ABSTRACT

Insufficient attention has been given to how workers organizations are challenging precarious work through new hybrid forms of organizing in the Global South. In this article we examine three examples where workers innovate and experiment with new forms of worker organization in three African cities. These include a traditional union reaching out to precarious workers in Cape Town, hybrid forms of worker organizations in Kampala, and workers in the gig economy starting a process of self-organization in Johannesburg. We argue that there is manifold experimentation taking place on the periphery of the labour movement and that the forms of organizations often differ from traditional unionism. Our comparisons reveal that if current trade union organizations are to meet the needs of informal workers and the new workers of the digital economy they will need to transform, rediscover their power and the capabilities necessary to realize this power.

摘要

对于工人组织如何通过新的混合组织形式在全球南方挑战不稳定的工作，人们没有给予足够的关注。在本文中，我们研究了工人在三个非洲城市创新和试验新工人组织形式的三个例子。其中包括与开普敦不稳定工人接触的传统工会，坎帕拉工人组织的混合形式，以及在约翰内斯堡开始自组织过程的零工经济工人。我们认为，在工人运动的外围进行了多种实验，并且组织的形式通常与传统的工会不同。