지난 6월, 스위스 제네바에서 ILO 국제노동총회(International Labour 
Conference)가 진행되었습니다.

한편, 노동자성이 인정되지 못하거나 기본적 권리가 보장되지 않는 모든 
노동자들을 비공식노동자로서 조직하고 이들의 단결과 투쟁 강화방안에 대
해 논의하자는 차원에서 총회 기간 중 '비공식노동자 워크샾'이 진행되
었습니다.

아래는 당일 진행된 workshop과 관련하여 WIEGO(Women in Informal Economy 
Globalizing & Organizing, http://www.wiego.org)의 Chris Bonner가
정리한 
보고서입니다.(관련 자료들은 국제노점상연합 http://www.streetnet.org.za에
서 편집된 자료들을 보실 수 있습니다.)


:: 문의: 전국노점상연합(NFSVK) 국제국차장 신희철(011-9728-7418)


Notes on the Workshop on Organising Workers in the
 Informal Economy:  7 June 2004, Geneva


1.	Introduction

The Meeting was opened by Kofi Asamoah, Deputy General Secretary of 
the Trade Union Congress of Ghana who welcomed everyone.

He explained that this meeting was one of the outcomes of the 
Conference on Organizing Workers in the Informal Economy, held in 
Ahmedabad, India in December 2003. The Conference was attended by 
trade unions and other organisations organising workers in the 
informal economy.

The Conference asked the international organising committee of the 
Conference to continue coordinating the network of organisations 
organising workers in the informal economy. It gave the Committee 
– 
known as the International Coordinating Committee (ICC)- a mandate 
to arrange this workshop whilst at this International Labour 
Conference.

The purpose of the workshop is to :

·	Explain and inform organisations about the Conference and 
the work being carried out
·	Invite organisations to join our network to combine our 
efforts
·	Share experiences and ideas on building organisation in 
the informal economy

The Chair introduced the members of the ICC present in the workshop:
Kofi Asamoah, DGS, Trade Union Congress of Ghana
Renana Jhabvala, National Coordinator, SEWA, India
Pat Horn, StreetNet International, South Africa
Manali Shah, Vice President , SEWA, India

And noted other members not present:
Linus Ukamba, Nigeria Labour Congress
Rakawin Lee, Homenet Thailand
Guillermo Perez Herrera, ICFTU-ORIT

Workshop participants then introduced themselves.







2.	ICC Presentation

Pat Horn gave an overview of the Conference in Ahmedabad. She 
explained some of the programmes planned by the ICC for 2004-5.

The Conference provided an opportunity for unions and organisations 
to share their experiences in organising workers in the informal 
economy and to learn from each other. Despite the difficulties in 
organising informal workers, it is being successfully done in many 
countries. We would like others organising in the informal economy 
to join us.

We will be working on the following programmes over 2004-5:

·	We will organise a further Conference in December 2005 in 
Ghana
·	Prior to this there will be a series of regional workshops
·	We are collecting and documenting information on 
organisations in the informal economy and building a data base 
through Wiego
·	Wiego is also collecting and documenting information on 
labour laws and other laws affecting workers and organisations in 
the informal economy
·	We will arrange exchange visits between unions/worker 
organisations organising in the informal economy to learn from each 
other.
·	An education manual on organising in the informal economy 
will be written and available for organisations.

3.	Regional Presentations

3.1.	Africa
Kofi Asamoah briefly spoke about the informal economy in Africa and 
the challenges facing unions to organise workers in the informal 
economy. It was necessary to protect the unprotected. Ghana TUC has 
been actively organising informal economy workers since the early 
1990s.

3.2.	Asia
Renana  Jhabvala explained the extent of the informal economy in 
parts of Asia. For example, in India over 90% of workers are in the 
informal economy and more than 50% in East Asia. She gave examples 
of some organising successes:
In Nepal, Gefont has been instrumental in making sure self employed 
workers have rights to organise under labour law.
In Bangladesh, homeworkers have been recognised as workers and their 
union registered
In Hong Kong- there are active domestic worker unions
In Thailand – the Thai Workers Solidarity Committee brings 
together 
nine union centres which are organising in the informal economy
In the Philippines – many unions are organising in the informal 
economy and there is an important organisation of informal economy 
workers – namely Patambama

Some of the main issues for workers are:
·	Recognition
·	Social protection
·	Cooperatives, markets and employment creation

3.3	Latin America
Jose de Valle from CROC spoke of regional meetings held in Mexico to 
build solidarity and share experiences. In the Americas informal 
workers are increasing a lot. Formal jobs are disappearing so 
workers have to do informal work to survive.

