This paper takes as its starting point the fact that atypical employment and work in informal sector is a growing rather than a passing phenomenon, especially in developing countries. In countries such as South Africa, ‘atypical’ employment is in fact typical for sectors such as domestic labour, the construction industry and agriculture. With union coverage for atypical workers at extremely low levels, unions need to focus not just on wage negotiations with employers, but also on social and political bargaining in favour of legislation to promote labour and social protection, such as the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security of 2008 in India. The paper also highlights the role of mutual aid associations, such as the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India, and the unsuccessful attempt to replicate this experience with the Self-Employed Women’s Union (SEWU) in South Africa. In addition to India and South Africa, the paper casts light on recent developments in Namibia and Tanzania, and points to the low level of ratification of International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions in developing countries. The authors argue in their conclusions that labour law must be adapted and extended to protect all those in need of protection, meaning that labour law (including international labour law) must reinvent itself to remain relevant.

The current labour market has many forms of employment relations that differ from full-time employment. "Atypical," "non-standard," or even "marginal" are terms used to describe these new workers and include, amongst others, parttime work, contract work, self-employment, temporary, fixed-term, seasonal, casual, piece-rate work, employees supplied by employment agencies, home workers and those employed in the informal economy. These workers are often paid for results rather than time. Their vulnerability is linked in many instances to the absence of an employment relationship or the existence of a flimsy one. Most of these workers are unskilled or work in sectors with limited trade union organisation and limited coverage by collective bargaining, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. They should, in theory, have the protection of current South African labour legislation, but in practice the unusual circumstances of their employment render the enforcement of their rights problematic. The majority of non-standard workers in South Africa are those previously disadvantaged by the apartheid regime, compromising women and unskilled black workers. The exclusion of these workers from labour legislation can be seen as discrimination, which is prohibited by almost all labour legislation in South Africa. This contribution illustrates how the concept of indirect discrimination can be an important tool used to provide labour protection to these workers. The purpose of this article is to explore the scope of the extension of labour rights to non-standard workers in the context of South African labour laws and the international framework.

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This article considers how the regulative functions of labour law have been developed within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and seeks to identify instances of legal segmentation. The authors provide an overview of the demographic nature of the informal economies in SADC Member States, drawing the conclusion that the labour law mechanisms employed in the region substantially contribute to the legal segmentation of the regional economies. This has occurred despite the constitutionalization of labour law in the SADC region.

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