Laws, policies, and regulations, or what we call institutional power, can limit or protect workers. We need to learn what laws and regulations affect us and then plan how we will work within the legal framework or how we can improve it.
We can campaign and organise for better laws, policies and regulations to provide additional protections, negotiating structures for workers or improve working conditions. If you are planning to improve laws or policies, you will find helpful materials in the section of the Tool Kit on Advocacy.
We need to not only defend our rights, but also extend our rights. We can be both defensive and proactive. For example, a court case that prevents local authorities evicting street vendors in one part of the city may help street vendors in another part, or in another city. A successful initiative to extend labour law to a particular sector in the informal economy can be the basis of future protection of all workers. It is important to take advantage of extending local gains more widely and to seek ways to initiate or contribute to national and international campaigns.
We need to understand our legal frameworks, but not be trapped or controlled by them. Our plans should be set by our situation and strategy, not unduly constrained by the legal framework.
When workers who are organising face employer pressure or repression, we will often need to create a higher benchmark for worker involvement than the minimum the law requires. Below are three examples of this, from India, Argentina and English-speaking Africa.
In India, a registered trade union of workers “shall at all times continue to have not less than 10% or one hundred of the workers, whichever is less.” Once the union has 10% membership, it can register with the labour board. However, the union might want to instead wait until it has reached a collectively agreed-upon benchmark for the number of workers that should be involved before registering. If there is a lot of repression, the benchmark might need to be much higher than the legally required number. There are legal protections that give workers the right to organise in India, including freedom of association and core labour standards. The laws are strong, but delays are common, so careful thought is required before going public at the official registration with the labour board.
In Argentina, the law protects workers who are elected as union delegates from termination. In a workforce of 400, the union would be allowed to elect 5 delegates. The legal protection allows these delegates to communicate with their co-workers and challenge the employer without fear of discipline. This is very helpful to organising. However, problems can occur if the rest of the workers slow down their involvement because they are waiting for the 5 protected delegates to do the organising work. To overcome this you might want a much higher number of delegates. You could elect this larger number of delegates with the 5 top vote-getters becoming the 5 legally protected delegates.
In much of English-speaking Africa, the law provides for recognition once the union has signed up 50% plus one (a simple majority) of the workers as union members. The union can lose recognition if it falls below a simple majority membership. Pressure and retaliation usually increases when the union membership is close to the 50% threshold, as the employer attempts to deny the union the possibility of legal recognition. Some unions therefore set a benchmark of 75% membership before they seek public legal recognition in order to protect against employer retaliation.
Some countries have limited the activities that unions can carry out through secondary boycott laws. Usually consumers and informational leaflets are still allowed. Make sure you understand any such laws or regulations that could impact your work if you are creating pressure against an employer who is not the direct employer.
Working conditions for informal and precarious workers may be controlled or impacted by local or national government laws and regulations. Informal and precarious workers may not be covered by traditional labour laws for union recognition. This can allow workers to develop their own benchmarks regarding the number of workers they need to be involved in the union. Benchmarks are particularly important before going public with our demands.
Gather information about laws and regulations that affect your organising and campaigning.
Discuss whether it is useful to set benchmarks related to any of the legal or policy frameworks and requirements.
Can you use the laws that exist to protect workers without being limited by them?
Are there laws, regulations or policies that you need to create or change at this time?