Return

 

International Conference on Organising in the Informal Economy

Accra, Ghana

25 – 29 September 2006

  “Combining Our Efforts”

 Report  

CONCLUSIONS ON THE WAY FORWARD 

  1. The conference resolved to recommend that the new international trade union confederation to be formed in Vienna from 1 – 3 November 2006 should address the organization of workers in the informal economy in the following ways:
  • establishment of a Department for the informal economy;
  • informal economy workers’ issues to be included as a priority area in all plans and programmes of the new confederation, such as Specific Action Plans and research programmes. 
  1. The conference noted that a number of the participants in the Accra conference and/or their organizations would be attending the launch of the new international trade union confederation consequently they were tasked with reporting to their organizations and seeking their support for these recommendations.  It was agreed that they should work together at the launch and during the month beforehand, to advocate for the adoption of the measures proposed by this conference.
  2. A third international conference on organizing workers in the informal economy under the theme “Combining our Efforts” should be convened in 2009, which will be hosted in Mexico by CROC (Confederacion Revolucionario de Obreros y Campesinos) and its affiliate FNOTNA (Federacion Nacional de Organizaciones de Trabajadores No Asalariados).
  3. The ICC endeavour to organize further regional seminars prior to the next international conference. How many should be convened, and when, will depend on how much funding can be raised for regional activities.
  4. A manual will be produced during 2007 as an organizing guide to be used by organizers organizing workers in the informal economy, for which funds have already been secured by the ICC.
  5. The conference resolved that a Forum for trade union Educators on organizing in the informal economy should be convened, using the next international congress of IFWEA (International Federation of Workers Education Assocations) in 2007 in Ahmedabad, India, to start the process.
  6. Networking will continue to be intensified between informal economy workers’ organizations, trade unions, national trade union centres, global union federations and research institutions, for the promotion of organization of workers in the informal economy.
  7. The members of the ICC should use organisational resources/facilities like websites to coordinate towards the 2009 Mexico conference. Participants were also urged to utilise their own initiatives to coordinate organisation and forums wherever they congregate after this conference.  

RESOLUTION OF THE GHANA CONFERENCE ON ORGANIZING IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY  

Following from the December 2003 Conference in Ahmedabad India, the Ghana Trades Union Congress, in collaboration with Self-Employed Women’s Association of India, Nigeria Labour Congress, StreetNet International, HomeNet South East Asia, ORIT-ICFTU of Latin America and CROC (Confederacion Revolucionario de Obreros y Campesinos) of Mexico convened an International Conference on “Organization in the Informal Economy; Combining our Efforts’ from 25th – 29th September 2006 in Accra Ghana. In all, 65 delegates from 23 countries and 55 organizations from Africa, Asia, UK, Latin America and Canada participated in the conference.  

The Accra Conference noted:

The enthusiasm with which the various topics were discussed and experiences shared and a common approach sought to develop a cohesive and systematic diagnosis to the unrecognized and appalling working situation of informal economy workers.  The commitment of participants to find a common approach minimizing the unfair labour practices which characterizes the informal economy was amply demonstrated. 

The enormous challenge that organising within informal economy posed but recognised that it was not insurmountable due to promising prospects for collective efforts at various levels. The conference focussed on the following five themes which were discussed in detail, bearing in mind the need to bridge the existing gap between the formal and informal workers and therefore, resolved as follows:

Organizing Strategies: There was general agreement that organizing workers in the informal economy is difficult because of the peculiarities of their situation and diverseness of their working conditions and class relationships, and the general absence of national policies applicable to their situation. To devise effective organisational strategies we recommended:

  • The establishment of federations of informal economy workers;
  • Development of guidelines for organising in the informal economy;
  • Research to identify target groups of informal economy workers and their needs;
  • The establishment of a department within trade unions to support and coordinate union efforts at organising in the informal economy;
  • Utilising contact persons within informal economy to facilitate trade union organisational drives;
  • Enhancing informal economy workers’ access to credit;
  • Allocating a dominant role to informal women workers in organizing strategies.

Collective Bargaining and Representation:  The Conference noted that laws governing collective bargaining exclude informal economy workers, most negotiations between the informal workers and employers are informal and the agreements are not fully implemented. Any attempt to extend collective bargaining to informal economy workers should be gender and class sensitive.

We recommend the:

  • Inclusion of informal economy workers in existing collective bargaining structures.
  • Creation of new statutory collective bargaining forums, such as tripartite boards and multi-partite forums.
  • Reform of all existing labour laws for the coverage of all types of informal workers.
  • Development of strong organisations of informal workers to pressurise governments  for collective bargaining.
  • Education and training on rights and responsibilities for all actors in the Informal economy.
  • Initiatives on the part of global labour organisations like the GUFs, OATUU, WCL, ICFTU to obtain legal recognition for workers’ organization in the informal economy.
  • Intensification of efforts by all actors in the informal economy to network and engage in social dialogue.

