Article written by Pat Horn, founding International Coordinator of StreetNet, about the rise of organizing in the informal economy and the relationship with the trade union movement.
“When workers in the informal economy in the 20th Century started to organize collectively as workers, they had to fight hard for recognition as workers who need rights, social protection, and appropriatelabour standards. They encountered an established trade union movement fighting for improved working conditions for workers in the formal sector with the aim of achieving full employment where most work would be done in a formal workplace and workers would be covered and protected by labour laws—and they believed that the informal sector would disappear. But in fact, with globalization and liberalization, the opposite was happening. Formal jobs were declining. Trade unions were losing membership and power; they tended to blame informal workers for taking away their work. So they were not exactly welcoming organisations of workers in the informal economy with open arms.”
