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A voice for Mumbai’s domestic workers

Mumbai, 25 July 2016 — The majority of India’s 4.2 million domestic workers are women employed in urban areas. Many of them work in multiple homes a day, and on average earn far below the minimum wage. The National Domestic Workers’ Movement is lobbying for better social security and welfare provision for workers in Mumbai. See more.

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A voice for Mumbai’s domestic workers

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 25 July 2016

In India, 84% of the non-agrarian work force is employed in the “informal” (also known as the unorganized) sector. The informal sector covers a vast range of employment, ranging from work that occurs in unregistered enterprises to work within formal organizations, where employers don’t guarantee labourers any social protection.

Over four million labourers of the workers in the informal sector are employed as domestic workers. These could be part-time, full-time, or live-in workers who are involved in tasks like childcare, cooking, cleaning, and/or hospitality at home. 70% of India’s domestic workers are based in urban areas, and 90% are women.

In Mumbai, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences conducted a study, which highlights the vulnerability of women working as domestic workers in the city: 56% of female domestic workers belong to marginalized and historically disadvantaged communities (Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Other Backward Classes) and over 50% are illiterate. Almost all women do not have a formal contract of employment with their employer(s) and they earn an average of Rs.1964 (approximately USD 30) per month, despite most women working in 2 to 3 homes per day. Furthermore, over 70% of the women working are in debt and have outstanding loans.

Domestic work in metropolises like Mumbai is rarely unionized. Over the last three decades, the National Domestic Workers’ Movement (NDWM) has been advocating for the rights of domestic workers, children in domestic work and migrants in domestic work through capacity building programs and lobbying efforts. The organization organizes meetings in different localities to teach domestic workers about their rights as employees. These settings also allow the women to discuss experiences and support each other with challenges they face at the workplace.

In 2008, the Supreme Court of India mandated the inclusion of domestic workers with the “Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act”, which ensures the formation of state welfare boards around the country. These Welfare Boards are required to provide benefits like family medical insurance, financial support for education, and pension schemes.

In 2012, the Maharashtra Domestic Workers’ Welfare Board (Mumbai would be in the purview of this board) began to register domestic workers and began to provide some of the benefits stipulated in the 2008 Act. However, by 2014 schemes such as scholarships for children were abruptly ended and problems in the Labour Department led to a glitch in registration for domestic workers with the Welfare Board. NDWM is currently lobbying for separate laws for female domestic workers that would include: weekly holidays, paid-leave, and bonuses. They are also lobbying for social security for the 50% of domestic workers who are migrants to Mumbai. In May 2016, NDWM met with 60 members of the Legislative Assembly in the Mumbai Region to submit an amendment to the Maharashtra Domestic Workers Welfare Board Act, which would require employers to comply with the Minimum Wage Act.

In the future, the NDWM aims to shift the Welfare Board Act to a Workers’ Rights-based Act, with a grievance redressal system to ensure that employers cannot exploit domestic workers. The inclusion of domestic workers and workers employed in the informal labour markets in welfare systems is imperative in order to bring a better quality of life to the 84% of Indians employed in the unorganized sector.
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Training and legal protection to strengthen unorganized workers

Delhi, 22 July 2016 — Sensitizing unorganized workers in garment factories in and around Delhi and offering them legal support is not enough to protect them from exploitative practices that deny them a living wage. An effort to reform the legal architecture and give it teeth is the need of the hour, discovers Delhi-based NGO Society of Labour and Development.See more.

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Training and legal protection to strengthen unorganized workers

Mukta Naik, Delhi Community Manager

Delhi,22 July 2016

Delhi has been at the epicentre of a number of local and national movements to protect the livelihoods of informal sector and unorganized workers like street vendors, domestic workers and waste workers. At the same time, the voices of unorganized workers in the formal sector are barely heard in the debate around informal work.

The National Capital Region (NCR) is an important hub for the textile industry in India, which employs 35 million people nationwide and accounts for 12% of India’s GDP. The textile and clothing cluster in and around Delhi, along with Bangalore, Tirupur, Chennai and Jaipur, contributes 70% of India’s exports in this sector. A key cost saving strategy for garment factories is the employment of large numbers of informal sector workers through a chain of contractors, to whom they provide no employment guarantees or social security benefits. The issues faced by these unorganized workers within the formal sector are distinct from problems that informal sector workers experience.

In the garment factories of Gurgaon and Noida informal workers, mostly poor rural migrants from the northern Indian States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, commonly face wage theft in various forms- under payment, delayed payments as well as non-payment of wages. Combined with malpractices like forced overtime, this means that workers barely earn a living wage. Further, multiple levels of subcontracting allow employers to be barely accountable in the eyes of the law. As Shikha Bhattacharjee from the Society of Labour and Development (SLD) puts it, “neoliberal deregulation is mapped on the bodies of workers”, for whom inadequate wages is not only an economic blow but also results in low calorific intake, exhaustion, sickness and poor medical care.

To make matters worse, in a clear violation of the Indian Constitution (which guarantees freedom of association), unorganized factory workers are not permitted to form collectives (see SLD report). Testimonies from NCR made at the National Peoples Tribunal on Living Wage for Garment Workers in Asia in 2012 reveal that a climate of fear is actively maintained in factories through frequent scolding and abusive language to prevent workers from raising their voices. Workers reported loss of work, death threats, violence and abuse to the Tribunal, of which SLD was a key organizer, as consequences of union involvement. Denying the ability to negotiate through formal channels leaves these informal workers vulnerable, legally and financially. One of the consequences, Shikha points out, is the fluid mobility of workers across workspaces, which further reduces the claims of migrant workers to the city space.

