This dissertation examines democratic participation among poor women workers as state welfare rhetoric and policy declines on the one hand and the percentage of insecure and unprotected informal labor increases on the other hand. I investigate (1) how the informal nature of employment affects workers' collective action strategies, and (2) under what conditions informal workers' movements succeed. In particular, I analyze the role the state plays in affecting informal workers' ability to secure labor benefits. To address these questions, I interviewed over 200 government officials and labor leaders and 140 women workers across three cities in India. All 140 women are informally employed in either the construction or tobacco industries and are members of an informal workers' organization. In addition, I analyze the most recent round of the National Sample Survey on Employment and Unemployment in India.
Contrary to much of the literature on labor and social movements to date, I find that informal workers are organizing along class lines to improve their livelihoods through demands for state-supported benefits. Their informal employment conditions have, however, altered their mobilization strategies to create a new form of unionism that appeals to the state, rather than the employer, for increases in welfare (such as support for health care, education, and housing) rather than workers' rights (such as minimum wages and job security). Because their employers change frequently, informal workers organize around the neighborhood, rather than the shop floor.
Their success in attaining state-supported benefits depends on the economic policies and the governing ideologies of the party in power. Workers' organizations in states that are implementing neoliberal reforms and running under populist political parties tend to be most successful in attaining state-supported benefits. Workers' organizations in states that are not committed to neoliberal reforms and operating under programmatic parties (such as the Communist Part of India-Marxist) are least successful. Given the growing rhetoric about the decreased welfare state, these findings are surprising and reveal important insights into what strategies are available for marginalized groups to express their political voice, even as state policies erode their material circumstances.
My Research