Conference Agenda

Introduction:

Nearly 61% of the employed population, predominantly from the Global South, work in the informal sector. The current economic system, driven by technological advancements, is reshaping the world of work. However, this system is based on social contracts that historically excluded key economic actors. These policies primarily cater to formal sector workers, neglecting the needs of those in informal employment. A human-rights-based just transition approach is essential to ensure decent work for informal workers. The social and solidarity economy (SSE) offers an alternative framework to address socio-economic and environmental issues often overlooked by governments and corporations. Social and Solidarity Economic Organizations (SSEOs) play a vital role in advancing the SDGs, particularly in promoting decent work for the informal sector. Despite their importance, limited studies have explored the role of SSEOs in ensuring decent work in general and social dialogue in particular. Keeping this gap in context, the present study seeks to answer the research questions: “What role the SSEOs from the global south are playing in ensuring social dialogue?” and “Are these examples replicable?”

Methodology:

The study utilizes an evidence-based multiple-case study approach to achieve its objectives. It focuses on examining initiatives undertaken by four SSEOs [Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WEIGO), Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), Streetnet and Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON)], providing a comprehensive analysis of their role in fostering social dialogue and promoting decent work for informal workers.

Findings:

The findings suggest that these SSEOs play a pivotal role in enhancing social dialogue and promoting social justice for informal workers. StreetNet Alliance, as a global network, connects various associations focused on fostering social dialogue for informal workers. WIEGO has successfully influenced policymakers to address the concerns of informal workers in new social contracts and labour laws. Additionally, FIWON and SEWA play pivotal roles in facilitating worker-employer negotiations, information sharing, consultations, and leadership in social dialogue, paving the way toward achieving decent work for informal workers. The findings of the study underscore the high replicability of these best practices in other economies.

Contribution:

The findings of the study will highlight the successful examples of social dialogues initiated by SSEOs for the informal workers which can be replicated in other economies to ensure decent work and social justice.

The Argentine Association of Workers of Communications (AATRAC), which represents workers in the national postal service (Correo Argentino) and public radio (Radio Nacional), is confronting significant threats in an era of socio-political and economic shifts in Argentina during 2024. This study explores the evolution of AATRAC and its metropolitan branch in BUenos Aires, TelecomB, and examines their strategies for defending labour rights and protecting livelihoods against a series of structural interventions, including privatisation and austerity measures combined with new technology's impact. Specifically, the research examines how these changes have reshaped union strategies, membership dynamics and working conditions.

The analysis looks at how AATRAC-TelecomB is responding to challenges like deregulated inmarket, and competition from international delivery and e-commerce companies like Amazon. During 2024, AATRAC successfully campaigned against the privatisation of Correo Argentino and Radio Nacional, but the union is still losing members rapidly, with a 30% workforce reduction last year.

Using a selection of multi-method approach, this research integrates qualitative and quantitative data. Semi-structured interviews with union leaders, workers and labour policy experts, combined with ethnographic and participatory methods, provide a nuanced understanding of union strategies and socio-cultural relations. Archival research and quantitative analysis of union membership trends, benefits and working conditions contextualise the wider impact of political and economic reforms in perspective.

The findings of this study contribute to the extant literature on trade union studies in three different ways. Firstly, they highlight the agency and adaptive capacity of sectoral unions, such as AATRAC-TelecomB, in the context of the high-speed implementation of neoliberal reforms. Secondly, they emphasise the centrality of women's participation in union structures as a critical factor in addressing unprecedented challenges bravely and effectively. Thirdly, the study demonstrates the importance of grassroots organising, political education, and alliance building as tools for sustaining trade union influence under a specific combination of adverse conditions.

Under the far-right government of Javier Milei, aggressive market liberalisation has intensified downsizing and reliance on private courier services, threatening the Public Postal and National Radio system's essential role in electoral processes and equitable access to communications, particularly in underserved regions.

