Transcript Slide 1

ISS is the international Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam
The Informal Economy and
the Casualisation of Labour
Blind Spots in the Trade Union Movement in Southern
Africa?
Freek Schiphorst
[email protected]
Institute of Social Studies
The Hague – The Netherlands
www.iss.nl/weg
General picture
• 75% of non agricultural employment in Sub Saharan
Africa is informal
• 93 % of new jobs are in the informal economy
• Informal = Not registered, recognized nor protected
within legal and regulatory frameworks
• Not just “informal sector” but “informal economy”
• In formal sector there is an increasing
informalisation of production and employment
relationships (non-standard: casual; temporary)
• Casual
• Causal through broker
• Independent contractors
Zimbabwe
Kanyenze et al. 1994:31-38
• Since ESAP (1991) ZiCTU recognises the
plight of retrenched > Project Department
• Beyond ESAP (1996): recognition of IE
• 2000: Bulawayo Upcoming Traders
Association (BUTA)
• 2001 CTUC project – ZiCTU IE Programme
• 2002 Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal
Economy Associations (ZCIEA – 150 informal
associations representing 10,500).
• MoU with ZiCTU: facilitate own organisation /
awareness training / paralegal manual (2008)
Zambia
Streetnet.org.za & & Koyi 2006:10-11 & War on Want 2009:47
• ZaCTU changed constitution (1995)
• Zambia: since 2002: Alliance of Zambian
Informal Economy Associations (AZIEA – 13
members representing 47,100)
• Associate member of ZaCTU since 2004. Seat
on Executive Committee. ZaCTU facilitates
own organisation
• Affiliation to ZaCTU gives AZIEA a public
profile and visibility
• AZIEA feels ZaCTU could do more…
Namibia
Streetnet.org.za & Horn 2008: 8-9
• 2001 Namibian Small Trades
Association (NAMSTA – 5 members,
representing 6,000)
• 2007 MoU with National Union of
Nambian Workers (NUNW)
• NUNM facilitates own organising
Economic Crisis in
South Africa
Labour Force Surveys 2009-10: vi
 Up till last quarter of 2008: growth in formal
sector employment (but declining)
 In 2009: Job losses:
-200,000 lost in 1st quarter
-267,000 lost in 2nd quarter
-484,000 lost in 3rd quarter
+ 41,000 gained in 4th quarter
=6.3% of formal employment
SA Labour Market Indicators ,000
Quarterly Labour Force Survey Dec 2009:vi
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•
Population 15-64
Total not economically active
Labour Force
Total employed
Total unemployed
31,261
14,123
17,138
12,974
4,165
,000 Vulnerable Workers in SA?
Quarterly Labour Force Survey Dec 2009:vi
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Vulnerable
Total employed
Formal
Informal
Domestic
Agriculture
Total unemployed
Total
Discouraged work-seekers
9,095
12,974
9,114
2,109
1,135
615
4,165
7,409
1,686
,000 Vulnerable Workers in SA?
Quarterly Labour force Survey Dec 2009:vi&2
 Vulnerable 9,095
(M=4,238; F=4,858)
(M=47%; F=53%)
 Formal
9,114
(M=5,372; F=3,742)
(M=59%; F=41%)
Trade Union Members
 40% was organised in 2004
 Four main federations and 250 independent
trade unions
 Since 2008: union membership dropped by
10 %
 Density is now just under 30% of formal
employment
 t/u members earnings: CB results in 8
sectors 2006 Average Monthly Salaries
8,521 ZAR (7,950 Median)
Vulnerable Workers?
Makgetla 2007
in 2007
ZAR 1,900 per month is needed for survival by
a family of five
 Under ZAR 1,000 in domestic and agriculture
 92% of informal workers less than 2,500
 82% of informal workers less than 1,500
 54% of informal workers less than 500
COSATU members - Vulnerable Workers?
Valodia et al. 2006:103 & Naledi 2006:55
 wage up to 2,500 ZAR >>> 19 % union members
 wage up to 500 ZAR >>> 7 % union members
 A COSATU survey found that union members
generally earned 50% more than non-members.
 Union members stood a better chance of receiving
benefits such as medical aid, retirement fund, paid
leave and a written contract of employment
Should COSATU Defend
Vulnerable Workers?
September Cie 1997
Recognises the existence of vulnerable &
unprotected workers. The question facing
COSATU is
• whether to start organising, or
• developing alliances with, working people in
the informal sector
 Needed is internal transfer of resources
within COSATU from stronger affiliates
COSATU has five
options:
1.
ignore the informal sector and concentrate on organising in the formal
sector
2. encourage affiliates to expand
their activities to include workers in
informal sector activities in their
industrial sectors
3. encourage organisations of informal
sector workers to affiliate to it, or
even initiate the formation of
informal-sector affiliates
4.