SLD works to intervene in two distinct ways. First, in collaboration with grassroots partners like the Mazdoor Ekta Manch, SLD focuses on raising the awareness of workers about their rights through trainings, workshops and public events. Workers are offered knowledge that saves them from exploitation, for example by understanding the consequence of signing on blank papers. They are also trained to construct evidence of employment by maintaining passbooks and saving documents like gate passes and pay slips. Second, SLD operates the Kanooni Salaha Kendra (KSK), a legal counselling cell that guides workers in cases related to wage disputes, violence, sexual harassment and civic rights. In many instances, detailed case files maintained by SLD lawyers have been useful in helping workers get legal resolution to labour disputes.

Through the Tribunal and the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), SLD is using international forums to demand living wages for Asian garment workers. In India, it is advocating legislation to license and register labour brokers, increased funding to strengthen the labor ministry and departments, enforce ILO inspection conventions, recognise and empower trade unions, timely revision of minimum wages and a move towards a more consultative framework to address labour issues. However, specific elements of the recently proposed 2015 Draft Labour Code on Wages that seeks to simplify labour law and create a pro-active climate for investment and industrial growth—like dismantling labour inspections, diminishing oversight from trade unions and undermining legal remedies for workers—do not bode well for the future of unorganized workers. A balanced resolution is the need of the hour to ensure the competitiveness of Indian industry is not built on the exploitation of informal labor.
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¿Reciclaje inclusivo con recicladoras y recicladores en Medellín?

Medellin, 21 julio 2016 — Medellín logró convertirse en una ciudad modelo en términos de desarrollo urbano, según muchos, gracias a la promoción de una planificación urbana inclusiva y la consideración de las voces de todas las personas, incluyendo las de las más desfavorecidas. ¿Es eso cierto en la situación de los recicladores hoy en día? Leer más.

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¿Reciclaje inclusivo con recicladoras y recicladores en Medellín?

Olga Abizaid and Federico Parra, Guest Contributors

Recientemente, Medellín ha sido alabada como una ciudad modelo en materia de desarrollo urbano. En los últimos años, la ciudad ha logrado superar los abrumadores desafíos urbanos económicos y de seguridad que enfrentó en la década de 1980 y se ha convertido en una vibrante metrópolis. Según muchos, este logro fue posible gracias a la promoción de una planificación urbana inclusiva y a la consideración de las voces de todas las personas, incluyendo las de las más desfavorecidas.

Entre ellas están los 3.663 recicladores quienes se ganan la vida recolectando materiales reciclables en la ciudad –a veces puerta a puerta, la mayor parte del tiempo en las calles–. Generalmente, el impacto ambiental de su trabajo no es reconocido, y sin embargo alivia la carga del relleno sanitario y dota de materia prima a las industrias, mejorando las vidas de los 2,5 millones de personas que viven en la ciudad.

Sin embargo, en la última década ha habido algunos cambios. Los recicladores en Bogotá, la capital de Colombia, han obtenido importantes avances a nivel nacional, cuyos efectos se empiezan a ver en todo el país. Las estrategias de incidencia legal de los recicladores de Bogotá, y los pronunciamientos de la Corte Constitucional que se han producido a raíz de sus acciones, han llevado al desarrollo de un marco legal nacional que ordena la inclusión y remuneración de los recicladores por los servicios que hacen a la sociedad.

“Si miramos 10 años atrás, pues, los recicladores nadie nos conocía ni sabían lo que hacían. Hoy día, de acuerdo a todo lo que ha pasado y a la normatividad, en el municipio [los recicladores] son reconocidos”, dice una líder recicladora de Medellín.

La municipalidad de Medellín ha hecho algunos avances hacia la inclusión de los recicladores. Algunas de las políticas puestas en marcha incluyen el desarrollo de un censo en 2013, la carnetización de los recicladores y capacitación para sus organizaciones. Medellín también le ha confiado a algunas organizaciones de recicladores la gestión de centros de acopio en la ciudad. Y existe un cierto nivel de coordinación con la empresa municipal de aseo, EMVARIAS. Medellín también fue pionera en incluir a los recicladores en las mesas para discutir los planes de gestión integral de residuos sólidos (PGIRS) –incluso antes de que eso se hiciera obligatorio con el Decreto Nacional 2981 de 2013–.

Pero la inclusión continua siendo una tarea inconclusa. Para empezar, la mayoría de los recicladores continúan sin estar organizados. Y para quienes lo están, el nuevo marco legal establece que para ser proveedores de servicios públicos, las organizaciones de recicladores tienen que cumplir con numerosos requisitos formales. Para cumplirlos, necesitan, entre otras cosas, desarrollar competencias de gestión y contaduría, y para relacionarse con los usuarios. Necesitan también adquirir la infraestructura necesaria para poder proveer servicios de reciclaje.

La Asociación Nacional de Recicladores (ANR) y la Asociación de Recicladores de Antioquia, junto con organizaciones de apoyo como WIEGO y Fundación Familia, están dando capacitación a las organizaciones locales sobre el marco legal y los requerimientos que deben cumplir, y compartiendo experiencias sobre cómo negociar para el pago de sus servicios.

