Associations and Activism: Mobilization of Urban Informal Workers in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Abstract:
This paper examines political mobilisation of informal workers during the early 1990s in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The focus of the paper is on the significance of informal worker‟s associations on party politics, while less is being said about the characteristics of these organisations. In Nicaragua the associations include cooperatives, religious groups, and mass organizations. Groups of informal workers that are mentioned are taxi drivers, street vendors and market traders. In Costa Rica, cooperatives and solidarity movements – set up by informal firms to provide loans and other services to their members – are the dominant form of organising among informal workers. These organisations are seen as a non-confrontational alternative to the union movement and are thus supported by the government.