Informal workers and just transitions: toward a new eco-social contract: issue brief 17

A transition to a more equitable and sustainable economy must address the needs and concerns of informal workers, especially women, minorities and migrants who have been historically marginalized and excluded from previous social contracts. This issue brief looks at how the universality and indivisibility of human rights can provide a framework for including all workers equitably in a new eco-social contract for a more just and sustainable post-Covid-19 world

The myth of livelihoods through urban mining: The case of e-waste pickers in Cape Town

Waste pickers are widely acknowledged as an integral part of the formal and informal economy, diverting waste into the secondary resource economy through urban mining. Urban mining in itself is considered to be a source of livelihoods. We investigated the livelihoods of e-waste pickers through 110 surveys in Cape Town, South Africa. Waste pickers often indicated that they were engaged in the sector not by choice but by necessity, expressing that earning money is the only enjoyable aspect of their job. The results from the study substantiate that it is unlikely that waste pickers could survive on e-waste picking alone as 83.3% of reported incomes were below minimum wage, with 22.9% below the food poverty line. Thus, the majority of waste pickers collected a wide array of recyclables. We also found that the waste pickers in Cape Town engage in multiple e-waste related activities, including collection, dismantling and processing to a lesser extent. They work long hours in arduous working conditions which present multiple hazards for their health and safety. Ultimately, e-waste pickers’ incomes cannot be considered commensurate with the nature of the work. Further, e-waste picking cannot be regarded to significantly contribute to livelihoods, but is rather a survivalist strategy. The survivalist nature of the work does not allow for waste pickers to move upwards in the waste value chain and benefit from greater income opportunities. Furthermore, their lack of skills prohibits waste pickers’ transition to formal employment. With a lack of options, it is necessary to ensure that the waste sector provides opportunities for decent work to enable workers to lift themselves out of poverty.Significance:• E-waste pickers participate in multiple activities across the e-waste value chain including collection, dismantling, processing, and repair and refurbishment.• E-waste pickers in Cape Town cannot make a living on e-waste alone, and supplement their income from collecting other recyclables.• E-waste pickers work long hours in difficult working conditions which pose a threat to their health and safety.• E-waste picking is a survivalist strategy

Challenging the formality bias:The organization of informal work, working relations, and collective agency in Kenya and Tanzania

Abstract:Motivation: Formal social protection systems, such as health insurance and representation are often biased towards formal workers thereby excluding most of the world’s working population who make a living in the informal economy. Purpose: This article develops existing critiques of the formality bias by turning an analytical lens towards the actual working reality and related social protection needs, coverage and challenges of people working in the informal economy in Kenya and Tanzania.Approach and methods: Based on evidence from the micro-trade, construction, and transport sectors in Kenya and Tanzania, this article draws on qualitative and quantitative methods. Three analytical aspects are identified that help elucidate the social insurance and representation needs and coverage-related challenges of people working informally: a) the governance of work; b) the organization of work relations; and c) collective agency.Findings: Analysing these aspects, the article shows how formal social insurance and representational systems are not designed to fit the reality of most people working in the informal economy because they have been modelled on and designed to support workers in formal standard employment relations. At the same time, informal workers’ own associations play important roles in meeting - even if inadequately - the social insurance and representational needs of their members.Policy implications: Meaningfully engaging with the governance of work; the organization of work relations; and collective agency in the informal economy is necessary to inform more appropriate policies and measures to provide informal workers with appropriate social protection measures, particularly social insurance and representation. Their reality should not have to conform to an inadequate model; rather the model should fit their reality.Motivation: Formal social protection systems, such as health insurance and representation, are often biased in favour of formal workers, thereby excluding most of the world's working population who make a living in the informal economy. Purpose: The article extends existing critiques of formality bias by investigating the reality of work for people in the informal economy in Kenya and Tanzania and analysing related social protection challenges. Specifically, we look at: (1) the governance of work; (2) the organization of work relations; and (3) collective agency. In terms of social protection, we focus on formal and informal forms of social insurance and representation. Methods and approach: We draw on interview and survey data from people working in micro trading, transport, and construction in Nairobi and Kisumu in Kenya, and Dar es Salaam and Dodoma in Tanzania. A total of 1,462 workers were surveyed and 24 focus group discussions were held with such workers. Interviews were conducted with 120 key informants: leaders and members of informal workers' associations in the three sectors, as well as representatives of authorities, trade unions, and business associations. Data were collected from June 2018 to December 2019. Findings: Formal social insurance and representation do not fit the real experience of most people working in the informal economy. They have been modelled on and designed to support workers in formal standard employment relations. At the same time, informal workers' associations play important roles in meeting—albeit inadequately—the social insurance and representational needs of their members. Policy implications: Meaningful engagement with the reality of work and collective agency in the informal economy is necessary to inform more appropriate policies and measures to provide informal workers with appropriate social protection measures, particularly social insurance and representation. Their reality should not have to conform to an inadequate model; rather, the model should fit their reality.</p

The myth of livelihoods through urban mining: The case of e-waste pickers in Cape Town

Waste pickers are widely acknowledged as an integral part of the formal and informal economy, diverting waste into the secondary resource economy through urban mining. Urban mining in itself is considered to be a source of livelihoods. We investigated the livelihoods of e-waste pickers through 110 surveys in Cape Town, South Africa. Waste pickers often indicated that they were engaged in the sector not by choice but by necessity, expressing that earning money is the only enjoyable aspect of their job. The results from the study substantiate that it is unlikely that waste pickers could survive on e-waste picking alone as 83.3% of reported incomes were below minimum wage, with 22.9% below the food poverty line. Thus, the majority of waste pickers collected a wide array of recyclables. We also found that the waste pickers in Cape Town engage in multiple e-waste related activities, including collection, dismantling and processing to a lesser extent

Towards sustainable waste management in Myanmar – key results from the project ‘Capacity building on waste management in the Bago Region’

Prosjektleder: Ingrid NesheimThis report presents key results from the project ‘Capacity building on waste management in the Bago Region’. It synthesizes primary and secondary data on various aspects of waste management in the Bago Township, including a study of the formal and informal waste management systems and their key actors, and a study of microplastic pollution of the Bago River. Building on Action Research it further presents four pilot cases promoting sustainable waste management practices and behavioural change through a cleanup of a river side waste dump, waste management at the local market, new waste management systems and composting at selected monasteries.Royal Norwegian Embassy in MyanmarpublishedVersio

Social Contracts and Informal Workers in the Global South

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline. Illustrating how current social contracts may be considered inadequate, irrelevant or unjust, Social Contracts and Informal Workers in the Global South draws on the accounts of informal workers to advocate for radically new conceptualizations of state-society, capital-labour and state-capital-labour relations characterised by recognition, responsiveness and reciprocity.Publishe