Y si bien el PGIRS de Medellín prevé algo de apoyo durante tres años, es importante que la ciudad tenga en consideración las realidades de las organizaciones –las cuales se encuentran en distintas etapas en sus procesos organizativos y en el proceso para cumplir con los requerimientos municipales para convertirse en proveedores de servicios públicos– y planee apoyos y cronogramas adecuados durante la transición hacia la formalización.
Esta no es la única preocupación de los recicladores: temen que mientras están trabajando para cumplir con los requerimientos, el componente de reciclaje sea otorgado a otros actores.

Para que el proceso de formalización sea efectivo, es importante que los medios de vida de los recicladores estén protegidos durante la transición. La formalización no pude darse de un día para otro; se trata de un proceso gradual, como lo dice la Recomendación 204 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT) sobre la transición de la economía informal a la formal. En el proceso para incluir a los recicladores al manejo de residuos sólidos, el gobierno de Medellín debería desarrollar un trabajo sólido de diálogo y acompañamiento con las organizaciones de recicladores. Sólo así podrá garantizar que los recicladores puedan cumplir con los requerimientos que se les exigen.

“Tenemos que hacerles entender que hay cosas que podemos hacer directamente los recicladores. O por lo menos, si no lo podemos hacer, pues que seamos tenidos en cuenta para opinar, para aportar ideas.”, dice una recicladora de Medellín.

Los logros de Medellín en el pasado están cimentados en el hecho de que la inclusión de las poblaciones más desfavorecidas es clave para construir la prosperidad de la ciudad. En este momento, el gobierno de la ciudad tiene una oportunidad única de marcar la diferencia para los recicladores si se mantiene fiel a su mantra de construir una ciudad mejor y más equitativa para todos. Close.

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Vendedores informales en Cali: a la búsqueda de soluciones

Cali, 20 julio 2016 — La falta de oferta de empleo en el sector formal, el sorprendentemente elevado grado de satisfacción de los vendedores informales, y su nivel relativamente alto de ingresos dificultan de forma significativa la solución al problema de la venta informal en Cali. Los intentos masivos de reubicación realizados en los años 90 y en la década pasada acabaron en grandes fracasos. La aproximación actual de la alcaldía es la actuación focalizada en espacios concretos. Leer más.

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Vendedores informales en Cali: a la búsqueda de soluciones

Jorge Bela, Gestor Comunitario de Cali

Cali, 20 julio 2016

En Cali existen unos 8000 vendedores informales ocupando el espacio público del centro. Para poder operar a menudo se ven obligados a pagar “vacunas” a las mafias y a las autoridades locales, que en algunos lugares pueden llegar a ser significativas: se han reportado pagos de hasta 10 millones de pesos (unos 3000US$). La ocupación del espacio público genera incomodidad y peligro para los ciudadanos--que se ven obligados a transitar por las calles--prejuicio a los vendedores formales que deben acarrear los gastos asociados a sus negocios, y genera conflictos puntuales, desencadenados cuando la ciudadanía y los informales se enfrentan por el control del espacio público.

Las tentativas de reubicación masiva que se han llevado a cabo en el pasado han terminado en fracaso. Los 289 comerciantes que se ubicaron en el centro comercial Ciudad de Cali II a finales de los 90 siguen reclamando ser propietarios de unos locales que, según afirman, les fueron prometidos. En el 2010 se intentó un nuevo proceso de reubicación de 2850 informales, que también termino en fracaso al quebrar la empresa que estaba construyendo los centros comerciales. Nos sorprende que aunque la alcaldía mantuvo reuniones en 2015 para estudiar posibles reubicaciones, los informales no mostraron interés alguno por este tipo de soluciones.

Tras el fracaso de las reubicaciones masivas, en la actualidad se busca solucionar el problema de forma mucho más localizada. Por ejemplo, en el espacio público generado tras la construcción del Bulevar del Río, inaugurado en 2013, se han establecido mecanismos de vigilancia constante que impiden que allí se instalen los ambulantes. En la actualidad se está desarrollando un proyecto para ordenar y controlar la venta ambulante en la plaza de Caycedo. También se imponen fuertes sanciones a las personas que intenten vender cualquier mercancía dentro del BRT MIO. Aun así, las ventas ambulantes, junto con la inseguridad y la congestión, son los problemas que más preocupan a los usuarios del sistema masivo de transporte .

La venta ambulante es un reto que en Cali resulta especialmente difícil de resolver. Por un lado, su tasa de desempleo está entre las más altas de Colombia, un 11,5% (aunque en el último año ha experimentado un notable descenso, pues en el 2014 la tasa fue del 13,1%. Por el otro, los vendedores informales tienen un sorprendente grado de satisfacción por su situación. Según una encuesta celebrada a mediados de 2015, tan solo un 18% de los informales ubicados en el centro de Cali desea tener un trabajo formal, mientras que el 35% dice estar plenamente satisfechos con su situación .

