By Nina Ascoly, September 2004
IRENE/CCC Discussion Paper

Aim of this paper

This paper has been written as an input for the seminar “Campaigning strategies on informal labour in the global garment industry,” organized by the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC), the International Restructuring Education Network Europe (IRENE), and the Evangelische Akademie Meissen, to be held at the Akademie September 23rd, 24th, and 25th, 2004.

Because of the important (and growing) role of the informal economy in garment production, an increasing number of labor rights organizations and networks focusing on the garment industry aim to become more active on the issue of women workers in informal employment. This seminar is intended to bring together labor rights activists who focus on the garment industry with those doing research on and/or organizing in the industry’s informal economy. By creating a space for the sharing of information and experiences, it is hoped that participants with more insight into the reality and needs of informal economy workers will better inform organizations seeking to formulate strategies for solidarity campaigns to support these workers’ struggles. The seminar is seen as an opportunity to invigorate the dialogue among all these organizations on informal garment economy issues and move closer toward developing a joint agenda for action. Optimally, the proceedings should generate concrete goals and strategies for labor rights campaigns seeking to take action to support women working in the garment’s informal economy.

The informal economy is a broad term that encompasses many diverse forms of work and workers. Sometimes there is unclarity surrounding the terminology that is used to describe the informal economy and the different problems, needs, and experiences of these workers employed in varying situations. Since seminar participants will be approaching these issues from different perspectives, this briefoverview is intended to provide some general background information on the informal economy and the garment industry and highlight some of the key discussions currently going on in relation to informal economy workers’ rights that are expected to be taken up during the seminar.

1. What is the informal economy?
2. The informal economy is global and is growing
3. The role of the informal economy in the garment industry
4. Different forms of informal work
5. Who are informal economy garment workers?
6. Gendered processes push women into the informal economy
7. Informal economy workers are often migrant workers
8. Specific challenges facing workers in the informal economy
9. Is flexible and informal always bad?
10. Action being taken to stop rights violations in the informal economy
11. Moving forward in support of informal economy garment workers' rights

• References and Recommended Reading
• Appendix
  Examples of research, organizing, and campaigning initiatives on the garment industry’s informal economy

353kb - Download the report