Building Collective Power for Social Justice: Workers Organizing in the Informal & Popular Economy

Democracy today faces significant challenges. The year 2025 was particularly difficult, with a push for deregulation, deepening labour precarity and repression of the labour movement worldwide. Amidst this backdrop, close to 6 in 10 workers are in informal employment. While they contribute to communities, families and society, most workers in informal employment are not covered in law or in practice under labour law and lack basic protections, like safety regulations, pensions, and sick leave.

Grassroots organizing, collective struggle and working class solidarity are key to shifting the systemic challenges workers in the informal economy face and to building a path to rights-based formalization. And millions of workers are doing just that.

Since 2021, the Ford Foundation’s Social Justice Bond initiative has supported HomeNet International, the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, the International Domestic Workers Federation, StreetNet International, and WIEGO in advancing the construction of a united global movement of workers in the informal economy.

Over five years, the project has enabled the consolidation of two global networks, strengthened governance systems, and deepened organizational capacities across sectors, amongst other achievements. As these global processes matured, they also reinforced—and were reinforced by—national and local organizing efforts, most notably in Brazil, where affiliates and allies translated this global movement-building into concrete, cross-sector strategies for structural change including the establishment of the Intersectoral Collective of Workers in Informal Employment: six worker organizations across five sectors advancing a unified voice.

At a public event hosted at the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT Brasil) headquarters, leaders from close to 20 countries will gather to:

• Share grassroots intersectoral organizing experiences that advance the recognition of workers’ rights, connecting them with global struggles and impacts across sectors.
• Reflect on workers’ experiences in strengthening democracy in adverse geopolitical contexts, and identify successful strategies for collective action.
• Showcase the concrete impact of Brazilian organizing processes—particularly the Intersectoral Collective and the newly launched Parliamentary Front, and the Movimento Sem Direitos —as models for structural change.
• Identify the challenges posed by the current geopolitical context in advancing inclusive democracy, grounded in a rights-based just transition and the pursuit of decent work for all workers.

Speakers:

• Antonio Lisboa — Secretary for International Relations, CUT; Workers’ Representative on the ILO Governing Body; Deputy Secretary, ITUC;
• Lucia Fernandez — Organization and Representation Programme Director, WIEGO;
• Roberto Laureano — President ANCAT;
• Edileuza Guimaraes — President ATEMDO;
• Severino Lima Junior — President, International Alliance of Waste Pickers;
• Jemima Nyakongo — Interim International Coordinator and Treasurer, HomeNet International;
• Adriana Paz — General Secretary, International Domestic Workers’ Federation;
• Lorraine Ndhlovu — President, StreetNet International;
• Clair Ruppert — International Labour Organization, Bureau for Workers ‘Activities Deputy Director;
• Ivan Gonzalez — Political Coordinator Trade Union Confederation of Americas CSA-TUCA;
• Mirai Chatterjee — Chair of the WIEGO Board; SEWA Cooperative Federation

The event will be moderated by Amanda Camargo, Labora Fund and include remarks from representatives from local organizations FENATRAD, UNICAB and SIMTRAPLIRS.