El estudio refleja otros datos interesantes: el 86% de los vendedores es propietario de su puesto de venta, el 57% dice generar empleo (entre uno y dos empleados), y sus ingresos medios rondan 1141000 COP para los hombres, y 962000 para las mujeres (el salario mínimo en Colombia es de 689000 COP). El 79% lleva menos de diez años dedicados a la venta informal, lo que refleja la llegada de sucesivas ondas migratorias de personas que abandonan las violencia y la pobreza de las zonas rurales. Otro dato sorprendente es que el 95% de los informales no pertenece a asociación alguna, lo que dificulta por un lado la defensa de sus derechos, y por otro la obtención de una solución global al problema. El Sindicato de Trabajadores Informales de Cali, Sintraviecali, es la organización representativa más reconocida.
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Micro-credit expands business opportunities for informal workers

Dar es Salaam, 19 July 2016 — Dar es Salaam, just like many other cities in East Africa, is facing an unemployment crisis, especially for youth and women. Approximately 52% of the entire population of Dar es Salaam is formally unemployed. And approximately 11% of the unemployed population in Dar es Salaam earns an income through the informal economy and informal labor market, which is characterized by a lack of social security coverage, lack of written contract documents, lack of health insurance and low wages. See more.

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Micro-credit expands business opportunities for informal workers

Jonston Weston, Dar es Salaam Community Manager

Dar es Salaam, 19 July 2016

Dar es Salaam, just like many other cities in East Africa, is facing an unemployment crisis, especially for youth and women. Approximately 52% of the entire population of Dar es Salaam is unemployed. And approximately 11% of the unemployed population in Dar es Salaam earns an income through the informal economy and informal labor market, which is characterized by a lack of social security coverage, lack of written contract documents, lack of health insurance and low wages. The majority of informal workers in Dar es Salaam do not choose to earn their livelihoods in the informal sector because of its attractiveness but rather because they do not have better employment options. Their work is out of necessity for daily survival, and they engage in a variety of livelihoods, including street food vending, water sales, domestic work, and vegetable plantation employment.

Informal workers face many difficulties in their working environments, as they are frequently harassed and troubled, sometimes even arrested by the city police of Dar es Salaam apparent reason. The government and city council of Dar es Salaam has failed to provide lasting support to informal workers that would improve their working situations, livelihood, and collective security.

Although Tanzania has a political goal to become a middle-income country by 2025, informal workers are forgotten in the plan. The present Sustainable Development Goals for the period 2015-2030 are not providing a way on how the situation of informal workers can be improved within a region. National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction in Tanzania (MKUKUTA) highlights employment for women and young people, but there is no direct input of the informal workers in the strategy. As yet until now there is no policy instructions and legislation to directly support and protect informal workers. Instead, the priority of the country is on economic development and job creation efforts, focusing mostly on promoting large-scale infrastructure projects and strengthening the formal sector.

However the SEDIT (Social and Economic Development Initiative of Tanzania), which is a non-governmental organization, has defined its position in MKUKUTA since 2002. It has adopted a tool called the Village Community Banks (VICOBA), a grassroots-based lending scheme with a focus on fostering informal workers to innovate and manage viable income-generating activities through efficient operation of savings and credit services. It is a self-financing scheme needing no external funds as the group members work with their own capital, mobilized through shares and other contributions. The groups are voluntarily formed with about 18 people and start with the weekly share value of 2000 Tsh and above, depending on the needs and economic/financial capability of group members (informal workers).

Normally, VICOBA group members begin to access credit between 14 and 16 weeks of a group's inception. The loans given by VICOBA are normally soft and affordable to the poor (5%- 10% interest rate) and are utilized to support small-scale businesses. The loans range from 500,000 Tsh to 1,000,000 Tsh, depending on the amount available in the group. SEDIT oversees and coordinates all activities, including providing training to the VICOBA group leaders.

Those informal workers who have joined the VICOBA have benefited and are now using small loans to develop their small businesses. VICOBA has helped to transform informal workers’ livelihoods in Dar es Salaam. SEDIT is campaigning to create more groups of the informal workers across the city of Dar es Salaam, creating the possibility for new ways of thinking about and integrating informal workers into the fabric of this growing city.
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Melibatkan sektor informal dalam promosi wisata kuliner

Surabaya, 18 July 2016 — Pedagang Kaki Lima (PKL) merupakan salah satu bentuk informal ekonomi yang sering kita lihat keberadaannya di kota-kota besar termasuk Surabaya. Mereka banyak menempati trotoar dan jalan-jalan utama kota sehingga menggangu lalu lintas. Surabaya memiliki cara unik menangani PKL yaitu dengan membuat sentra-sentra PKL dan promosi wisata kuliner sebagai upaya pemberdayaan ekonomi masyarakat. Baca lebih lanjut.

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Melibatkan sektor informal dalam promosi wisata kuliner

Widya Anggraini, Surabaya Community Manager

Surabaya, 18 July 2016

Keberadaan (PKL) sering dianggap memperburuk wajah perkotaan sehingga harus disingkirkan karena menodai keindahan sebuah kota. Atas nama perencanaan kota, orang-orang yang bekerja di sektor informal harus menerima tindakan penertiban berupa pembongkaran warung, relokasi, razia, dan pengusiran yang kerap dilakukan dengan kekerasan. Kebebasan melakukan aktivitas ekonomi menjadi terenggut dan yang miskin menjadi semakin miskin. Keberadaan PKL di wilayah kota memang memerlukan penataan khusus. Strategi yang dilakukan Surabaya dapat dijadikan contoh dan acuan untuk mengelola sektor informal perkotaan. Pemkot Surabaya mengorganisir PKL penjual makanan, dikemas sedemikian rupa dan menjadikan mereka sebagai tujuan wisata kuliner di Surabaya.

