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This report captures the contributions of participants at an IRENE workshop held in Soesterberg, the Netherlands, on 11-12 January 2003. The workshop was organised in co-operation with the FNV trade union federation of the Netherlands and the international network Women in Informal Employment Globalising and Organizing (WIEGO). The report also includes elements of the conference ''From marginal work to core business - taking the 'informal(ising) margins of the European labour market to heart" that took place over the following three days in the same location, and which was also organised by the FNV in collaboration with IRENE, and with the support of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

The IRENE workshop gave 15 representatives from trade unions and NGOs from Central and Eastern Europe (the 'East'), along with colleagues from Asia and Africa (the 'South'), (see Annex 1) an opportunity to exchange information and experiences related to developments in the informal(ising) economy in their own regions. The purpose was to strengthen their strategies for organising workers active in the informal economy, and also to prepare the participants for the conference to follow. They embarked on an indepth discussion and analysis of: Processes of informalisation and developments in the informal economy in their different countries, and in particular the effect of migration policies and practices. Policies of trade unions towards organising informal(ised) workers. Attitudes of workers towards organising themselves. Bottlenecks in organising. How to use existing and new trade union tools for organising workers in the informal economy.

The FNV conference that followed was attended by about 100 trade unionists and labour support NGO staff from Western Europe, plus specialists from Ministries and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as well as those who had been at the IRENE workshop. It addressed questions concerning the relationship and growing dependency between the formal and informal economies - and those performing 'formal' and 'informal' work, and focussed on the challenges that arise from this for unions and NGOs, particularly in Europe.

Overall, the connection between the IRENE workshop and the FNV conference was very fruitful, allowing for the unusual sum of 1+1=3. Holding the two events so close to each other meant that a good cross-fertilisation between both sets of participants was made possible. It led to a stronger input from the South and the East into the FNV conference than might otherwise have been possible. Also one of the aims of the work of IRENE was realised - namely that of relating the issues that IRENE works on to mainstream education and awareness-raising in the European trade union movement.