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STREETNET  INTERNATIONAL  MEETING ON

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY AND

LAWS AND LITIGATION STRATEGIES IN STREET VENDING SECTOR

 held near Dakar, Senegal, 26 – 30 March 2007   

CONCLUSIONS

  COLLECTIVE BARGAINING IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY  

1.  Problems encountered in collective representation of members in informal economy:

No legal framework;

No institutional forums for negotiations;

Lack of representation by women;

Lack of continuity in Council structures (no follow-up after changes)

Lack of availability of leaders (reluctance to take time off for fear of losing income)

Difficult to sustain members’ trust.

2. These problems are caused by internal factors such as organizational weaknesses and the lack of understanding of workers in the informal economy about their rights and responsibilities as workers, and by external factors, including the following:

•  Lack of recognition and protection of rights in law;

•  Undermining by public authorities;

•  Social attitude towards women and towards informal economy;

•  Corruption;

•  Political manipulation;

•  Lack of continuity in local government after political or structural changes.

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3. Collective negotiation strategies were devised to deal with the following common problems (among others):

• Allocation of trading sites;

• Evictions from the streets;

• Unilateral increases of levies or taxes;

• Harrassment by authorities;

• Registration system for informal economy trades;

• Social security for workers in informal economy.

4. For each problem, a specific demand is constructed for presentation in collective negotiations.

5. In this sector there is usually no employer-employee relationship.  Therefore for each demand, an appropriate negotiating partner is identified, i.e. the party to whom the demand will be presented and who has the necessary authority to make decisions about the issue.  There may be different negotiating partners which have to be approached for different demands, depending on which authority is responsible for each issue (e.g. municipality in regard to allocation of trading sites, police in relation to confiscation of goods, etc.).

6. In addition, potential allies were identified who could be lobbied to support the demands of the street vendors, e.g. consumers, residents of the city, trade unions and human rights organizations.

7. For each demand, it was determined what level of negotiation would be most appropriate, i.e. local level negotiations with different municipal structures, state or national level negotiations.  It was also determined where bilateral negotiations should be engaged in, and where multipartite forums involving different stakeholders would be more appropriate.

8. To ensure democratic negotiation processes, members of our organizations have to be involved in all collective bargaining processes through general meetings for the collection of mandates, and regular report-back meetings about the progress in the negotiations.

9. Where negotiations do not succeed, methods of pressure which are regularly used in this sector, as a last resort, to pressurise the authorities to agree to collective demands are the following:

• collective withholding of tax or levy payments;

• occupation of Council offices;

• media and press publicity;

• litigation in local courts or High Courts.

10. The central message to all authorities is that all decisions about street vendors should be taken in the context of proper negotiations with their democratically elected representatives.  Where forums for such negotiations do not exist, these will need to be put in place  in consultation with the unions and street vendors’ organisations.

LAWS AND LITIGATION STRATEGIES IN STREET VENDING SECTOR

DEFENSIVE LITIGATION

In most countries, the national constitution protects the rights of all citizens, including street vendors.  However, in most countries there are no laws for the recognition and protection of workers in the informal economy, including street vendors.  Although there may not be laws specifically governing and regulating street vending, other general laws (such as police laws) are often used against street vendors. 

This means that street vendors organizations often find themselves having to defend their members’ rights in defensive litigation. 

PROACTIVE LITIGATION

Street vendors can, however, also proactively institute well-selected test cases to establish favourable litigated precedents which can help to promote the rights of other street vendors.  Litigation is usually used as a last resort after collective negotiations to achieve the same result have failed or broken down.  Cases should be taken up according to necessity – sometimes the organization has to try to get injunctions (interim judgements) for interim relief in very desperate situations.

In all litigation undertaken by organizations, members need to be fully involved at all levels, including:

• members decide collectively about which cases to lodge in the courts, after being fully aware of all the implications;

• members agree which lawyers to use, and which arguments to use in briefing them – usually it is wise to use lawyers with a known reputation for taking up cases in favour of the rights of the poor;

• members give evidence as witnesses in court cases; members attend court hearings in their numbers to impress on the judges the seriousness of these cases for them and their families; regular meetings convened to report to members on the progress in the cases, and to decide on the next strategy after the final judgement; 

• always consult members before making any out-of-court settlements; produce pamphlets or bulletins in local languages summarizing the process of the cases, for circulation to members;

• publicise judgements in the media; sometimes funds have to be raised for these strategies. 

LEGAL REFORM

The constitutions of countries like Ghana, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa and Nepal guarantee the rights of their citizens to earn a livelihood.  The constitution of India guarantees the rights of its citizens to trade, and in India there is a national policy on street vending. Labour rights and social protection are usually defined in national legislation, but in countries like Mexico and India, different states may have different legislation governing these issues – but in most countries this legislation has not yet extended to workers in the informal economy.  Spatial regulation of informal trade is usually administered through local government bylaws.  Sometimes these bylaws are administered in contravention of the constitutional rights of the street vendors.

Participating organizations have resolved to fight for the adoption of new laws, or reform of existing laws, containing the following elements:

• recognition of informal workers (including street vendors|) as workers, and recognizing their workplaces (e.g. the streets) as their places of work; 

• specification of basic constitutional rights of informal economy workers (including street vendors) which are protected in terms of this law; 

• formal recognition of the freely-chosen organizations of workers in the informal economy, and their elected representatives; 

• statutory representation of workers in the informal economy at local Council level and at national/Parliamentary level; 

• formal dispute procedures to be invoked when negotiations in statutory forums reach deadlock; 

• clear definition of the role of different national Ministries in relation to workers in the informal economy; 

• system of social protection for workers in the informal economy (including street vendors).

Participants from all the countries have developed a strategy which they will start to implement on returning to their country. All participants will send progress reports to StreetNet by the end of June 2007 as to the progress they have made in implementing the strategy they developed at this meeting. These progress reports will be presented to the International Congress of StreetNet in Brazil in August 2007 as the follow-up report on this international meeting. 

COUNTRIES REPRESENTED:

Benin

India

Ghana

Guinee

Kenya

Korea

Malawi

Mexico

Nepal

Senegal

South Africa

Uganda

Zimbabwe

Zambia

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