Surabaya merupakan salah satu pintu gerbang perdagangan utama di wilayah Indonesia Timur. Dengan lokasi geografis yang strategis, Surabaya memiliki potensi ekonomi yang besar dan kerap mendapat julukan sebagai kota perdagangan dan ekonomi. Secara infrastruktur ekonomi, Surabaya merupakan kota yang kondusif terhadap iklim usaha. Dukungan terhadap ekonomi kerakyatan juga cukup jelas misalnya dari sisi pemberdayaan ekonomi bagi usaha kecil menengah (UMKM). Jumlah UMKM dan koperasi juga terus bertambah. Hal ini menunjukkan adanya geliat ekonomi masyarakat di tingkat bawah yang kian membaik. UMKM ini diharapkan mampu menyerap Tenaga kerja yang cukup besar. Bagaimana kemudian nasib PKL di Surabaya?

Jumlah PKL menurut data Bagian Perekonomian Pemkot Surabaya tahun 2005 saja jumlah PKL mencapai 70 ribu orang lebih, dan jumlah ini terus bertambah tiap tahunnya. Untuk itu sejak 2004, pemkot telah menunjukkan dukungannya dengan membuat sentra PKL sebagai upaya penataan PKL. Hingga tahun 2014, menurut Dinas Koperasi dan UMKM telah membangun 495 titik sentra PKL. Sentra PKL merupakan kumpulan pedagang makanan yang menempati lokasi khusus yang disediakan pemerintah. Sentra ini juga membentuk kepengurusan untuk membuat lokasi lebih nyaman dan teratur. Untuk memastikan makanan yang disajikan, dinas kesehatan pun turun tangan untuk memeriksa makanan yang dijual.

Sektor pariwisata menjadi perhatian utama pembangunan sebab sejak tahun 2005 telah terjadi pergeseran pertumbuhan ekonomi kota yang sekarang lebih mengarah ke perdagangan dan jasa. Secara geografis, Surabaya juga sangat strategis yang berpotensi mendatangkan turis domestic maupun asing. Oleh sebab itu salah satu strategi pemkot adalah menjadikan sentra-sentra PKL sebagai tujuan pariwisata terutama wisata makanan. Makanan lokal di Surabaya telah menjadi ikon kota yang menjanjikan kelezatan dan cita rasa yang khas. Dalam konteks pariwisata, makanan ini menjadi faktor penarik wisatawan untuk datang menikmati makanan dan jajanan ala Surabaya.

Penyediaan ruang khusus bagi para PKL ini diharapkan mampu mendorong kreativitas, inovasi dan kepercayaan diri pedagang di sector informal untuk mengembangkan usaha makanan local dan bersaing dengan makanan impor yang kini menggempur kota-kota besar. Untuk meningkatkan kualitas PKL ini, pemkot juga memberikan pembinaan berupa pelatihan cara menjaga kebersihan, keindahan dan ketertiban lokasi; mendorong pembentukan koperasi untuk bantuan modal; pelatihan manajemen usaha; dan penyuluhan peraturan pemerintah terkait aktivitas PKL sehingga mereka tidak lagi melanggar aturan ketika berdagang.

Kebijakan mendorong wisata kuliner ini terbukti di satu sisi membantu memberdayakan ekonomi masyarakat miskin kota dengan tetap mengijinkan mereka berdagang dan disisi lain sentra PKL menjadi strategi untuk mewujudkan Surabaya yang tertib, indah dan asri. Tantangan yang utama adalah membuat perencanaan yang strategis dalam menempatkan sentra-sentra PKL sehingga tetap ramai pengunjung.
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Unionizing informal workers in Ghana

Accra, 15 July 2016 — The informal sector plays a crucial role in sustaining Accra’s economy. However, informal workers have low wages and are very dependent on their employers. Ghana has a relatively well-developed union landscape. Informal workers have been organizing in Informal Workers Associations for the last few decades in order to create a lasting and sustainable path towards improving their working conditions and quality of life. See more.

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Unionizing informal workers in Ghana

Laura Puttkamer, Accra Community Manager

Accra, 15 July 2016

The informal sector plays a crucial role in sustaining Accra’s economy. However, informal workers have low wages and are very dependent on their employers. Ghana has a relatively well-developed union landscape. Informal workers have been organizing in Informal Workers Associations for the last few decades in order to create a lasting and sustainable path towards improving their working conditions and quality of life.

In 2013, the Council for Informal Workers Association (CIWA) was established and in 2015 it became its own union – UNIWA (Union of Informal Workers Associations). UNIWA is a member of Ghana’s "mouthpiece" for unionized workers, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which consists of eighteen national unions with a total worker membership of about 500,000. Although informal workers are still not represented anywhere near well enough considering their numbers, UNIWA is a step in the right direction for informal workers’ rights. Informal workers will now have to be taken more seriously by the Ghanaian government. So far, little of the government-promised measures like minimum wages and improved social protection have been implemented.

