Accueil
| Titre : | Organizing Informal Workers Globally: Comparing a Global Union Federation and a Global Informal Worker Organization Network (2024) |
| Auteurs : | Chris Tilly |
| Type de document : | Article : document électronique |
| Dans : | Relations industrielles / Industrial relations (vol. 78, n° 2, Printemps 2023) |
| Article en page(s) : | Diffusion numérique : 13 février 2024 |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Catégories : |
Thésaurus CEREQ ECONOMIE MONDIALE ; TRAVAIL PRECAIRE ; TRAVAIL AU NOIR ; ORGANISATION SYNDICALE ; COOPERATION INTERNATIONALE ; RELATIONS PROFESSIONNELLES ; INDUSTRIE DU BTP ; METIER DU BTP ; LEGISLATION DU TRAVAIL ; COMPARAISON INTERNATIONALE ; MONDEOrganisme Cité IDWF - International Domestic Workers Federation ; BWI - Building and Wood Workers International |
| Résumé : |
With economic globalization and with the precarization and informalization of work, efforts have increased to build global labour alliances among formal workers on the one hand and to organize informal workers on the other. These two endeavours overlap considerably. Global labour organizations have taken on a growing role in organizing and advocating for informal workers. I explore this overlap by comparing two global labour federations: one arising from heterogeneous networks of informal workers—the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF)—and a longstanding one of formal employees that has increasingly attempted to include informal workers—the Building and Wood Workers International (BWI).
For both cases, I draw on five sources: secondary literature; archival material from the two federations; seven semi-structured interviews with experts on and members of these federations, plus a meeting with a small group of BWI leaders; and observations of several IDWF and BWI events. This comparison yields two striking findings. First, despite contrasting environments and historical legacies, the two federations show much convergence in strategy. Second, they clearly differ in their degree of adherence to the standard trade union model, as a result of differences in assets and challenges. The BWI is strongly wedded to the conventional model and struggles to reach informal workers, while enjoying a robust inflow of membership dues. The IDWF is committed to welcoming a variety of organizations and readily mobilizes informal workers, while suffering from an anemic inflow of membership dues. These challenges must be met not just for the survival of the BWI and the IDWF but also for the prospect of organizing globally to defend informal and precarious workers. |
| Document Céreq : | Non |
| En ligne : | https://doi.org/10.7202/1109484ar |
