Experience sharing on organising informal economy workers in Africa

Members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) visited Dakar from 1 to 3 June 2016 for a workshop with their Senegalese counterparts from the Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs du Sénégal (CNTS). The representatives of these two trade union organisations met to discuss trade union organising and representation of informal economy workers.

From 1 to 3 June 2016, an experience-sharing workshop was held in Dakar with Senegalese and South African representatives from the CNTS and COSATU, both partners of the Mouvement pour la Solidarité Mondiale (MSI - Global Solidarity Movement), an association of the Belgian trade union centre Centrale Générale des Syndicats Libéraux de Belgique (CGSLB). The workshop, held within the framework of capacity building and South-South cooperation, was aimed at identifying good practices in the unionisation of informal economy workers through experience sharing. Particular attention was given to the organising of women and young people.

COSATU, which is about to enter the implementation phase of Recommendation 204 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the transition from the informal to the formal economy, was keen to receive practical advice from the CNTS regarding the organisation of informal economy workers, which is relatively new to trade unions in South Africa. The event also provided an opportunity for the CNTS to learn from their COSATU colleagues, especially with regard to the implementation and concrete planning of the conclusions of ILO Recommendation 204.

At the end of the experience-sharing workshop, a good practice sheet was drawn up offering concrete and practical advice on the trade union organising capacities and techniques for recruiting informal economy workers. It was accompanied by an information leaflet on informal economy workers, inspired by the one previously produced by Senegal on the subject and aimed at facilitating the future work of South African trade unionists involved in organising and recruiting informal economy workers on the ground.

Article by CGSLB

For more information onthe ILO’s Recommendation 204 see Equal Times’ Special Report