Social Protection:  Informal economy operators generally lack access to major social protection facilities like national health insurance schemes, maternity benefits, childcare and child benefits, pension and employment and income security. They operate under a general absence of Occupational Health and Safety provisions. To ensure that all workers benefit from existing formal social provisions we recommend.

  • Networking and lobbying parliamentary groups and policy makers to enact legislation to promote the extension of social protection to the informal economy.

  • Collaboration between trade union organizations with similar objectives.

  • Urge trade unions to include in their collective bargaining, provisions to cover informal economy workers.

  • Encourage participation and inclusion of informal workers organizations in social dialogue or negotiations for social protection.

  • Develop international cooperation to facilitate the international transfer of pension benefits of informal economy workers.

Skills Development and Employment Creation: Funding for training, low formal educational background, access to training opportunities as well as the criteria for selecting members for training are the major challenges constraining access of informal economy workers to the acquisition of employable skills and jobs openings. Formal sector training fails in most instances to provide employable skills in the informal economy. Persons with disabilities are further constrained by their inability to access public structures and facilities which do not provide for their physical challenge.

We recommend:

  • Training for decent work and sustainable employment in the informal economy.
  • Linking informal economy operators to training institutions.
  • Encouraging formal sector training institutions to adapt their training methodologies to suit the needs of informal economy operators, especially women.
  • Skills training as a platform for organising informal economy workers.

Laws and Policies:  Most countries represented have ratified some of the core ILO conventions, and adopted the Convention on the Elimination of all Kinds of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).  National constitutions uphold fundamental rights.  Not many countries have ratified the conventions on rural workers and homework affecting many informal workers, and almost everywhere the legal status of own account workers remains unclear. Legal provisions that cover informal economy are fragmented, generalised, unclear and not adequately specific to offer the needed protection for all workers and women especially. We therefore recommend:

  • Facilitating the enactment of legislation to cover the specific needs of all informal workers.
  • Work for the amendment of existing legislation to cover informal economy.
  • Ensure that the needs of women located in the informal economy are provided for in all laws and policies specific needs.
  • Campaign for the ratification or the adoption of ILO conventions and UN instruments useful to informal workers and work towards the development of new ILO instruments useful for the informal economy.
  • Devise methods to pressurise the IMF, World Bank and other international finance institutions to allow governments to implement policies favourable to informal workers.
  • Conduct research to identify, document information on best practices on laws, policies and agreements affecting informal workers and develop channels to disseminate findings amongst various countries.
  • Develop international tools and materials to enhance the capacity of informal economy operators to effectively engage in policy formulation and negotiations.

The Accra conference further recommends the following International processes to support national efforts:

i.     Governments ensure policy integration on the informal economy in regional and sub-regional economic protocols;

ii.    Utilising the affiliation of informal economy organisations to several global unions and international and regional trade union centres for information sharing and international solidarity actions and partnerships;

iii.   The working relations between the ILO and the new international confederation of trade unions that will emerge in November be expanded to cover informal economy;

iv.   International collaboration in the production of a training manual and exchanging educational materials and personnel amongst trade unions organising in the informal economy;

v.   Campaigns for ratification and/or the adoption of ILO conventions  and UN instruments useful to informal workers;  

The conference resolved that the Accra process of combining the collective efforts to organise workers in the informal economy should be sustained by:

  1. A third international conference on organizing workers in the informal economy convened in 2009 in Mexico;
  2. Regional conferences be held towards international conference in Mexico 2009;
  3. The plan to produce a handbook in 2007 as a guide to organisers for organizing in the informal economy to proceed as planned;
  4. A trade union educators’ forum to be convened for organising in the informal economy, coinciding with the 2007 international congress of IFWEA (International Federation of Workers Education Associations) in 2007 in Ahmedabad, India;
  5. All informal economy workers’ organizations, trade unions, national trade union centres, global union federations and research institutions, continue networking for the promotion of organization of workers in the informal economy;
  6. All participating organisations continue to raise funds for the next conference; 
  7. That organisations participating in the Accra conference lobby and advocate for these objectives at the Vienna conference to launch a new international trade union confederation in November 2006;
  8. The members of the ICC should continue to coordinate activities towards the 2009 Mexico conference. 

Participating Organizations attending the launch of the new Trade Union  confederation:

  • Afro-ICFTU

  • DOAWTU-WCL

  • OATUU        

  • CNTS Senegal

  • CROC Mexico

  • Ghana TUC

  • FNOTNA-CROC

  • FNV Netherlands

  • Hong Kong CTU

  • IFWEA

  • SEWA India

  • StreetNet International

  • TUC of UK

  • UNTM Mali

  • UNSTB Benin

  • USTN Niger

 

Return