resources.

Innovative Organising Strategies Demand the ratification and implementation of ILS concerning FoA, CB & Domestic Workers. Ensure that rights at work is applicable to all categories of workers. Advocate for new international labour standards, which address issues such as legal protection and extension of FoA and CB coverage to workers in precarious and typical forms of work Promote FoA and CB – actions should be extended to areas such as trade, investment and procurement

Innovative Organising Strategies Formal sector trade unions should recruit informal workers and newly-formed unions of informal workers into their memberships. Undertake targeted organising campaigns Use a twin strategy of struggle and development by combining unionism and cooperative to reach out to atypical and informal workers. Build synergies with service providers that are active within the informal economy. Work with the Media (Print & Electronic) to project the image of the trade union movement in the public sphere.

Innovative Organising Approaches & Models Community-based unionism Multi-hat unionism Enterprise-based unionism Alliance building National and international Networks

The End Thank you! 