UNIWA offers support for demanding fair wages, clarifying legal issues and disputes, and implementing a healthy work environment. Many other TUC unions allow informal workers as affiliates. So far, UNIWA has nine informal workers associations as members (including the Greater Accra Tomato Traders Association, Ga East Traders Association and New Makola Market Traders Union) and it is expected that many more will join in 2016. TUC offers vocational training for workers in the country’s informal economy. This also includes awareness-building of workers’ rights and adequate working conditions, including better account management.

However, there is also some scepticism regarding this unionization of informal labor. The financial burden of paying membership fees to unions or associations is considered high for some informal workers, and although UNIWA is growing in numbers, they are still dependent on political will. Leverage is increasing, though, and UNIWA stated that they are "riding on the leverage of the TUC." Access to UNIWA is being simplified to include as many workers as possible.

Another concern is the monopoly of the union. Informal workers who are not part of it may lose the little bargaining power they have. Their working conditions will continue to be determined by their employer and there is a danger that the government might react to UNIWA’s demands but neglect the other informal workers. A strike is one of TUC’s main strategies and its deputy General Secretary said that TUC will count on the numbers of informal workers when striking. This might prove to be problematic since every day without work is an unpaid day.

Aside from unions and associations, there are other bottom-up initiatives for improving informal workers’ labor conditions. Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) conducted an Informal Economy Budget Analysis in 2013/14 together with workers to examine how government budgets address the informal economy. While their results were shocking (i.e., the local governments show almost no support for informal economy workers), the analysis served to voice this concern of lacking support. Together with the TUC, WIEGO also launched StreetNet in Ghana, an organization of street vendors that supports negotiations between informal vendors, traders, and local governments with a focus on full participation of informal workers.

In conclusion, Accra’s informal workforce is essential to the city’s economic success and needs to be supported much better by the government in order to guarantee inclusiveness and improved livelihoods. The most interesting initiatives, however, come from the bottom up with small associations joining forces with a large union to advocate for the rights of informal workers.Close.

Photo Credit: Francisco Anzola, Accra Market, 2008

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Los recicladores en Bogotá: luchando por el reconocimiento legal

Bogotá, 14 julio 2016 — Los recicladores juegan un papel crucial, tanto desde el punto de vista económico como medio ambiental. Sin embargo, su labor ha sido siempre infravalorada, y se les ha privado de los derechos laborales más básicos. La Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá ha liderado una serie de batalles legales y políticas que ha logrado cambiar esta situación. Leer más.

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Los recicladores en Bogotá: luchando por el reconocimiento legal

Jorge Bela, Gestor Comunitario de Bogotá

Bogotá, 14 julio 2016

Cada noche, poco después de la caída del sol, es fácil ver por las calles de Bogotá un elevado número de personas dedicadas al reciclaje de residuos sólidos. Realizan su trabajo en silencio, separando los materiales de la basura, y sin interferir en el transitar de los peatones. Aunque el número exacto de recicladores es difícil de concretar, la Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá afirma que son unos 21.000, un 31% de los cuales son mujeres. Según datos del banco Mundial, citados por la ARB, un 1% de la capital de Colombia se dedica profesionalmente a este trabajo. Por sus manos pasa una cantidad significativa de las cerca de 6.400 toneladas de basura que genera la mega urbe.

Su papel está cada vez más valorado, pues tiene un impacto medioambiental considerable. Cada año más de 86.000 toneladas de materiales reciclables son apartadas del flujo de desechos para ser reutilizados. Aunque esta cifra es aun relativamente baja, se estima que no llega al 16% de todo el material potencialmente recuperable, si tiene un alcance significativo.

A pesar de su importancia, el trabajo de reciclado ha sido realizado por personas tradicionalmente marginadas socialmente. Con ingresos muy por debajo de los mínimos legales, y sin ninguna protección social. La situación empezó a cambiar tras una sentencia del año 2003, en el que el Tribunal Constitucional colombiano ordenó que se reconociera el trabajo de los recicladores. Sin embargo, como tantas veces sucede en Colombia, las decisiones judiciales no son suficientemente respetadas, y fue necesaria una nueva sentencia, en 2011, para que la administración del entonces alcalde Gustavo Petro, ordenara la integración formal de este colectivo en el esquema de recogida de basuras. El esquema contempla el pago de una cantidad fija según la cantidad de residuos reciclados.

En este proceso fue crucial el papel jugado por la Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá (ARB) . Fue esta organización, creada en 1991, la que interpuso las acciones judiciales que desembocaron en las sentencias del Tribunal Constitucional. Con cerca de 5.000 afiliados, la ARB es la mayor agrupación de su tipo. Su directora, Nohra Padilla, comenzó a trabajar como recicladora cuando tenía 7 años. Su familia, como tantas otras en su país, había llegado a Bogotá huyendo de la violencia que asolaba las regiones rurales.

La ARB no solo cumple funciones reivindicativas, sino que también imparte formación entre sus integrantes. Ofrece cursos en materias tan diversas como la capacitación en nuevas técnicas y seguridad en el reciclaje, o seminarios de fortalecimiento del liderazgo entre las mujeres. También ha trabajado con organismos multilaterales, como el BID, en la administración de programas de mejoramiento de la situación de los recicladores.

El futuro inmediato sigue lleno de incertidumbre. Por un lado, han surgido acusaciones de corrupción sobre el sistema establecido por la administración anterior. Por otro lado, la nueva administración ha lanzado una propuesta de nuevo modelo de recogida de residuos para Bogotá, que busca privatizar de nuevo el servicio. Aunque en el proyecto queda garantizada la integración formal de los recicladores, la ARB tendrá que trabajar firmemente para que este promesa no quede, una vez más, olvidada una vez que el nuevo modelo sea realmente implementado.Close.

