Publications

Interactions between Workers’ Organizations and Workers in the Informal Economy: A Compendium of Practice

30 January 2020

A compilation of concrete examples, drawn from around the world, showing how trade unions have sought to reach out to workers in the informal economy to reduce the decent work deficits they face and support their transition to formality.

Organizing Informal Workers into Trade Unions-A trade union guide

19 June 2019

The aim of this document is to offer practical guidance on how to address six institutional challenges in organizing the informal economy into trade unions. The guide relies on practical and important lessons on how to integrate the diverse group of informal economy workers and operators into the formal structures of the trade union movement. It also addresses the benefits and the challenges of organizing informal economy workers, and hereby enacts and supports the implementation of Recommendation No. 204.

Organizing Workers in the Informal Economy-Policy Brief

30 August 2016

The aim of this policy brief is to assist workers’ organizations in understanding and tackling the injustices and decent work deficits associated with employment in the informal economy. It provides information and proposes strategies that can be used to organize, protect and promote the rights and interests of informal economy workers. It has been produced following the adoption of the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204) by the International Labour Conference (ILC) in June 2015.

Organizing for Decent Work in the Informal Economy-Strategies, Methods and Practices

20 December 2013

Based largely on empirical studies, this book makes an invaluable contribution by presenting trade union organizing strategies, methods and practices in South Asian countries.

Winning Fair Labour Standards for Domestic Workers: Lessons Learned from the Campaign for a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights in New York State

15 June 2010

This paper attempts to identify the core reasons for the success of the Domestic Workers United (DWU) Domestic Worker Bill of Rights Campaign while explaining how the strategies adopted overcame particular challenges.

Unprotected labour: What role for unions in the informal economy?

01 February 2002

Labour Education 2002/2 No. 127: An ILO study published 30 years ago noted the emergence of a group of workers and small enterprises operating outside the mainstream economy. The report referred to them as the “informal sector”. At the time it was presumed that the informal sector was a transitory phenomenon associated with lower levels of economic development, something that would disappear as development occurred. This presumption has however been proven incorrect. A greater number of workers than ever before are now working outside the “formal” economy and they are engaged in an increasingly diverse range of activities and situations.

Trade unions in the informal sector: Finding their bearings Nine country papers

01 March 1999

Labour Education 1999/3 No.116: The following nine national studies cover four regions of the world and reveal the stakes and problems which the multifaceted informal sector poses for the trade union movement, irrespective of the level of development in the countries under consideration. Without necessarily reflecting our position, the studies are based on the information available and represent testimonies which are worthy of consideration and exploration.

ILO