5.
encourage informal-sector organisations to form a federation, and then
forge an alliance between such a federation and COSATU
combine several of these strategies
COSATU
 What happened since 1997?
 Nothing
• A 2001 report:
• Continuous recruitment effort, focusing on workers
in informal and non-standard jobs
• Service centres in the regions to reach out to
workers in the informal sector as well as domestic
and farm workers
• Advice centres would both help reduce the cost of
serving these workers, and let workers get help from
unions even if vulnerability at work means they
cannot join
COSATU ?
A 2003 report:
• In the long run, the only way to stem
membership loss is to fight for job creation
and to increase membership density,
especially in the formal sector
• Workers in unions outside of COSATU must
be regarded as unorganised, since our
objective is to establish one union, one
industry – and one country, one federation
COSATU
2004 Bonner
• Extending the boundaries beyond
“traditional” membership type does not
appear high on the agenda of many
established affiliate organizational renewal
programmes
• Whilst the September Commission, as early a
1997, set out recommendations for
organising workers in the informal sector …
and COSATU Congress of 2000 set out a
programme to do so, unions have not
prioritized this in their organizational renewal
programmes
COSATU
2004 Bonner
• Some unions are organising, or supporting
the organisation of, workers in informal
economy
• SATAWU – SACTWU – SAMWU:
• marginal efforts
• COSATU embraced a number of unions
organising “atypical” workers such as
football players, musicians, and performers
COSATU
2004 Bonner
• COSATU and individual affiliates do not implement
resolutions on organizational renewal nor sustain
the work
• COSATU needs to actively keep this on the agenda,
to continuously “whip” affiliates into action, and to
provide more support for affiliates processes. Since
the 8th Congress [2003] it has failed to do this
• Plans of affiliates have targeted “atypical” or “nonstandard” workers in waged employment, such as
casual and outsourced workers, workers employed
through labour brokers and the like, rather than
those who more clearly form part of the informal
economy, such as street vendors
COSATU
2008-2009
• COSATU starts campaign to outlaw
labour brokers;
Submissions
to Parliament
• One resolution in 2009 COSATU
Congress calls for a campaign to
organise the unemployed (to be paid
for by Department of Labour)
SEWU
• Self Employed Women’s Union, registered as NGO,
1994 – 2004
• Membership was only open to women
• Survivalist activities
• 1997, offices in three provinces, 2001 in five
• All financed by foreign donors
• Membership reached in peak in 2003: 4930
• Dramatic decline immediately thereafter. In 2004:
1,967.
• Provincial Offices closed and in 2004 SEWU was
declared bankrupt
Why?
 Slow progress and internal problems leading
to withdrawal of donors
 Only lip-service support from local sectoral
unions
 For main donor: Cold shoulder from
COSATU
COSATU ?
What seems to be the problem…?
 Organisational rigidities
 One industry – one union not to undermine
affiliates; integrate IE organisation in existing
unions. No support for weak affiliates from
stronger ones.
 Organising IE is “Pat’s Thing”: not a
mainstream concern
 Male domination?
 Wage culture – collective bargaining as sole
logic of collective action
Sikhula Sonke
• Originates from NGO: Women on Farms
• End 2004 registered as trade union
• Led by women (because issues that affect
women are largely neglected by mainstream
unions) – open to male members
• Organizes seasonal workers
• Social movement trade union focussing on
all livelihood challenges of farm dwellers
Sikhula Sonke
 improve the living and working
conditions of members and their
dependants, including the youth and
elderly
 enhance the status of women and
protect their interests
 bargain collectively on behalf of its
members for improved wages and
other working conditions, including
housing
 improve the economic conditions of
members by developing work and
other economic opportunities
 represent its members in
negotiations with employers, and
local and national authorities.
Sikhula Sonke – COSATU?
 COSATU rep attended
congress in 2006: “You
achieved what not even
our affiliate could do”
 Sikhula Sonke: “We’re
nervous by the politics
in COSATU. We prefer
to remain non-political”
 Affiliation to COSATU?
“At the moment we
want to consolidate …
maybe in the future …”
Casualisation and Informal
Economy
Blind Spots in the Trade Union
Movement in Southern Africa?
Casualisation?
NOT a blind spot for COSATU; But…..
Informal economy?
YES for COSATU & NOT for others
Zimbabwe successful (given the circumstances); Zambia: making
inroads; Namibia: well willing. ALL use Organising Model
Sikhula Sonke as
model?
• Has COSATU
forgotten how to
mobilize and can it
only represent?
• Is the dilemma how
to combine
representation AND
empowerment ?