Informal Labor, Formal Politics, and Dignified Discontent in India [Paperback]

This book examines informal workers' alternative social movements in India.This book examines the growing group of informal or precarious workers who are unregulated and have no labor rights. Rina Agarwala investigates how these vulnerable workers are organizing to improve their livelihoods in India. Drawing on 300 personal interviews with women workers in construction and tobacco, she finds  contrary to the existing literature  that these workers are launching an innovative movement to assert their rights.This book examines the growing group of informal or precarious workers who are unregulated and have no labor rights. Rina Agarwala investigates how these vulnerable workers are organizing to improve their livelihoods in India. Drawing on 300 personal interviews with women workers in construction and tobacco, she finds  contrary to the existing literature  that these workers are launching an innovative movement to assert their rights.Since the 1980s, the world's governments have decreased state welfare and thus increased the number of unprotected informal or precarious workers. As a result, more and more workers do not receive secure wages or benefits from either employers or the state. What are these workers doing to improve their livelihoods? Informal Labor, Formal Politics, and Dignified Discontent in India offers a fresh and provocative look into the alternative social movements informal workers in India are launching. It also offers a unique analysis of the conditions under which these movements succeed or fail. Drawing from 300 interviews with informal workers, government officials, and union leaders, Rina Agarwala argues that Indian informal workers are using their power as voters to demand welfare benefits (such as education, housing, and healthcare) from the state, rather than demanding traditional work benefits (such as minimum wages and job security) from employers. In addition, they are organizing at the neighborhood level, rather than tlÕ