The findings of our research reveal the fundamental necessity for unions to continually adapt to changing political and economic contexts, balancing the immediate needs of members with long-term strategic goals. This study provides important insights into the resilience of trade unions in fragile democracies and the implications for labour movements in neoliberal contexts worldwide.

Informal work is characterized by no job security, minimal social protection and irregular wages. Workers are often left with limited bargaining capacity and work under precarious conditions. According to ILO, 90% of the India’s workforce is engaged in informal work. The advent of technology, particularly the platformization of work, has further compounded inequalities between formal and informal work, as digital intermediaries often leave no space for worker engagement. It is in response to this gap, in several parts of the country, worker organizations, unions and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) have played an instrumental role in mobilising and addressing concerns of workers, and advocating for their rights and legal protections. Organizations are increasingly leveraging innovative technological solutions to incrementally improve the working conditions and contractual terms for informal workers.

This paper examines digital platforms co-produced by worker organizations and private entities. We are focusing specifically on three initiatives; LabourLine, Sampatti Card and Jugalbandi, to explore their potential in improving the working conditions for informal workers. LabourLine, is a national helpline, powered by an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), to provide free legal support and mediation services to informal sector workers, particularly migrants. The platform addresses issues such as wage theft and labour rights violations. Sampatti is a platform which is co-created with a domestic workers’ organization in Karnataka. The platform facilitates issuance of digital employment records and salary records to strengthen domestic workers' financial and legal standing. The platform generates employment contracts and salary records using whatsapp, a predominant instant messaging app in India, for domestic workers, which proves instrumental in providing them access to critical financial services. Lastly, Jugalbandi is an AI-driven platform working with multiple NGOs to enhance access to legal information and facilitating access to social protection systems.

Our methodology includes qualitative interviews with platform developers, union representatives, employers, and workers who have engaged with these platforms. This comprehensive approach enables an assessment of these platforms' effectiveness in supporting labour rights while identifying their limitations.

The study underscores the potential of digital platforms to empower informal workers and reshape power dynamics, advancing discussions on labour welfare with the active participation of worker organizations. The findings aim to inform policymakers, platform developers, and labour organizations about possibilities for leveraging technology in the informal economy, which could bring improvements in social and economic protections for informal workers.

Over the last 15 years, Korea has witnessed the rise of a range of local, urban-level initiatives oriented towards social dialogue, job improvement, and job creation such as the Seoul Labour Policy, Gwangju Job Project, and Kunsan-style win-win job creation agreements, among several others. This paper argues that these initiatives can be understood as novel forms of democratic experimentalism with the potential to address the need for job creation and improved job quality although there were also limits and unevenness to how urban-level social dialogues have unfolded.

Seoul, as a foundational case for the ILO’s initiative at decent work city, was driven by the governor’s charismatic leadership and philosophy in formulating and implementing labor-friendly policies, which achieved enormous dynamics to stabilize the employment regime under the city’s boundary. The Gwangju Job Project was an initiative by local union groups, which were more oriented to solidarity, participatory, and moderate style of interest representation, substantially played a role in drawing new investment and creating jobs in the automobile sector in Gwangju, which was a benchmark of the Auto5000 initiative by Volkswagen in Germany. Kunsan model of job creation was led by civil society leaders united to labor unions to draw new investments in battery cars after the shutdown of General Motors factor and quite elaborately systematized the mechanisms of local social dialogue, which however did not achieve great success in rooting the new investors in the local context.

All of these initiatives can be seen as democratic experimentalism, which were local joint endeavors at improving jobs conditions in terms of quantity and quality and show how democracy can play a role in vitalizing and reforming local economy. As an auxiliary governance mechanism, social dialogue mattered here in all cases although its strength and performance differed. This paper tries to explain the common achievements of the cases as well as their different performances, which can lead us to understand more deeply the possibilities and dilemmas of urban social dialogues as a means for inclusive labor policies. The variance between these different initiatives can be grasped in the nature of participation within them, and, in particular, the manner in which labor, civil society, and other public interests have been mobilized for support.