Crossing the Divide Precarious Work and the Future of Labour

by Webster, Edward; Britwum, Akua O.; Bhowmik, Sharit

• ISBN13: 9781869143534
• ISBN10: 1869143531
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2017-07-19
• Publisher: University Of KwaZulu-Natal Press

Summary

While work-related insecurities and worker vulnerability induced by neoliberal globalisation are undeniably affecting an increasing number of workers around the world, Crossing the Divide reveals that the history and legacy of colonialism is shaping the response of the Global South in ways that are quite different from that of the North. Comparing work in India, Ghana, and South Africa, this book shows how innovative organisational strategies are emerging in the Global South to bridge the widening divide between the formal and informal economy. Farm workers are challenging colonial-type work practices. Municipal workers in Johannesburg and Accra are organising collectively. In India, Ghana, and South Africa, workers in domestic service, unregulated factories, and home-based work face difficult conditions with little or no union representation. Yet, these vulnerable workers are engaging in a range of creative strategies to fight for decent work and living conditions. The studies in this collection are predominantly ethnographic, drawing on the experiences of vulnerable workers through in-depth interviews, observation and, in some cases, large-scale surveys. Together they uncover the largely invisible world of the informal economy and vulnerable workers. [Subject: Sociology, Labor Studies, Ethnology]