Community Unionism in Africa: The Case of Mozambique

Abstract:
This article focuses on the relationship between ASSOTSI, an informal economy organisation, and OTM, a national federation of trade unions. ASSOTSI represents 40,000 informal workers, the majority of whom are women. The members include business owners; self-employed; and informal employees. One of the main initiatives of ASSOTSI has been to establish market committees in city marketplaces. The committees collect fees from stallholders and provide basic infrastructure such as water and toilets, carry out maintenance work, organize cleaning and security, access to selling space and solve labour conflicts arising from the breaching of informal work contracts. It is an affiliate of a national trade union federation, the OTM. OTM assists ASSOTSI in providing training courses on legislation, business support and microfinance, lobbying government on issues such as including informal sector workers in the national insurance scheme, and networking with international organizations. ASSOTSI engages in negotiations with the local government whereas the union federation deals with government in higher levels.