ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the work and working conditions of home-workers in Mumbai's slums and the experiences of organizing them by a trade union in Mumbai. It relies largely on findings of a mapping study in 2011, commissioned by HomeNet India and conducted by the Labour Education and Research Network (LEARN), a trade union of informal-sector female workers in Mumbai. LEARN is a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to mobilizing female informal-sector workers. It was founded in 2008 by Professor Sharit Bhowmik, along with senior academics, labour activists and lawyers, to strengthen the understanding of labour issues, focusing on the informal-sector workforce. The membership of LEARN includes home-based workers, domestic workers, street vendors, micro-factory workers and garment workers in three districts of Maharashtra state, namely, Mumbai, Nashik and Solapur. This trade union is named LEARN Mahila Kamgar Sangathana (LMKS), and is registered as a statelevel trade union in Maharashtra.
