Workshop: Crossing the Divide – precarious work and the future of labour

Johannesburg, South Africa

Hosted by the Society, Work and Development Institute (SWOP), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), the workshop “Crossing the Divide – precarious work and the future of labour” took place at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 8th, 2017.

Drawing on selected case studies from South Africa, Uganda, and India, the workshop examined new organizing strategies by trade unions and other forms of worker organizations that are emerging in the face of growing informalization and fragmentation of work. The discussion included insights from the “Trade Unions in Transformation” initiative of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung as well as from Crossing the Divide: Precarious Work and the Future of Labour, a new book edited by Edward Webster, Akua O. Britwum, and Sharit Bhowmik, that was launched after the workshop.

Representatives of informal worker organizations, trade unionists, academics, researchers, and representatives of the three host organizations all attended the workshop. From WIEGO, Jane Barrett, director of the Organization and Representation programme (ORP), and Vanessa Pillay, ORP’s programme officer, participated. The goal of the event was to both learn from and share with other participants, experiences of organizing informal workers, and other vulnerable workers.

Read the report from the workshop.

More information

Learn more about the Organization and Representation programme