Foto: Jorge Bela

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How normal is society’s normality? ‘The Ma(i)de Sessions’ – a talk show with domestic workers

Johannesburg, 13 July 2016 — The affluent suburbs of South African cities are served by a massive domestic work force. During apartheid, black women became domestic workers for white households due to restrictions on the jobs black people could perform. While rights, wages, legislation and living conditions all remain key issues, one team has branched away from traditional activism to establish a talk show called the ‘The Ma(i)de Sessions’, to speak with and about South African society from the point of view of one its most ubiquitous but invisible peoples.
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How normal is society’s normality? ‘The Ma(i)de Sessions’ – a talk show with domestic workers

Tariq Toffa, Johannesburg Community Manager, and Garret Gantner

Johannesburg, 13 July 2016

The affluent suburbs of South African cities are served by a massive domestic work force. Across the country, approximately one fifth of all women work as domestic workers in an industry that has been deeply shaped by social, political, economic and cultural forces. Perhaps ever since the days when South Africa had been a colonial slave society was a servant class a societal norm, and later, during apartheid, black women became domestic workers for white households due to restrictions on jobs black people could perform (by law they could not perform any skilled labor). Thus today, upper-middle class households are mostly white, domestic workers mostly poorly-educated black women (African and coloured), and gardeners mostly black men. Such prescriptive gender, racial, and class dynamics (although in the last two decades the middle-class has begun to diversify somewhat) forms an entrenched and unquestioned part of the structural normalities of contemporary South African society.

Rights, wages, legislation and living conditions all remain the key issues. Over half of domestic workers earn the minimum wage (R2065.47 or $144 per month in 2014), and even the more ‘generous’ employers still generally fall short of the R5056 ($352) estimated in 2015 as a household's minimal monthly need. Formed when the presence of black people in the cities was illegal, it is also an industry that imposes forced migrancy on workers. Many domestic workers live on the property of their employer in ‘servants quarters’, separated from their families and full social lives, or alternatively they commute from the former government sanctioned black townships or from more recently formed informal settlements. Within such established frameworks, domestic work is often characterised by fragmented social lives, poverty, vulnerability to exploitation, and feelings of inferiority and racial prejudice.

These issues, despite their ubiquity, are rarely the subject of sustained discussion in the public sphere. Only occasionally – but always contentiously and emotively – do they emerge. But one team wishes to extend the discussion, to forefront the voices of domestic workers themselves, and to plant it firmly in the public sphere. The team is made up of two young black professional women, Mbali Njomane and Tuliza Sindi, who established ‘The Ma(i)de Sessions’ in early 2016, a talk show featured as a weekly podcast on the popular CliffCentral online radio platform.

The duo see the project as a work of empowerment, to "awaken historically unheard voices whilst elevating them to their rightful place in our social, cultural, and economic narratives." Like the protagonist in the 2011 American period film, 'The Help', who writes a book from the point of view of the maids, the show also branches away from traditional activism to offer a broader contribution: “Domestic workers and cleaners occupy a unique position in a society. (…)These women have the potential to be the most powerful and astute social commentators as they hold a mirror to ourselves, to our children, and to our fellow citizens.” The team plans to develop the platform to bring these "invisible" people together with other diverse groups into one conversation: "I’m talking about bringing together taxi drivers, Jewish trust fund kids, Afrikaner capitalists, and Indian housewives for instance."

In both analytical and intimate ways, the themes they wish to explore are ambitious, such as wealth and poverty, animal rights, the politics of the built environment, injustice within the legal system, customary and Western law, women’s empowerment, and tradition and modernity. They invite us to "be a fly on the wall" – along with them – as they embark on this unique and oblique social project, with society’s integral but invisible people as its moral compass.
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Photo: A ‘gardener’ cleans windows in an affluent Johannesburg suburb. Credit: Tariq Toffa

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Projeto de Lei Fortalece Economia Solidária em Curitiba

Curitiba, 12 julho 2016 — Além de representar uma inevitável luta por sobrevivência frente ao desemprego e à crescente exclusão, a Economia Solidária é uma resistência ao modelo que causa este cenário em primeiro lugar. E agora, em Curitiba, esta dinâmica econômica está mais forte do que nunca, graças a um projeto de lei que a reconhece oficialmente como fonte de trabalho e renda, definindo atribuições do poder público para o seu avanço e integração no mercado.Leia mais.

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Projeto de Lei Fortalece Economia Solidária em Curitiba

Andréa Azambuja, Coordenadora da Rede em Curitiba

Curitiba, 12 julho 2016

Em resumo, a Economia Solidária é um conjunto de atividades econômicas organizadas sob a forma de autogestão, com propriedade coletiva, igualdade entre os membros e partilha dos resultados. Trabalhando de forma colaborativa em associações de produção, cooperativas de agricultura familiar, cooperativas de coleta e reciclagem, bancos comunitários, redes de artesãos... os "profissionais solidários" têm se multiplicado no Brasil, unindo forças para combater o atual cenário de recessão econômica e aumento do desemprego formal ¬– uma tarefa nada fácil, graças às limitações inerentes à informalidade.