CROC has created a federation specifically for informal workers. 
This federation is within CROC, but has its own statutes and 
congresses, and concludes agreements with government institutions. 
It has one million members.

4.	Open Discussion

Mexico
We started organising informal workers in 1982. We have succeeded in 
obtaining social security for the workers, namely pensions. We also 
have a law protecting informal economy workers – the only one of 
its kind we believe. This could be used as a model for other unions 
to work with.

Morocco
It is difficult to organise workers in the informal economy. It is 
even difficult to organise those in the formal economy. 
Transnational companies in Morocco are determined to keep unions out.

Unions generally do not see informal economy workers as an 
interesting constituency. They have no power and there is no 
provision for elections and representation. Forms of representation 
need to be established so that unions take this task seriously. I do 
not agree with the definition of informal economy workers as “non 
salaried” as there are many informal economy workers who do receive 
a salary e.g. domestic workers.

Niger
Congratulations on this initiative. It is important that there is a 
network of organisations organising workers in the informal economy 
so that we all know what is happening. This can be done through e- 
mail and the internet.

In Niger there was an ILO project on organising in the informal 
economy which was quite successful. It included small catering 
workers, street vendors etc. 

We would be interested in an exchange of strategies and materials on 
organising. We developed materials which we could share.

Chad
There are problems in Chad with rising unemployment. Street vendors, 
tailors etc are not covered by the law.

Nigeria
This forum should try and build more partnerships such as with 
governments, the ILO. All have concerns and face challenges around 
the informal economy and we should work together to address these. 
Last month we had a meeting with the government. We discovered that 
we did not even have proper statistics.

In Nigeria there is a still a concentration by the ILO on the formal 
sector. We need to build a programme around the informal economy.
Unions cannot claim to defend or represent workers if we do not 
organise in the informal economy. 

The issue though is what kind of approach we should adopt? The 
suggestion for a manual is very good . We could use it to expose our 
organisers to the issues of organising workers in the informal 
economy.

Hong Kong
There is union for women Indonesian Migrant Workers (IMWU). Many 
migrate to Hong Kong and are subjected to abuse and discrimination. 
For example the wages received are not the same as other domestic 
workers. The workers have organised themselves so they can promote 
their interests and so that people respect them as workers. The 
Union works with the trade union federation and NGOs.

Liberia
This is a  very important topic. Most workers in the trade unions 
lost their jobs and have moved into the informal sector. They need 
documents on how to organise. We would like to be part of the 
network and to share information.

OATUU (Mr Sunmonu – Secretary General)
Work done is appreciated. The formal and informal workers must 
unite. We must:
·	Make governments get rid of legal barriers to organising 
informal workers
·	Learn through sharing experiences. It is not the same 
organising in the informal economy as it is in the formal. There is 
much discrimination against workers in the informal economy.
OATUU will do everything to make ensure organisations of informal 
and informal workers come together and to support organising in the 
informal economy

Zambia
Data is important. The government and other stakeholders ignore the 
informal economy- especially its contribution to the economy. We 
have to double our efforts and show the importance of the sector. We 
must encourage the formation of unions, organisations and 
associations. We must know who they are.

Benin
We have been organising for 15 years in the informal economy. We 
have had several problems with the authorities. It is difficult 
because workers themselves often do not see the importance of 
organising into unions. So we began by organising into a 
professional association which later we turned into unions. We take 
up individual cases; we act as mediators for migrant worker 
problems. The support of unions is needed to get better protection 
and to get more rights.

For taxi drivers the union has a social security scheme. The drivers 
pay into the scheme and after six months they and their families are 
covered. We use this achievement to organise. The scheme is 
administered by public social security funds.

Training is very important for the workers and helps them to commit 
to the organisation.

Workers have needs which may not necessarily be the same as those in 
the formal economy. We need to carefully identify these needs to 
organise around.



The workshop concluded at 15h40 with thanks to all present and to 
the organisers.