SEWA has been admitted as a member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), joining 236 national trade union federations and 1.55 billion workers from 159 countries.

It has been a long journey to this point. When SEWA first started in 1972, since it was part of Textile Labour Association (TLA), a major trade union, it automatically became part of the international labour movement, a member of ITGLWF (International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation) and affiliated with the ICFTU through the National Labour Organisation.

However, as SEWA grew in size, conflicts with TLA increased, and in 1982 SEWA was asked to leave the TLA. With this action SEWA was cut off from the national and international labour movements and was suddenly on its own. SEWA continued to grow as workers were attracted in larger and larger numbers and as its methods of organising workers in the informal economy became more relevant.

Informal economy workers not recognised

In the 1980s there were few efforts in the international labour movement to organise in the informal economy. It was believed that the workers in the informal economy were not really workers as no employer- employee relationship could be established.

In spite of this many trade unions still believed in SEWA's work and continued association with us. SEWA affiliated to the IUF (International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association) and the ITGLWF.

There has been a long and fruitful relationship with both these global union federations which were in the forefront in SEWA's efforts to pass the Home Workers Convention in the ILO in 1996 and the Resolution on Decent Work and the Informal Economy in the ILO in 2002. SEWA also joined the ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Union).

SEWA was invited to the ICFTU congresses and was able to speak about the workers in the informal economy there. In 2005 SEWA wrote to the ICFTU asking for membership.

Mission to consider application

SEWA's application was not considered favourably by the existing Indian affiliates, so a mission from ICFTU headed by General Secretary Guy Ryder visited SEWA in April this year. The mission met the executive committee of SEWA and had two day-long discussions with them. The mission raised and discussed the objections about SEWA that they had received.

The objections considered

The first objection: "SEWA is a trade union of small employers".

We explained that our members do not employ others. They either work for contractors or employers directly or indirectly; or they are own-account workers, like street vendors or marginal farmers. Paluben, a street vendor said, "I may be self-employed, but I sweat harder than any factory worker, and still my work is so insecure and my income so small".

The second objection: "SEWA does not do collective bargaining".

SEWA executive committee members listed 102 collective bargaining agreements that they had undertaken with bidi manufacturers, incense manufacturers, tobacco processing factories, municipal corporations, forest corporations and many more.

As Bhanuben an agricultural worker said, "If we do not unite and bargain for better wages the employers and contractors treat us like dirt".

The third objection: "SEWA organised only in one state of India and was not truly national".

In response, SEWA executive committee members from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh talked about their extensive membership and activities.

The Mission asked about SEWA finances, were we truly sustainable?

We showed them that over 55% of our total costs were covered by membership fees. Grants and donations accounted for the other 45% which were used mainly for education and publications.

The mission wanted to know why SEWA organised only women and the executive committee explained that in the Indian context when men and women organised, the men took over and women could not speak. "In our families we cannot speak in front of the elder men, and if they come into our union, we can no longer lead the union".

We thank the Mission and all our friends who have supported us and look forward to working closely with the ICFTU to promote organising of the workers in the informal economy. (Source: Report from SEWA Newsletter 8)

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