Decent Work for the Street Vendors in Mumbai, India—A Distant Vision!

Debdulal Saha

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DOI: 10.2190/WR.14.2.f

Abstract

This paper explores the working conditions of the street vendors in Mumbai in relation to the concept of "decent work." The study highlights the vendors' working conditions, their social security, and the collective bargaining by membership-based organisations aiming to provide them with a decent working life. The present research is based on mixed methods. The study is exploratory in nature, showing that the street vendors depend on moneylenders especially for social security purposes but also for their economic activity. The study shows that they are forced to borrow money at an exorbitant rate of interest (amounting to 5-10% per month), which in turn leads them to fall into a "debt-trap" situation. The current working hours of the vendors and the safety and security conditions in their workplace, together with the illegal activities of local authorities, are contributing to a deteriorating working environment and the deprivation of the workers.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.