The goal is to help these groups organize into unions to obtain their rights
One million 592,000 people work in the informal sector, which requires everyone, government and civil society organizations, to reconsider and think about the issues posed by this sector and its repercussions on the economy and society as a whole, said Asma Ben Hsan, President of the Tunisian Inclusive Work Institute (TILI) on Tuesday in Tunis on the occasion of the regional conference entitled “A New Look at Work in the Informal Economy,” with the participation of representatives of several Arab and African countries.
The conference aims to advance the debate on the current state of the informal sector in Tunisia, reflecting on and comparing regional perspectives, experiences, and findings from studies in Africa and some MENA countries.
Ben Hsan warned of the new developments faced by informal sector workers, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, technological development, climate change, inflation, and the difficult economic conditions of countries, from which informal sector workers are the first to be affected. They have no social coverage, no health insurance, and work in inadequate conditions for low wages.
Ben Hsan emphasized that these groups will deepen their issues and become more vulnerable than they already are, and their situation will have negative repercussions on society.
She pointed out that the event is now discussing the platform economy, which includes huge numbers of young people and women with advanced degrees such as engineers and others who provide great services to major companies in the world but do not enjoy their rights to social protection, permanence of work and health coverage.
The President of the Tunisian Inclusive Labor Institute pointed to the emergence of new methods of statistics and organization for these groups. Under the “self-initiative” framework, the institute has surveyed thousands of workers in this sector and trained them, to help them organize into unions and choose their representatives to obtain their rights.
She stressed the need for the state to undertake new reform measures, enact laws and legislation, and provide concessions to these people to facilitate their integration into the formal economy.
TunisianMonitorOnline (Dhouha Talik- English: NejiMed)
