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Trade unions work for women in the informal economy
By Estela Ospina, ISAT, Peru
The Institute for Health and Work (ISAT), Peru, believes there is an important opportunity for trade unions to strengthen the organisation of women in the informal economy. ISAT works with informal economy workers on health and safety in Peru and has seen working and living conditions improve as a result of a stronger capacity for organisation.
ISAT asked women workers in the informal sector to share their experience of how trade union organisation has affected them. They gave some answers to the question of what advantages there are for street vendors in belonging to and starting trade unions. Working women in the informal sector in different regions of Peru who have decided to join trade unions, also talked about their impressions.
The Trade Union Organisation is helpful
When I started as a street vendor selling sweets, I did not know anything about organisation.. Slowly the members of [an organisation] encouraged us to form a trade union.. This helps us to know where best to set up stalls to avoid quarrels about the stalls and even to hold discussions with local governments. Julia de Arequipa
Knowing about rights
In the beginning my friend used to tell me that we had rights. I used to tell her that we do not have rights, that we are "like third grade potatoes" and nobody cares about us, and that "That is life". After going to several meeting I realised that in fact that is true and that nobody teaches us that we are workers and have rights: to work, to defend our stalls, to work better, and to earn a living. Gema de Trujillo
Study, learn and empower ourselves
At the beginning I was afraid to join a trade union, one reason being that all of the members were older men and talked about things that I did not understand. A fellow worker and I told them of the importance of running courses to learn about different things like: What is a trade union and how do you organise one? And about planning work among other things. We went to the meetings and talks and although we were very quiet and hardly asked any questions, we started studying and learning from these experiences and of what was going on around us. In this way we are starting to learn and to lose the fear of participating. One of our colleagues confided in us that she was illiterate; we taught her how to write her name and she decided to go to school to learn although she was 49 years old. Fermina del Callao
It helps to meet with other workers
I met Rosa, Marķa and Claudia at a meeting and started talking about our problems. Of the four, three of us are mothers and sole bread winners; we sustain our children with our work, and we get very tired. We have to get up very early, prepare the food to be warmed up later, make sure the children have someone to go to school with; then we have to go to the central market to get the vegetables to sell. Later on we have to close the market stall, to go home to feed the children after school and help them with the homework; then we have to get everything ready again, wash, tidy up, and these are everyday jobs. As we do not have much free time in our hands, at the trade union we always like "to get to the point" to avoid wasting time in discussions and we would rather discuss various solutions for the problems that we encounter. Petronila de Cantogrande.
These testimonies are important because they show the incorporation of women workers from the informal sector in trade union processes. They found the confidence to say that their rights as women workers must be recognised and heard as well.
Even though they want to change their work conditions, many women workers from the informal sector lack organisational skills. Through trade union participation they are learning these skills.