Conference Agenda

Trade union organizations have faced challenges due to transformations in the world of work, leading to an increase in informal, precarious, and non-waged workers, as well as a feminization of labor markets. This has resulted in representation gaps as more workers are outside traditional mechanisms of representation, and the persistence of gender gaps due to horizontal and vertical segmentation processes.

As a result, trade unionism is facing practical, theoretical, and political challenges that require addressing new demands for recognition and redistribution. In Argentina, the Popular Economy Workers´ Union (CTEP-UTEP) was born in 2011 to address these issues by bringing together various social and community organizations. The union represents "popular economy workers", understood as those who work outside of formal employment relations, have low capitalization and productivity, and earn low incomes. The popular economy comprises nearly 4 million people, mostly women and young people. These workers “invent their own work” and develop multiple activities: informal waste pickers, street vendors, textile workers, urban infrastructure cooperative workers, family agriculture producers, among others. Most of these occupations do not have access to labor and social rights and protections and some of them are not even recognized as work, as in the case of community care work, carried out mostly by women.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the practices and strategies deployed by the CTEP-UTEP to build a union representation of non-salaried workers, taking into account the type of demands made, the forms taken by collective bargaining and the actors involved, the resources mobilized and the strategies of organization, struggle and institutionalization of the agreements reached. The presentation highlights the need to reevaluate current labor laws and recognize the rights of workers who are not part of the capital-labor relationship. It also recovers the voices of the actors involved and their proposals to change the situation of injustice that affects them.

The analysis is based on various case studies conducted between 2011 and 2024, focusing on different groups of popular economy workers such as street vendors, informal waste pickers, family brick producers, and socio-community workers. The research incorporates multiple data collection techniques including interviews, observation, questionnaires, focus groups, and a thorough review of primary and secondary sources. By examining these aspects, the study provides insights into the efforts made by the CTEP-UTEP to establish union representation for non-salaried workers in various sectors of the economy.

Asha is a Hindi word that means ‘hope’. But the lives and working conditions of ASHA workers in India are hopeless. There are about 983,000 Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers, as of 2020-21. They have been recognized as Global Health Leaders by the WHO in 2022. They are crucial to India's welfare and healthcare systems, providing essential child nutrition, maternal health, and community care services. Despite their critical roles, these workers remain largely informal, underpaid, and excluded from social security frameworks. Lack of institutional recognition and regulatory support has further deepened their marginalization, thus raising significant concerns about decent work (SDG Goal 8). In some states, ASHA workers have achieved basic rights by striking and collective bargaining through unionization, like Rs. 10000 per month honorarium and incentives in Karnataka in January, 2025. But the pan India situation is still precarious. The intersection of labour institutions, worker agency, and policy frameworks has been analysed in order to address such challenges.

This paper seeks to answer:

1. How do existing labour institutions in India address the issues of informality and precarity for ASHA workers?

2. What are the key barriers preventing these workers from achieving decent work?

3. How can institutional and grassroots interventions enhance their labour rights and working conditions?

To answer the above, this research employs a mixed methods approach, combining doctrinal analysis of labour laws and policies with empirical insights from semi-structured interviews conducted with ASHA workers in the state of Punjab. Content analysis is used to evaluate legislative documents and global labour standards.

This study contributes to the growing literature on informal labour, gendered dimensions of work, and the role of care work in developing economies. It bridges the gap between policy prescriptions and on-ground realities. There are structural and institutional barriers that ASHA workers face. The findings also extend discussions on labour agency and unions' role in amplifying informal workers' voices.

Preliminary findings suggest that there are huge gaps in the implementation of existing labour policies, leading to low wages and lack of social security. The study highlights the role of grassroots mobilization and unionization in achieving formal recognition and improved working conditions for ASHA workers.

Introduction:

Almost 90% of the sub-Saharan African workforce make their living in the informal economy. Therefore, any progress toward “decent work for all” (SDG 8) must consider the peculiarities of informal work. Yet, informal wage workers in particular are often under-represented, if not invisible, in policy discourses, unions, official statistics, and research on the matter. As a result, we know surprisingly little about the working conditions of informal workers. Drawing on a case study in Accra’s informal food service sector, characterised by small women-run traditional eateries, this study explores local labour regimes and understandings of collective action.

Research questions:

We offer evidence on the following under-researched questions: first, how is labour mobilized and organized in Accra’s informal food economy? Second, how is collective action articulated in this context? For this, we identify reasons for the low unionisation rates as well as the main demands of wage workers and food operators and their perceptions of the role of collective action.

Methodology:

We conducted a participatory photovoice process and individual interviews with two groups of workers and one group of employers, totaling 20 participants. Photovoice is an action research methodology in which participants take their own pictures which are then used as a basis for discussion. Through changing the gaze, it empowers participants to visualise their perspectives in ways that may be inaccessible to the researchers, revealing locally grounded meanings, lived experiences and issues that matter to them. Data were analysed through a combination of participatory group analysis and researcher-led reflexive thematic analysis.

Contribution to literature:

Our contribution is threefold: first, this is one of the few studies focusing directly on informal wage employment in the food service sector. Second, it investigates the under-researched role of unions and collective action in the informal economy from the perspectives of members and non-members. Third, it is, to our knowledge, the first photovoice study including both employers and employees in the same sector.

Findings:

We find strong power imbalances between workers and employers and document widespread workplace harassment and health hazards. We show the participants’ main demands for union representatives and policymakers. The article concludes that the precarious nature of informal work requires broad rights-based social protection schemes and renewed investments in basic infrastructure. Sustained efforts to support collective action are crucial to tailor these interventions to the needs of informal economy workers and employers and to establish minimum standards for informal work.

A decade-long participation of Syrian refugees in Türkiye’s informal market economy has reshaped labour market dynamics, yet their ability to assert their voice remains severely constrained, reflecting the limited involvement and bargaining power of both trade unions and workers. While extensive research has explored refugees’ economic vulnerability and legal status, less attention has been given to the role of trade unions in facilitating refugee labour market integration and shaping labour market governance. This issue has become increasingly urgent with the rise of anti-refugee rhetoric and the emerging return discourse following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2025.

Drawing on semi-structured expert interviews with representatives from trade unions, NGOs, international organizations, and public institutions in Adana, Gaziantep, and Istanbul—three key cities with significant refugee populations and persistent labour market integration challenges—this study examines the role of trade unions in advocating for or neglecting refugee workers’ labour rights in an evolving political landscape. It analyzes trade union strategies, local coordination mechanisms, and policy influence in ensuring refugees’ access to labour rights. The study explores how trade unions mediate refugee labour market integration, the strategies they employ in negotiating informality, and their engagement (or lack thereof) with the repatriation debate. This approach is complemented by analyzing local-level organizational structures of trade unions and their cooperation and coordination with other local actors, including municipalities as key service providers, civil society organizations (including chambers of commerce and industry), and provincial directorates of key ministries.

Historically, trade unions have played a pivotal role in shaping migration and integration policies; however, their responses to refugee workers have often been shaped by broader labour market concerns. In Türkiye, unions have largely focused on preventing wage suppression rather than advocating for refugee worker protections, leading to fragmented or absent strategies for integrating Syrian workers into formal structures. Aiming to offer alternative approaches to these shortcomings, this study will inform policy recommendations on strengthening worker representation and embedding refugee voices in both host-country and home-country labour governance frameworks. In addition, it explores whether trade unions can act as agents of change and serve as transnational actors, ensuring that returning workers are not forced into another cycle of precarious employment.