ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nature of conservancy work in the cities of Mumbai and Johannesburg. Several years of association with a union of contractual conservancy workers in Mumbai formed the base for studying those engaged in similar work in Johannesburg. Interviews with workers in both cities, as well as with leaders and organizers of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) and Kachra Vahatuk Shramik Sangh in Mumbai, and with a key functionary of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) were carried out at various times between 2010 and 2013 to obtain current data and details about the situation. In Johannesburg, workers contribute to a fund and can get compensation under the Health and Safety Act; in Mumbai, unions must make case-by-case claims, as the contractor and corporation each pass the buck to the other. Under the contract system, with job insecurity, there is no access to employment-based social security.