Em Curitiba, desde fevereiro deste ano, no entanto, a Economia Solidária tem se fortalecido graças à aprovação do Projeto de Lei Municipal de Fomento à Economia Popular e Solidária (nº 005.00156.2015), que aguarda sanção do Prefeito Gustavo Fruet e deve reconhecer o segmento oficialmente como fonte de trabalho e renda, definindo atribuições do poder público para o seu avanço, integração no mercado e para a autos sustentabilidade de suas atividades.

Entre as previsões da nova lei, está a qualificação, a formalização das entidades, a criação de espaços públicos para que os produtos sejam comercializados e o fomento de uma rede metropolitana. Isso incluí, por exemplo, linhas de créditos especiais, garantias diferenciadas, programas de capacitação e a criação do Selo de Economia Popular e Solidária, para a identificação dos empreendimentos pelos consumidores.

A criação do Projeto de Lei, assim como seu texto-base, foi resultado da 1ª Conferência Municipal da Economia Popular e Solidária de Curitiba (Comsol), realizada em julho de 2013 graças aos esforços de entidades independentes de assessoria e fomento deste modelo alternativo de relações trabalhistas. Na capital paranaense, um desses grupos é o CEFURIA, sociedade civil sem fins lucrativos em atividade desde 1981 para a fortalecer o protagonismo popular.

Entre iniciativas com catadores de materiais recicláveis, com a população em situação de rua, clubes de trocas, feiras de economia popular, programas de formação e serviços de documentação – para citar algumas das modalidades de atividades que apoia ¬– o CENFURIA está na linha de frente da Rede de Padarias Comunitárias Fermento na Massa, um projeto de geração de renda de 1996 baseado no resgate da cidadania, dignidade, solidariedade e na recuperação da autoestima.

Hoje, ao todo, 30 padarias compõe a rede, envolvendo cerca de 130 pessoas. A produção mensal de pães varia de 25 mil a 30 mil unidades, o que gera o valor bruto de cerca de R$ 1,2 milhão ao ano – serviço que, com a nova lei, poderá inclusive ser contratado pelo poder público.

A rede de padarias comunitárias é apenas um exemplo do alcance da Economia Solidária no Brasil. Segundo dados levantados em 2010 pelo Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego, estima-se que haja pelo menos 21 mil empreendimentos do tipo no país, em geral, não reconhecidos nem pelo mercado, nem pelo Estado. Se estas iniciativas não geram emprego strictu senso, com carteira assinada, criam oportunidades, receita e experiência para que pessoas consigam se inserir novamente no mercado formal de trabalho, quando este as comportar.

Além de representar a inevitável luta por sobrevivência frente ao desemprego e à crescente exclusão, esta dinâmica econômica também se manifesta como uma resistência ao modelo que o causou em primeiro lugar, o capitalismo selvagem baseado do lucro indiscriminado. Suas bases, em vez disso, são valores como a ética, a equidade e a solidariedade – mais um motivo para que sua sustentabilidade, visibilidade e emancipação seja garantida. Close.

Foto: CEFURIA

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A voice for Mumbai’s domestic workers

A voice for Mumbai’s domestic workers

Ashali Bhandari, Mumbai Community Manager

Mumbai, 25 July 2016

Training and legal protection to strengthen unorganized workers

Training and legal protection to strengthen unorganized workers

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Vendedores informales en Cali: a la búsqueda de soluciones

Street vendors in Cali: looking for solutions

Vendedores informales en Cali: a la búsqueda de soluciones

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Cali, 20 julio 2016

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Jorge Bela, Cali Community Manager

Cali, 20 July 2016

Micro-credit expands business opportunities for informal workers

Micro-credit expands business opportunities for informal workers

Jonston Weston, Dar es Salaam Community Manager

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Involving street vendors in culinary tourism

Melibatkan sektor informal dalam promosi wisata kuliner

Widya Anggraini, Surabaya Community Manager

Surabaya, 18 July 2016

Involving street vendors in culinary tourism

Widya Anggraini, Surabaya Community Manager

Surabaya, 18 July 2016

Unionizing informal workers in Ghana

Unionizing informal workers in Ghana

Laura Puttkamer, Accra Community Manager

Accra, 15 July 2016

Los recicladores en Bogotá: luchando por el reconocimiento legal

Recyclers in Bogota fighting for legal recognition

Los recicladores en Bogotá: luchando por el reconocimiento legal

Jorge Bela, Gestor Comunitario de Bogotá

Bogotá, 14 julio 2016

Recyclers in Bogota fighting for legal recognition

Jorge Bela, Bogotá Community Manager

Bogotá, 14 July 2016

How normal is society’s normality? ‘The Ma(i)de Sessions’ – a talk show with domestic workers

How normal is society’s normality? ‘The Ma(i)de Sessions’ – a talk show with domestic workers

Tariq Toffa, Johannesburg Community Manager, and Garret Gantner

Johannesburg, 13 July 2016

Projeto de Lei Fortalece Economia Solidária em Curitiba

Legal bill strengthens solidarity economy in Curitiba

Projeto de Lei Fortalece Economia Solidária em Curitiba

Andréa Azambuja, Coordenadora da Rede em Curitiba

Curitiba, 12 julho 2016

Legal bill strengthens solidarity economy in Curitiba

Andréa Azambuja, Curitiba Community Manager

Curitiba, 12 July 2016