Cover photograph: Shipbreakers in Chittigong, Bangladesh
Photographer: Adam Cohn. http://www.adamcohn.com
Volume 44 Number 1 (2011)
EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION DE LA RÉDACTRICE
Suzanne Dansereau
This special issue of the journal, edited with the contribution of Ilda Lindell, on organizing across the divide that seems to separate workers in the formal and informal sectors, touches on what is an increasing problem for all workers, both North and South. In some countries, up to 80% of workers are labouring in the informal sector, as neoliberal globalization, with its emphasis on a flexible workplace, has led to the creation of increasingly precarious forms of work. The articles demonstrate the great variety of work forms and organizing, undertaken by different types of groups, including trade unions, who are attempting to bridge the divide. These new forms of work and organizing are stretching the boundaries of the way we perceive work and the process of proletarianization that can only be helpful in bringing us towards a better understanding of the changing forms of labour. It is a topic that will receive increased coverage in future issues of the journal.
Our book review section contains only two reviews this time. We are looking for a new Book Review Editor since the departure of Maimire Mennasemay who contributed many years to the journal as our valuable book review editor. We are therefore seeking volunteers to take over.
As usual several people must be thanked for putting this issue together. This includes the valuable efforts of Ilda Lindell as Contributing Editor as well as several external reviewers. In addition, Adam Cohn contributed his beautiful pictures; Kristen Winters, Gul Rukh Selim, Fiona MacKenzie, and Keimeko Scotland did the copyediting; Hélène Dansereau translated the abstracts and Mehjabeen Alarakhia did the lay-out.
Thank you all.
Editor’s Introduction / Introduction de la rédactrice
SUZANNE DANSEREAU
Trade Unions, Tailors, and Civil Society (Abstract)
GUNILLA ANDRAE and BJÖRN BECKMAN
Reconstructing the Political? Mall Committees and South African Precarious Retail Workers (Abstract)
BRIDGET KENNY
Organizing Women Workers in the Agribusiness Sector: Case Studies from East Africa (Abstract)
BÉNÉDICTE BRAHIC, MARTA MEDUSA lAIYA, SUSIE JACOBS with RACHEL ENGLISH
Organizing in the Informal Economy: Ela Bhatt and the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (Abstract)
EDWARD WEBSTER
Organizing Labour in the Informal Economy: Institutional Forms & Relationships (Abstract)
CHRISTINE BONNER and DAVE SPOONER
Building Collective Identity: Trade Union Representation of Precarious Workers in the South Korean Auto Companies (Abstract)
AELIM YUN
Non-standard labour forms/Travail atypique
L’apport de la sociologie latinoaméricaine du travail: historique et piste de réflexion sur la théorie du syndicalisme et le travail atypique (Resumé)
YANICK NOISEUX
BOOK REVIEWS / COMPTES RENDUS
Shinichi Shigetomi and Kumiko Makino (eds)
Protest and Social Movements in the Developing World
Aziz Choudry
Paul T.K. Lin with Eileen Chen Lin
In the Eye of the China Storm: a Life Between East and West
Sam Noumoff
