ABSTRACT
In most countries of the global South, as Skinner and Watson have demonstrated, informal workers account for over half of non-agricultural employment. They are a common fixture of employment in cities. Organisations of informal workers have developed as important players in urban policy spaces as they seek to address the issues their members face. Informal workers face a major challenge of legitimacy in urban policy. Being seen as a marginal, even illegal, workforce, performing incidental economic activities and forming an obstacle to growth, has worked against their participation and representation in urban policy processes. This chapter reviews informal worker organisations in urban settings. It explores why and how informal worker organisations have formed transnational networks for global advocacy and examines how they have combined global and local advocacy to achieve changes in city planning practices in three urban areas: home-based workers in Bangkok, Thailand; street vendors in Delhi, India; and waste pickers in Bogotá, Colombia.
