Street vendors in Mumbai an exploration within the framework of decent work

Abstract

This study is an attempt to understand the working conditions of a self-employed section of the urban informal sector workers of Mumbai, namely, the street vendors. It takes the normative viewpoint of decent work . The main goal of decent work is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity (ILO 1999: 3). The ILO is concerned with all workers, including self-employed and wage workers in the formal as well as informal sectors. This study is important because it focuses on the concept of decent work vis-àvis the street vendors. Therefore, the main purpose of the study is to conceptualise the approach of decent work as it applies to the self-employed street vendors. The idea is to assess the extent to which these jobs meet the decent work standard and how they could be improved. Street vendors overall working and living conditions have been assessed in the light of empirical data. The present study surveys 400 individual sample respondents using mixed methods. It focuses broadly on the present income and working conditions, access to credit, public space utilisation and unionisation as major indicators of the concept of decent work. In the analytical framework, the study considers the level of income that corresponds to the decent work indicators of employment and income opportunities. In addition to working hours and safety in the workplace, indebtedness with regard to business activity has also been considered. The factors which have an impact on their incomes and the magnitude of this impact have been discussed with the help of multi-log linear model. Access to social security measures, both promotional and protective, and indebtedness correspond to the decent work indicators of social protection. Social security involves maternity benefits, access to medical facilities, children s education, and accidental benefits. It also involves their basic rights to food and nutrition, and housing.