Organizing in the Informal Sector: A Case Study in Mumbai’s Shipbreaking Yards

Noiseux, Yanick

doi:10.1080/21598282.2016.1172746

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Noiseux's study of contract workers in Mumbai's shipbreaking dockyards shows how workplace hierarchies, modes of labour recruitment and differences of caste and region of origin compound the effect of the multiplication of worker statuses. He notes that the ensuing conflicts both among informal workers and within the trade union emerge as key challenges, and that union organisers must find the tools and means to effectively address these issues (Noiseux, 2016). In our case, the modes of activism engendered by the welfare boards and the individual-oriented nature of welfare benefits are seen to undermine emergent solidarities among workers (as discussed above) and within the trade union as well.…”

Section: Fragmenting Collectives Fracturing Trustmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…The article has discussed at length the principal contradictions and conflicts facing trade unions in Tamil Nadu in their efforts to realise the welfare rights of informal workers promised by progressive legislation and welfare schemes. Scholars note that the labour transformation associated with informalisation, reflected in a growing multiplication and heterogeneity of work, generates pressures that fragment collectives and render more difficult union organisers' promotion of collective action among extremely poor workers whose daily struggle is to survive (Noiseux, 2016). This study has shown how trade unions of informal workers have to also contend with the divisive operational logics of welfare benefits which, by virtue of targeting diverse household consumption needs, disrupt fragile solidarities among workers when some claims are sanctioned and others refused.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The literature on the labour transformation induced by neo-liberal globalisation notes that schisms among workers have increased in tandem with informalisation and a movement towards peripheral labour markets (Noiseux, 2016). A proliferation of multiple employment statuses has been associated with increased competition among workers, the breakdown of group solidarity and the heterogenising of the working class.…”

Section: Fragmenting Collectives Fracturing Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Defending Informal Workers’ Welfare Rights: Trade Union Struggles in Tamil Nadu

Kannan

2019

GLJ

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The South Indian state of Tamil Nadu has had a rich history of informal workers’ movements and struggles that have pressured the state government to enact statutory schemes and set up worker welfare boards to extend social protection to informal workers. This article discusses the efforts of two prominent trade unions in the state to secure welfare benefits for informal workers, and explores the primary challenges, conflicts and dilemmas they have faced. It explores the troubled interfaces between trade unions and the worker welfare boards that the unions regard as the fruit of workers’ struggles and collective organising of the past. The unions have used the welfare boards to mobilise new occupational categories of workers as well as women workers in the lower rungs of the informal sector. At the same time, the welfare boards are a double-edged sword that the unions must carefully manage given the frustration and disappointments that ensue when the promise of social protection remains elusive to workers. Placing this case study in the larger context of labour movements across the world that have won contingent victories in protecting workers’ interests and well-being, the article raises troubling questions regarding the implications of these victories in neo-liberal state regimes. KEY WORDS: informal workers; trade unions; welfare rights; labour organising; Tamil Nadu

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Section: Fragmenting Collectives Fracturing Trustmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fragmenting Collectives Fracturing Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Defending Informal Workers’ Welfare Rights: Trade Union Struggles in Tamil Nadu

Kannan

2019

GLJ

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“…Employers engaged labour on verbal contracts without any record such as wage and attendance register that otherwise could establish the trail of employment. These made the industry not only a part of the large informal economy (Ahn, 2008;McElroy-Brown, 2006) but also emblematic of invisible labourers doing precarious jobs (Noiseux, 2016;Standing, 2011;Hatton, 2017;Sakpal and Sundar, 2017). Dreadful working conditions and gross neglect of health and safety standards by the employers at Alang have been the spotlight of academic inquiry (see Sahu, 2014).…”

Section: Organising Experience Of Informal Sector Workersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Organising experience of informal sector workers – a road less travelled

Balasubramanian

Sarkar

2020

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PurposeThis paper uses the Social Identity Model of Collective Action (SIMCA) framework of Zomeren et al. (2008) to explain the organising experiences of the informal sector workers engaged in large number in the world's largest shipbreaking industry located in the western Indian town of Alang.Design/methodology/approachA single case study approach was adopted to understand the participation of shipbreaking workers in their trade union and factors that influence their participation.FindingsSense of cohesive collective identity and injustice alongside efficacy considerations have shaped the organising experiences and affected the participation of informal sector workers in their union. The trade union was able to overcome the scourge of invisibility that has been one of the dominant features of informal sector employment.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper treated union participation as unidimensional. Besides, the subjective conceptualization of strengths of perceptions of injustice, identities and efficacy considerations could be a limitation. The paper does acknowledge the gendered nature of shipbreaking but have not actively pursued it as a part of our research.Practical implicationsThe findings of our study are an exemplar for those who intend to organise informal sector workers, especially precarious workers. The empirical findings allude to the role of trade unions in combating the invisibility, which is one of the defining features of informal sector workers through a distinctive, cohesive identity inculcated in those workers.Originality/valueThis paper has borrowed the SIMCA framework to explore union participation. Organising experiences of precarious workers from the developing world provides a contextual and an empirical novelty to our study.

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