What is the informal economy? We explore different worker’s identities that comprise the sector such as street vendors, home-based workers, waste pickers, domestic workers, and sex workers, and look at the creative ways in which these workers are organizing.
Organising in the Informal Economy
Course Description
The informal economy covers 61% of the global workforce and yet workers in the sector are made invisible by blanket terms like shadow economy. This course sheds light on what the informal economy is and explores different worker’s identities that comprise the sector such as street vendors, home-based workers, waste pickers, domestic workers, sex workers, among others. More importantly, it looks at the creative ways in which these workers are organizing for their rights. In the context of a shifting world of work that challenges us to organize better and deepen solidarities, this course aims to provide a platform for discussion and exchange among labor organizers, students, and allies interested in building collective power together.
- Teaching: 6 Weekly Online Sessions / 1.5 hour per session
- Course Fee: USD$60 (Regular Price) / USD$40 (Students/Workers/Unemployed)
- Class Size: Class Limited to 15 Students
Course Facilitator
Nash Tysmans is a feminist, writer and organizer from the Philippines and currently residing in Brussels. She works as the Asia regional organizer for StreetNet International, a global alliance of street vendor unions. Her research interests are in governmentality and social protection in the informal economy.
Class Time
- 5pm: Pakistan
- 5:30pm: India/Sri Lanka
- 6pm: Bangladesh
- 6:30pm: Myanmar
- 6:45pm: Nepal
- 7pm: Indonesia/Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam
- 8pm: Hong Kong/Taiwan/China/Philippines/Singapore/Malaysia
- 9pm: Japan/Korea
Class Project
Since the main purpose of the course is to introduce students to the informal economy, one key output will be to have students identify these workers in their communities and explore the forms of organizing that might have already taken root around them.
Weekly Class Schedule
Session 1 – April 3, 2025: What is the informal economy?
Who are these workers and what is their contribution to the economy? What does labor organizing in this sector entail?
Session 2 – April 10, 2025: Domestic workers
How did transnational feminism win domestic workers Convention C189? How did the household officially become recognized as a workplace?
Session 3 – April 17, 2025: Home-based workers
Who are home-based workers and what are their demands? How have these been fed into international calls for corporate sustainability?
Session 4 – April 24, 2025: Waste Pickers
Waste pickers at the forefront of climate mitigation: an organized union fighting against plastic pollution. How have waste pickers led and participated in social dialogue to prevent plastic pollution and protect their rights as workers?
Session 5 – May 1, 2025: Street Vendors
How has the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in India given rise to the first ever Street Vendors Act–a pioneering law that gives vendors national recognition and representation?
Session 6 – May 8, 2025: Sex Workers
How have sex workers collectives reclaimed the narrative and shifted the discussion toward their rights as workers?
To contact us: convenor@labourschool.org
